The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-11 00:00:00

7IIE NAVY•

VALETTA, Sept. s.—The following movements
nave taken place among the ships of the .Mediter-
ranean fleet within the last fortnight :—lhe Magi-
ciertne, 16, Capt. his Serene Highness the Prince
of Leiningen, arrived at Malta on the 24th of
August from the Pima& The Prince of Leiningen
is now senior officer here in the absence of Admiral
Codrington, who has left for Italy for a few days.
The Alacrity, 4, Commander K. E. Baird, left port
on the 23d ult. for Corfu, and returned on the 30th.
She left there on the 28th the Marlborough, 131
(gag-ship of Admiral Martin), and the Algiers, 89,
cept. E. B. Rice. The Queen, 76, Capt. F. C.
iiitlyar, which had left Corfu for the Piraeus, to
relieve the Exmouth, 86, Capt. J. A. Paynter,
arrived there under steam on the 23d ult. The
Exmouth left the Piraeus on the 25th ult., taking
with her supernumeraries, 1 officer, Mr. Beresford
Scott, paymaster of the Queen, 3 seamen of that
ship, and 2 seamen of the Scylla, invalided, and a
few hospital cases for Malta. She arrived at Malta
on the 29th, and, after embarking the commander,
officers, and crew of the Pantaloon, naval and mili-
tary invalids, and time-expired men, in all nearly
300 supernumeraries, resumed her voyage on the
3d inst. for Gibraltar and England, to be paid off-
'the Scylla, 22, Capt. R. Lambert, was at the Pit xus
on the 25th ult,, and the Trident, 3, Com. Balfour,
at Putras. The Mars, 80, Capt. J. N. Strange,
which was expecting to be sent home, her time of
service having expired, has not yet received orders,
and it is thought likely she will be kept in the
Mediterranean for some time to come. The Edgar,
10, Capt. tho Hon. F. A. Foley (flagship of Rear-
Admiral S. C. Dares, C. 8.), and the Liffey, 56,
are expected out here about the end of this month.
The Shannon, Capt. 0. J. Jones, has already
left Spithead to join Admiral Martin's fleet.
It is reported, with what truth I do not know,
that our present naval force in the Mediterranean
will be considerably reinforced shortly. There
are now only five line-of-battle ships out here ;
not very long ago there were ten; but, to make
up for this deficiency, we have an additional num-
ber of frigates, sloops, and smaller vessels. The
mars, 80; the Icarus, 11, Capt. Salmon, V.C. ; the
Firebrand, 6, Cora. Piers; the Wanderer, 4, Com.
Seymour ; and the Surprise, 4, Cora. Whyte, are
on the coast of Syria ; the Gannet, 11, Cora. the
Hon. M. Nelson, is at Constantinople ; and the
Weser, 6, Cora. Johnstone, and the Cockatrice, 3,
Lieut.-Com. R. M. Gillson, are on the Danube.
Besides, there are in the Levant the surveying
vessels, Medina, Lieut. Wilkinson (Capt. Spratt,
C. 8., of this ship, being invalided), and the Fire-
fly, Corn. Mansell. At Naples we have the London,
86, Capt. H. Chads ; the Neptune, 86, Capt. G.
T. Hornby ; and the Amphion, 36, Capt. A. C.
Gordon, which last vessel has only recently been
despatched there; and the Doris, 32, Capt. Sir F.
L. M'Clintock, is at Messina. A court-martial was
held at Naples a few days ago on Lieut. Craven,
R.N., of her Majesty's ship Neptune, for drunken-
ness ; the result of which was that he should be
dismissed his ship, and placed at the bottom of the
list for two years. The Foxhound, 4, under the
temporary command of Lieut. Doughty, Com. the
Hon. A. Hobart being absent on leave, left Malta
on the 31st nit. for Corfu, and is expected back
with the next mail in a day or two. The Pelican,
17, Corn. P. Brock, arrived from Naples and
Messina on the 2d inst,, and, after making good
some defects, will proceed to join the Admiral at
Corfu. The Malacca, 17, Capt. G. J. Napier, and
the Procris, 2, Lieut. Cora. the Hon. J. Vivian, are
at Gibraltar, and the Boxer and Growler, tenders
to the Hibernia, receiving ship, are here. Mr. F.
Lucas, paymaster, of the Firebrand, arrived here
a few days ago, invalided, and proceeded home in
the Exmouth. Mr. Moore, assistant-paymaster of
the Wanderer, has been appointed temporarily to
supply the vacancy. It is with much regret I
have to report the death of another officer of this
garrison—the third within the last four months.
Assistant-Staff-Surgeon John A drien expired on
the 22d ult., leaving a widow and young family.
Mr. Adrian served on the Medical Staff in
the Crimean war, and subsequently in the Ist
battalion 22d Regiment, from which he was trans-
ferred to the Staff, and he remained in charge
of Forest Hospital till the time of his death. The
Viceroy of Egypt left Toulon on the 31st ult. in his
steam yacht Faid Gehaad, for Constantinople, and
by the French packet we hear of his having passed
through the Straits of Messina on the 2d inst. The
screw frigate Sayah Bahri, which left Toulon in
company with and attendant on the yacht, called in
at Malta for coals and provisions on the 4th inst.,
and resumed her voyage to-day for a rendezvous in
the Dardanelles, to await telegraphic orders from
his Highness. lam happy to say the Viceroy's
health bad somewhat improved, although not suffi-
ciently so to relieve entirely the anxieties of his me-
dical attendants.

The Royal Oak was yesterday launched in presence
of a vast concourse of spectators. The arrangements
for the accommodation of visitors were somewhat
differentlrom those on previous occasions, the enor-
mous wooden galleries running down each side of
the dock, completely shutting out all view of the
ceremony, excepting to the favoured few, being dis-
pensed with. The only special arrangement was the
erection of a gallery at the head of the slip, in which
about 1,000 privileged persons, to whom admission
had been accorded by ticket, were seated. The en-
tire hull Was painted a dull metal colour, which,
with armour encasing her sides, gave her a most
massive and formidable appearance' The Royal
Oak. has been built in the short space of little
more-than 12 months, but notwithstanding .the
speed with which she has been constructed every
portion of the vessel is built-in an unusually sub-
stantial manner to, sustain the tremendous weight
to be placed, on her. The following figures show
her principal dimensions, tonnage, &c.:—

Extroln.9 length over all 27 Ft 7. in 0
Length between perpendiculars .. 273 0
Length of keel for tonnage 232 8k
Extreme breadth, to outside of armour plates 58 6
Breadth moulded 56 5
Breadth for. tonnage .. .• 57 3
Depth in h9ld . • . • • . • . • • 19 10
Burden in tons .. • • . • .. 4,055 58.91
Tonnage, as per Alerchant Shipping Act ..3,502
Deduct for engine-room ..1,120

Her propelling power will consist of a pair of 1,000
horse power (nominal) engines, by Messrs. Mauds-
lay, Son, and Field. Already three tiers of armour
plates have been bolted on to her port and starboard
sides, but three additional rows will be given her,
thus carrying the plates, from her gunwale to a dis-
tance of sft. below her load water line. Each plate
is •41 inches in thickness, and weighs on an average
Bi:we. These Wilt cover the vessel to within about
40ft. of her stem and stern, when they will com-
mence tapering off to 3 inches in thicknesia at the
stern and bows, excepting under the buttocirovhere
the plates will only be 21 inches thick. Up to the
Present time the number of armour-plates bolted to
her sides is 70, the number required for the entire
vessel being about 300. Each plate is bolted to a
backing of teak , and oak, of 24 inches in
thickness, thus giving a solid thickness of
28 'inches to the ship's broadsides. • The
bolts and nuts under water, as well ns those to
within a short distance of the load water line, are
galvanised. The upper deck is entirely encased
with plate iron, the portions in the most exposed
part being covered with 5-Bths inch iron, and in the
other parts 1 and I inch, the whole firmly rivettcd
and bolted together, and covered with the ordinary
planking secured to the iron beams by nets and
wors. She will Carry her entire armament, with
the exception of a 110-pounder Armstrong at her
gem, and stern, on her main deck, the portholes,
b.,,ior; unusually small, their height being 3ft.loitt.,
}rm. 'embrasures, however, are so
and width 2ft.
fornuAl that the guns will have a play Of 32 deg.
in each direction, thus working in a radius of '64
deg. The main andlower decks will be ventilated
,the invention of btptain
on an improved erten),
F ..nshawe, Superintendent of Chatham Dockyard.
Ir• is iitended to sheath the bottom of the Royal Oak
with a limy description of Metal, or rather combina-
tion of metals, according to the plan proposed by
Mogie, chief officer of the metal mills at C,athain
'aobkyarti. under whosesuperintendence the sheath-
ing will be applied. Unlike the other large screw
strainers, the screw well is done:sway with in the

case of the Royal Oak, by which additional strength
is imparted to the stern. This will prevent the
screw propeller being lifted to the upper c eck when
the vessel is at sea, but arrangement are made
whereby the screw can be raised to th main deck.
The launch was appointed to take pl ce at a quar-
ter before two o'clock, by which hour Miss Fan-
shawe, the daughter of Capt. Fanshawe, Superin-
tendent of the Dockyard, having been conducted to
the bows of the ship, the stem of which was orna-
mented with a large bough of oak, dashed the bottle
of wine against her bows, and immediately after
severed the silken cord which held the last log-
shore. Contrary to general expectation, however,
the Royal Oak, like the Mersey, the last vessel
built on the same slip, obstinately refused to move.
This arose probably from too many blocks having
been left under her, the calculation being that her
enormous weight would render this precaution
necessary. About a quarter of an hour, therefore,
was spent in removing the extra blocks; after
which three powerful hydraulic presses, one of
which was placed under her forefoot, and the others
at each of her bilgeways, were brought into requi-
sition ; and at two o'clock the huge vessel glided.
easily down the launching-ways into the harbour,
amid the cheers of the spectators, the band playing
" Rule Britannia." Her draught of water when
afloat was found to be 19ft. bin. aft, and 13ft. bin.
forward. During the afternoon she was taken in
tow by three steamers, and berthed alongside the
Chatham hulk in the harbour, where she will today
commence taking in her iron masts, boilers, and
other heavy portions of her machinery, in order to
be ready to save the next spring tide in a fortnight,
when she will be floated into the third. dock, the
entrance to which had been widened to receive her,
in order to be fitted for sea with the greatest pos-
sible despatch. The Bulwark, 91 guns, about half
completed at Chatham, will be the next vessel to be
armour-plated after a plan proposed by Mr. Lang,
the Master Shipwright.

The crew of the screw steam frigate Liffey, 51,
Capt. G. Parker, in Plymouth Sound, were in-
spected yesterday by Port Admiral Sir Houston
Stewart, K.C.B.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Dr. W. Smith, surgeon super-
intendent of the merchant convict ship; R. Evans,
assist.-surg. additional to the Victory ; J. W, Wat-
son, supernumerary in the Indus, confirmed as se-
cond-class assist.-engineer; G. B. Blackwell, super-
numerary in the Cumberland, confirmed as second
class assist.-engineer ; T. B. Jordan and J. T.
Morgan, acting second-class assist.-engineers to the
Asia, as supernumeraries.