The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-19 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

iA letter from Malta, of the 14th February, an-
nounces the arrival at that island, on the 9th inst.,
of her Majesty's steam yacht Osborne, Master-
Commander G. Bower, from Portsmouth and Gib-
raltar, and her departure on the following day for
Corfu, whence she was to leave for Trieste, to em-
bark his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, who
was to proceed in her on a tour in the Levant. Her
Majesty's steam corvette Icarus, 11, arrived at Malta
on the 13th from England, and the despatch boat
Banshee the same evening from Alexandria. The
Icarus was to proceed to Candia.
The order for changing the name of the iron-
cased ship Triumph, 50, to Prince Consort, was re-
ceived at Pembroke on Saturday. It is presumed
she was selected to boar the name of the late illus-
trious Prince, as being the furthest advanced of her
class of any ship now building. An effort will be
made to launch her in June. She will be armour-
plated from stem to stern. About 320 shipwrights
are employed upon her. The wale and bottom
planking are all fastened and about one 'half caulked
—her engines, of 1,000 hone-power (by Maudslay
and Co.), are nearly completed. The magazines,
store-rooms, &c., and other works in the hold are
in a very forward state ; iron beams are in place for
the reception of the lower deck, and the main deck
is now in progress of being laid. The smiths are
employed preparing the iron beams for the upper
decks, the whole of which are to be of iron and co-
vered with thin iron plates underneath the wood
deck ; some of the smiths on this work are
employed until eight p.m. Fourteen of the
plates arrived by rail on the Isth instant. The
building for the reception of the machinery for
bending, planing and drilling holes in the plates
is in course of construction, with a view of
being completed by the time the ship is launched.
A very suitable site has been selected, close to the
side of the dock, so that the least possible amount
of labour will be involved in passing the plates
from the workshop to the ship.

The experimental firing from the wooden model
of Capt. Cowper Phipps Cole's gun shield, built on
the deck of the Hazard sailing sloop, commenced
at Portsmouth yesterday, under the supervision of
Capt. R. S. Hewlett, C. 8., commanding H.M.S.
Excellent, Capt. Coles being also present. The
day's firing was from one of the two guns with
which the shield is fitted, and so far has been at-
tended with the most satisfactory results; the con-
cussion in the shield from the gun's discharge being
very slight, and the smoke being drawn from the
tower and shield almost instantaneously with the
gun's discharge. The firing may probably extend.
over some days, to enable Capt. Hewlett and the
inventor thoroughly to test the working of two
100-pounder Armstrong's within the base of a cone
the diameter of which is but 15ft (a base, however,
which yesterday's firing apparently proves to be of
quite sufficient diameter), and to discover any pos-
sible minor defects in the equipment of the heaviest
calibred firing full charges with shot under such
novel conditions as their working under cover of
the shield involves. The experiments will be re-
sumed probably to-day by firing the two guns
simultaneously. Yesterday's firing Placed the sue-
cess of the double-gun cupola, or shield, beyond
doubt, and the greater portion of the future experi.
mental firing will be, as we have already stated, a
mere matter of practice, to render the whole as per-
fect as possible, and to enable the plans for the new
shield-ship to be completed at once, which of course
could not have been done while any doubt remained
as to the space required for the towers and their
shields.

The Java, target ship, has been brought down to
Portsmouth harbour from the Porchester lake, and.
berthed alongside Portsmouth dockyard, where she
is having other sample armour plates (from the
Lancefield and Parkhead forges) affixed to her sides
for testing purposes.
The operation of fixing the 12-inch and B.inch
teak planking to the sides of the armour-plated
screw frigate Royal Oak, M guns, under construc-
tion at Chatham dockyard, is now completed, and
preparations have been commenced for fitting the
massive slabs of iron, which will encase the vessel
from stem to stern, as soon as these have been re-
ceived from the contractors, by whom they are at
present being prepared. The vacant space on the
eastern side of the slip on which the Royal Oak is
building is now being converted into a large work-
shop, which will be covered in with a glass and.
iron roof, for the reception of the whole of the
powerful machinery to be used in drilling, planing-,
shaping, and otherwisepreparing the armour-plates
and fixing them to the vessel's side. It was at first
decided to bend all the plates cold, and a hydraulic
machine sufficiently powerful to perform that opera-
tion, has been received from the firm of Messrs.
Baillie, 'Westwood, and Campbell, but, as one ma-
chine will not be able to prepare the slabs of iron
with the celerity required, a portion will be formed
into shape hot, the necessary furnaces and ma-
chinery being built adjoining the shed under which
the Royal Oak now lies. The defects in the De-
fence, Resistance, and some others of the iron ships
in having only their broadsides plated with iron
will be remedied.in the Royal Oak, every portion
of which will be encased in iron, the plates in the
parts most exposed to shot being 41 inches in thick-
ness.

The following appointments and promotions were
made yesterday at the Admiralty : —Capt. C. F.
Schomberg to the Edinburgh, vice Capt. D'Eyn-
court, whose period of service has expired ; Capt.
T. P. Thompson to the Cumberland, in the room of
Capt. Schomberg; Capt. J. B. Marsh to the Imaum,
vice Capt. Mellersh ; Commander R. B. Creyke to
be Capt. on the reserved list ; Lieut. E. M. Dayrell
and Lieut. Walter Stewart to the Imperieuse, for
disposal; Henry J. Swainson, master, from the
Wellesley to the Indus, for the Rattlesnake ; Thos.
Gage, second master, additional, to the
Indus, for actinghe Wood, chief engineer to
the Cumberland, to the Indus, for the Rattlesnake;
George Elliott, acting second-class assist.-engineer,Lee;
to the Indus, for the Magicienne ; and J. Phillips,
second-class assist., confirmed in the Clio.

MIS DAY'S MAREETS.