The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-30 00:00:00

The Minotaur.

Yesterday another magnificent addition, as far as
size, strength, and speed are concerned, was made
to our iron-clad fleet by the formal delivery to
the Admiralty authorities of this iron-plated ship,
which, it is believed, will in some respects equal the
renowned Warrior. Long and minute descriptions
of the plans pursued in the construction of this
enormous vessel have so frequently appeared in the
columns of The Sun that a brief recapitulation of her
chief characteristics will probably suffice on this oc-
casion. The Minotaur, then, is one of those vessels
of a special class which were designed to be im-
provements on the Warrior. The latter class are
vessels of 6,100 tons, 380 ft. long by 58ft. broad,
plated over the greater part of their broadsides with
41in. iron armour, backed up with 18 inches of
teak. These have only 26 protected guns within
the armour-line, 10 more guns being at the bows
and stern, which have no armour, but which
are so subdivided by a webbing of iron compart-
ments that they might be riddled with shot without
much danger to the main part of the ship. Each of
these Warriors is driven by engines of 1,250 horse
power, and they have undoubtedly proved the fastest
ships in the navy, and from their bows and stern
not being overborne with heavy armour are toler-
ably buoyant even in heavy weather and very broken
water. There is no question that vessels of the War-
rior class are fine sea boats of their kind, and it is
more than doubtful if the new class designed to im-
prove upon them—the Minotaur, Agincourt, and
Northumberland—will at all equal them in seagoing
qualities. In the Minotaur class it was fancied by
the authorities that by diminishing the teak backing
from 18 to 10in. they could be made to carry 51in.
armour safely, and that by a little increase in their
dimensions they might be enabled to carry it from
end to end, and to have the whole ship covered in
armour. The Minotaurs, as they are called, there-
fore, are all of 6,621 tons, no less than 400 ft. long
by 59ft. beam, plated with 51in. armour on a 10in.
backing, carrying 36 protected' guns, and are pro-
pelled byscrew engines of 1,350 (nominal) horse power.
Hardly were these vessels designed and commenced
when the results of experiments at Shoeburyness
proved that a mistake had been made in diminishing
the teak backing—a mistake for which the additional
inch of armour by no means compensated. The end
of all the experiments at Shoeburyness has been to
show that the amount of resistance of armour to
shot depends generally less upon the thickness of the
plate than the thickness and system of the backing.
Thus the Warrior target, with 41in. of iron and
18in. of teak, stood fire obstinately, though soon
afterwards infinitely greater results were obtained
from plates of 31in. supported by Mr. Chalmers's
admirable system of backing. On the other hand,
the Minotaur target of siin., with only 10in. of teak
behind it, literally crumpled up under the fire of the
smooth bore 68-pounder. But when this unpleasant
discovery was made all the Minotaurs were too far ad-
vanced to be altered, so that in these magnificent-
looking vessels we have really got only much more
expensive Warriors, with even less than half the
powers of resistance which the Warriors possess.
All the Minotaurs are built on the ram system,
having what is termed the swan-breasted beak pro-
truding under water. The stem of this portion,
which would have to resist the first blow of the
shock, is a most gigantic forging, as also is the stern
frame. Every part of the vessel is of iron, even to
the spar-deck, though the plating here, which is
about three-quarters of an inch thick, is, of course,
covered with wood. Every part of the hull is di-
vided into longitudinal and transverse water-tight
compartments, which not only insure her safety in
case of accident from below the water-line, but add
immensely to the stiffness of .the whole hull, which
is virtually made by these means one huge hollow
wrought-iron girder of immense strength. There is
also a riveted wrought-iron skin within the backing
behind of the armour-plates, and this, being con-
tinued over the inner keel, forms a double bottom,
which, in case of a vessel of suchgreat weight taking
the ground, would be of the greatest service. The
armour-plates along all parts of the broadside, from
the edge of the spar deck to five feet below the
water-line, are all of 51 inches thickness, of the best
rolled iron, made by the Thames Iron Company.
For about 30 feet, at the extreme ends of the ship,
the thickness of the plating is reduced, to give the
buoyancy which she will assuredly much need. At
the stern the thickness is still more than 2 inches,
while under the counter at the stern it is no more
than 21 inches.yl'he number of ports on each side is
18, of which two on each side amidships are for
Armstrong 300-pounders. All the portholes are
made on the improved principle, and very narrow,
while the clear height of the midship port-sill from
the water is no less than 10ft. —a foot higher than
in the Warrior. An important addition has been
made to the ship since she was laid down in the shape
of a poop and topgallant forecastle. The poop gives
ample space for the cabins necessary for an admiral
and staff, thus fitting the ship for a flagship, which the
arrangements of the earlier ironclads did not admit
of. The forecastle, being plated in front with armour
plates, forms a kind of breastwork, to prevent the
upper deck being raked by an enemy's fire, and also
gives room for two large guns, which can be trained
in a line with the keel, and will be most useful as
bow chasers. At the time that the Warrior made
her trial trips it was pointed out that it was little
less than absurd to give these enormous vessels—
double the length of any line-of-battle ships in the
service—only a frigate's crew, and only the tradi-
tional three masts. The experience gained by work-
ing the Warrior has shown that these objections
were just, and the Minotaurs are now each to have
crews of 750 men, and five instead of three masts.
All these masts are of iron, and of nearly tlib same
height, which certainly detracts somewhat from
the beauty of the vessel's " sit" upon the water.
Four of the masts are square-rigged, the after-
most mizen having fore-and-aft sails only. Every
part of the ship, which has been executed by the
Thames Iron Company, and built under the careful
and anxious inspection of Admiralty overseers, is
really the very perfection of iron workmanship. As
an iron structure it is the opinion of all who have
seenfinish her that no vessel more perfectly finished has
ever appearednh of a
private
onthe Thanes. Ie en
It has literally
arerally
all
the of
1,360-horse power, nominal, and are capable of
working up to an indicated power of more than
8,000 horses. These engines are by Mr. Penn, and
it is impossible to speak too highly of their ex-
quisite finish. Yesterday, in going down the river,
there was, of course, no attempt made to get speed
out of a vessel of such enormous length in such a
narrow and devious channel. She was, in fact,
only kept under steam to enable her to assist the
efforts of the tugs in case of emergency. Still,
though the engines were only moving slowly, none
could avoid being struck with their sikent ex-
hibition of tremendous power, as they moved with
the ease of watchwork. The steering apparatus,
which is worked by hydraulic pressure, seemed to
answer excellently in the short trip down the river
from the Victoria Docks to Purfleet. Off the latter
place she was brought up for the night, and to-day
will continue her journey to Sheerness, where she
will take in her armament, shot and shell, &c., and