The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-18 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

Yesterday morning, in accordance with previously
understood arrangements, the majority of the mem-
bers of the Board of Admiralty arrived at Ports-
mouth from London, and embarking on board the

Royal Sovereign turret ship, at Spithead, took a
short cruise in the Channel, south of the Isle of
Wight, accompanied by her Majesty's ships then
_ _

Lying at Spithead, and witnessed some evolutions

under steam and gunnery. The fleet at Spithead,

which consisted of the Achilles, Black Prince, and

Defence iron clad broadside gun frigates, the Royal
Sovereign iron cased turret ship, and the Liverpool,

latest improved class of wooden screw frigate, had
steam up and cables hove shortly after 9 a.m., in
readiness for their lordships' arrival. The wind was
moderate from S.S.E., with the barometer steady at
30.5. At half-past 10 the Fire Queen steam yacht
was seen from on board the ships of the fleet to be
coming from between the points of Portsmouth har-
bour to Spithead with the flag of Admiral Sir M.
Seymour, G.C.8., the Naval Commander-in-Chief
at Portsmouth, flying from her main, and very shortly
the party on board of her were transferred from the
Fire Queen to the Royal Sovereign, consisting of
Admirals Sir F. Grey, Drummond, Eden, Frede-
rick, and Fanshawe ; with Mr. Romaine, C. 8., and
Capt. Hall, R.N., secretary to the Duke of Somerset
(from the Admiralty), accompanied by Admirals Sir

M. Seymour, G.C.8., Sydney C. Dacres, C. 8., and
George Elliot, Capts. Caldwell, C. 8., Preedy, C. 8.,
F. Scott, C.B. and Aide-de-Camp to the Queen.
and a number of other naval officers out of uniform,
and also by Capt. Pigaud, Naval Attache to the

Imperial French Embassy in London. Capt. Astley
C. Key, C. 8., of H.M.S. Excellent, received the

members of the Admiralty and the officers by whom
they were accompanied on the deck of the Royal
Sovereign, as her commander pro tern. The anchors
of the fleet were soon afterwards weighed, and the
ships steamed slowly out of the eastern channel as
they secured their anchors, the Royal Sovereign lead-

ing, as the flagship of the Admiral commanding; the
four-masted Achilles came next, the Black Prince

third, the Defence fourth, and the Liverpool last.
The Lords of the Admiralty present had, therefore,
for their immediate personal observation under steam

three distinct classes of our broadside gun ironclads,
our most powerful turret ship, and the latest im-
proved model of the 34-gun wooden frigate. The
ships continued on their course, with the steam ten-
der yachts Fire Queen and Sprightly in attendance
on the port beam of the line, until 20 minutes past
noon; when the headland of Dunnose opened out
well on the starboard beam of the fleet, and the
course was changed from S. and by W. to W., so
as to bring the wind and sea abeam and get as much

roll as was possible out of the turret ship while
working her turrets and guns. There was found,

however, to ,be neither wind nor sea enough to
affect her, placed as she was, in the slightest de-
gree, and the direction of the course was therefore
again changed by signal to W. and by S.

to some distance further off the land. There the
breeze freshened a little, with a somewhat heavier
sea. The Royal Sovereign's speed was slowed, her
crew beat to quarters, turrets were manned, upper
deck bulwarks thrown down, and other preparations
made for action, and all being ready the turrets were

turned by that portion of the crew at the winch
handles below, and the guns sighted and laid in
various directions. There was nothing new or par-

titularly interesting in any of these proceedings, ex-
cepting the fact that the work necessarily took a
longer time in each instance than it did on similar
occasions of trial when the ship was in commission
under Capt. Osborn's command. This was owing
to the fact that the greater part of the men yester-
day (who had been lent from the Excellent) had
never before been engaged in working turrets and
their guns. While the Royal Sovereign was lying
thus the four broadside ships steamed past and close
alongside her in line, and it was evident that had
theybeen in reality approaching the ship in this man-
ner as enemies every ship would have been sunk by
the guns of the turret ship before they could have
brought their broadside guns to bear upon her deck or
turrets. The Achilles was a strong illustration in
point, as she steamed up for the Royal Sovereign's
port quarter with only eight guns in battery on
either side of her hull, the foremost guns being on a

line with her forward funnel. It was also remark
able that all the ironclads exhibited a greater lateral
motion, or " roll" than the Royal Sovereign under
full steam, and that while the Defence plunged her
bows into the water and threw a wave up to her
hawsepipes the Liverpool rode with greater ease than
any of the others. There was a •want of both wind
and sea to test satisfactorily, as a matter of compa-
rison, the working of the different ships' guns in a
roll of a seaway, for no roll to speak of existed, and
preparations were therefore made for target firing,
the Royal Sovereign commencing from her three
foremost turrets at 1,800 yards' range, with 1501 b.
round shot and 401 b. charges of powder, firing to
starboard—and then with circling round the target
and firing from the same guns at short range. Guns,
turrets, and fittings worked with ease, and the con-
cussion felt on the ship's upper deck was generally
allowed to be less than the concussion ordinarily felt
on a ship's main gun deck from the firing of ordi-
nary 68 or 100 pounders. The Lords of the Admi-
ralty present and the officers accompanying them
were on the ship's upper deck during the time of the
firing, some being on the platform round the funnel
easing, and others walking the deck itself on the lee-
ward side from the fire. The practice from the tur-
ret ship having been brought to a conclusion signal
was made to the fleet to close on the Admiral, and
open fire from their port batteries on the target at
600 yards as they steamed past. The Royal Sove-
reign led off with two shots from her foremost tur-
ret guns, and was followed by the Achilles from the
9.22 inch or 100-pounder smooth bore coil built
guns, and the other ships by their mixed batteries
as they came up. The effect was magnificent,
and the Lords of the Admiralty saw much to sug-
gest reflection in the brilliant scene before them.
There was a costly squadron of five ships, each
perhaps superior as a ship to all others of the same
class in foreign navies, and yet only one of these
carried guns that would even under the most
favourable circumstances pierce any one of the
other's sides. If, however, the naval display of
yesterday was intended to settle any of the disputes
in the contest of " turret versus broadside ships'
batteries," an old partly plated hulk or target would
have afforded more satisfactory results. The target
fired at was a small " pole" target, sent afloat with
a flag on the top of the pole, and it is remarkable
that it was not hit in any instance by the fire of the
fleet. After the firing had been brought to a con-
clusion the fleet returned to Spithead in the order
they left, and again anchored there. The Lords of
the Admiralty, on leaving the Royal Sovereign, took
the opportunity of visiting the other ships as they
came to an anchor. On returning to Portsmouth
their lordships visited the Malacca and other ships
in the harbour, and afterwards dined at Hirst's
Portland Hotel, Southsea.
The Royal Sovereign is ordered to undergo an
ordeal of some 12 or 14 days' experimental work
outside the Isle of Wight, under the direction of
Capt. A. C. Key, C. 8., of her Majesty's ship Ex-
cellent, when her gunnery capabilities will be fully
and practically developed under every possible con-
dition. As on this officer's report must depend in a
hrespecting them ar
kteudr rrinciple, eotnp
in cs pdlees,
thata
isths
such an important matter could not h b ave eenplaced
in more able or impartial hands.
A patented compass, the invention of Commander
Arthur, of her Majesty's ship Excellent, was tried
on board the Royal Sovereign during her cruise, and
attracted much attention from several of the lords
and officers on board. It is for registering a ship's
course at sea on lined and prepared paper, working
on a cylinder by clockwork, the direction of the
ship's head being taken and marked by an indicator
pencil every 2 minutes.
It can be placed in any
part of the ship where there is no local attraction,
and does not require being placed with the ship's

compass.
The Torch, 5, screw steam gunvessel, 428 tons,
80-horse power, recently commissioned by Com-
mander G. A. Douglas, was swung for the adjust-
ment of her compasses on Thursday last in Sheer-
ness harbour. She will be taken this day to the