The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-04 00:00:00

IBER.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

The Duke of Somerset, as First Lord, Vice-ki-
miral the Hon. Sir Frederick Grey, K.C.8., Rear-
Admiral C. Eden, C. 8., Capt. the Hon. J. R. Drum-
mond, C. 8., Mr. Stansfeld, M.P., Junior Lords, and
Rear-Admiral Lord Clarence Paget, C. 8., Secre-
tary, accompanied by Rear-Admiral Robinson
(Controller of the Navy), and other officials
connected with the Admiralty, leave town to-day
on their annual tour of inspection. The Lords
Commissioners go to Portsmouth to-day, and next
week go to the Channel Islands, before paying the
customary annual visit to Devonport. Preparations
have been making for some time for their reception,
and everything that is likely to meet the official eye
has undergone a thorough cleansing. It is many
years since Portsmouth dockyard presented so smart
and clean an aspect for the inspection of their lord-
ships.

afternoonpt. Count
The Racoon, 22 gun screw corvette, CA
Gleichen, arrived at Spithead on Sunday
from the coast of Scotland, last from Port Douglas.
Soon after arrival his Royal Highness Prince
Alfred disembarked from the corvette, and, accom -
panied by Capt. his Serene Highness Prince Leinin-
gen, who had arrived from Osborne, proceeded to
join her Majesty and the Royal Family at Osborne.
It is understood that his Royal Highness will not
rejoin the Racoon until May, 1864, as he will in the
first instance accompany her Majesty to the Conti-
nent, and afterwards proceed to Holyrood Palace
to undergo his appointed six months' course of
study. The ship yesterday discharged her powder
and shell into Ordnance lighters at Spithead, being
ordered into Portsmouth harbour to dock and repair
damages caused by striking the ground recently
when under steam in Loch Ness. Three small
ponies brought in the Racoon from Scotland were
yesterday transferred by the Pigmy, steam tender,

to the Royal stables at Osborne.
Captain H. Broadhead, commanding the Steam
Reserve at Portsmouth, and Mr. George Murdock,
inspector of machinery afloat at the same port, have
forwarded to the Admiralty for inspection the
models, drawings, and specifications of a breech-
loading gun and gun-carriage, the joint invention
of the two officers, intended to supply the want of a
heavy smoothbore gun. The gun is bored through-
out from muzzle to breech, the circumference at the
latter end being slightly increasad. The breech is
closed by a screw plug, which closes the breech
effectually by a quarter turn after the plug has
been slid into its position. The carriage on which
the gun is mounted appears, however, to be of the
most immediate importance. The difficulty expe-
rienced in working and training the 95 cwt. 68-
pounders on the main decks of ouriron ships during
a cruise was found to be most serious, and it was
acknowledged that some other mode of working and
training such guns than by the bungling, slow,
handspike method must be adopted to• render the
ship's maindeck guns efficient. To meet this diffi-
culty the present carriage has been constructed.
Two•cranked shafts are fixed underneath the car-
riage with the apex in front on a cap-bearing rest-
ing on the deck, the rear ends of the cranks carry-
ing metal trucks on wheels. By a side lever and
rope-fall the gun and carriage can either be thrown
on the cap-bearing and rear trucks, and thus become
a pivot broadside gun, or it can become an ordinary
broadside gun, by lifting with the lever the cup-
bearing and rear trucks. As a pivot broadside gun,
two men on each side of a 10-ton gun with a simple
rope•fall in their hands can train it with the
utmost rapidity and nicety, and without a hand-
spike being at all brought into play.
The screw steam frigate Aurora, 39, having had
her bottom cleaned, and having three additional
strakes of copper, was removed yesterday from
No. 1 dock at Devonport, and placed in the basin,
where she will be fitted for the First Division of
the Steam Reserve.