The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-18 00:00:00

TIIE NAVY.

The Lords of the Admiralty have given directions'
for the Royal Oak, 51, building at Chatham, to be
sheathed with Muntz's patent metal, the reports
received respecting the durability of that description
of sheathing, which was applied to the Bombay, 81,
and the Arethusa, 51, being highly favourable.
Yesterday the workmen commenced fixing the new
metal on the rudder of the Royal Oak. The Admi-
ralty have abandoned the intention of having iron
rigging for the topmasts, and the ordinary rope rig-
ging for the topmasts, and the ordinary rope rigging
is to be fixed. Her patent iron capstans, which
have been manufactured by Messrs. Brown and
Hanfield, will be fixed on board to-day.
The Shannon screw frigate, Capt. Wainwright,
was yesterday admitted into the steam basin at
Portsmouth Dockyard, from the harbour, and
placed in No. 7 dock, to remove the alternate blades
of her screw, tested on Monday, in readiness for her
next trial. As, however, the deep water entrance
to the steam basin from the harbour is now occu-
pied by the Adventure troop-ship, the Shannon will
be unable to leave the steam basin again for the
harbour uttil the next rise of the tides. This will
necessarily delay the completion of the trials.
The process of testing the iron delivered by the
various contractors at Chatham dockyard, for the
Achilles, 50, building at that establishment, has
been carried on for the last few days in the testing
house of the dockyard, and has resulted in nearly
100 tons, chiefly of five-eighths plate iron, being
rejected as n'Jt reaching the standard of excellence
laid down by the Admiralty. For some time the
iron received at Chathlm was of very superior qua-
lity, but lately it has proved rather inferior. In
cunsequence considerable quantities have been re-
jected, by which the works have been greatly re-
tarded. This will cause a serious delay in the
construction of the ship, as only a very-small num-
ber of platers are now employed owing to the scar-
city of good iron. There are rather less than 500
hands now employed on the Achilles, but at least
double that number of workmen will be required
to be placed on her if she is to be completed by the
time originally fixed by the Admiralty. A slight
alteration is to be made in the plans, so as to obtain
increased strength, in order to enable the frigate to
sustain the additional weight which willbe thrown
on her 1-n having the massive armour plates carried
from stem to stern, and not simply along her broad-
sides as was first intended, this arrangement ren-
dering her completely invulnerable, as no part will
be left exposed to shot.

The Spithead fort question must soon again
occupy the attention of the House of Commons, and
with that subject it is scarcely possible to overlook
another—viz., whet'ner the naval establishment at
Portsmouth is capable of being enlarged and im-
proved, or v;lether another site for a naval estab-
lishment, must be selected elsewhere. The forts and
lines of defensive works which have been executed,
as well as those in progress around Portsmouth,
-were doubtless intended for the protection of the
harbour of Portsmouth and the existing dockyard,
arsenal, &c., and if it be determined that Ports-
mouth harbour cannot provide an efficient establish-
ment for the accommodation of our iron fleets, and
that a new establishment shall be formed elsewhere,
then moat of the works of defence lately completed
will be useless, and other defensive works will cer-
tainly have to be constructed to defend the ap-
proaches to the new establishment. We are in-
formed, however, that a very comprehensive plan is
now before the Admiralty, showing what can and
what cannot be done at Portsmouth in the way of
enlarging the present dockyard, what are the exist-
ing difficulties, and how they may be best overcome.
In considering this question care must be taken not
to overlook the value of the present establishment,
and the importance of Spithead anchorage, whether
as regards position, space, holding-ground, or

security.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—Capt. J. F. B, Wain-
-wright, to the Black Prince, commissioned ; Capt.
0. J. Jones, to the Shannon, vice Wainwright ;
Commander Frederick D. Rich, to the Black Prince ;
Lieut. Fernand F. *Waddington, Lieut. A. T. Drake,
Lieut. Barnard J. Cooper, Lieut. the Hon. John
M. Yorke, and Lieut. William Brown, to the Black
Prince ; Lieut. Herbert F. Campbell, Lieut. Richard
Adams, Lieut. Henry G. Hale, Lieut. James S.
Tonkin, Lieut. Grenville M. Temple, Lieut.
Francis W. Bennett, Lieut. George Powys,
Lieut. Charles F. Walker, Lieut. Arthur J. Vil-
liers, and Lieut. James M. Morris, to the Euryalns,
additional for disposal ; Sub-Lieut. George H. B.
Reed, Sub-Lieut. Francis Main, and Sub-Lieut.
Hugh S. Baillie, to the Black Prince; Francis E.
Wilmot, Edmund F. Jeffreys, Thomas H. Leven-
thorpe, and Charles S. Broome, midshipmen to the
Black Prince; Dr. M. Walling, surg, to the Pre-
sident; William Reed, acting second-class engi-
neer to the Asia; William I. Parmeter, paymaster
to the Black Prince ; Allen F. Gain, assist.-pay-
master, in charge, to the Dromedary ; William F.
Martin, assist-paymaster, to the Victory ; William
Shott, assist.-paymaster, to the Black Prince ; A.
Edwards, assist.-paymaster, to the Castor; R. F.
W. Soady, and George A. Michell, clerks, to the
Black Prince; Henry J. Nash, clerk, to the Royal
Adelaide ; Frank H. Conning, assist.-clerk, to the
Victory, for the Secretary's-office; Charles Nicolle,
assist.-clerk, supernumerary, to the Victory ; and
Henry J. Colling, assist.-clerk, to the Black Prince.