The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-07 00:00:00

THE AMERICAN IRON-CLAD NAM

However much or little the encounter of the Mer-
rimac and Monitor directly teaches, in America
as well as in England it has stirred both the public
and the Government to action as no mere reasoning
ever could. It may now be convenient to gather
up and review our information respecting the recent
action of the United States Government in refe-
rence to iron-clad ships.
It has been said that the Monitor was the work
of a private citizen, and that it was forced upon the
Government against its ideas and wishes. In truth,
however, as long ago as the special session in July
last, the Secretary of the Navy called the attention
of the Congress to the subject of iron-clad vessels,
and appropriation of 1,500,000 dols. was made for
the purpose of having one or more constructed. On
the Gth of August an advertisement was published
calling for plans. By the 16th of September the
board of three naval officers appointoi to examine
and consider the plans, presented their report, and
recommended Captain Ericsson's plan among
others for adoption. The contract for the Monitor
was signed on the 4th of October between the Se
rotary of the Navy and the builders. It provided
for the completion of the vessel by the 4th of •
January, i.e., 100 days, and for payment by the de-
partment in the usual way ; and further, that if
the vessel sustained a satisfactory test she was to
be accepted, and thereupon the last 25 per cent, of
the contract price was to be paid. The Monitor
was one of three iron-clad vessels which were uu-
dertaken about the same time, a fact which was
stated in the messages of Secretary Welles to Con-
gress last autumn. That document was published
in England, but the attention of the English press
was mainly directed to certain portions of it calcu-
lated to sustain a factitious excitement, and this
part was generally overlooked. From the follow-
ing passage in the report of the Board of Naval
Officers, of which Commodore J. Smith was chair-
man, it will be seen that the expectations of the
builders of the Monitor were not romantic. They
said of Capt. Ericsson's design :
This plan of a floating-battery is novel, but seems
to be based upon a calculation which will render the
battery shot and shell proof. We are somewhat
apprehensive that her properties for sea are not such
as a sea-going vessel should possess. But she may
be moved from one place to another on the coast in
smooth water. We recommend that an experiment
be made with one battery of this description on the
terms proposed, with a guarantee and forfeiture in
case of failure in any of the properties and points of
the vessel as proposed.

Price 275,000 dole. ; length of vessel, 172 feet ;
breadth of beam, 41 feet ; depth of hold, 11 feet ;
time, 100 days ; draught of water, 10 feet; dis-
placement, 1,255 tons ; speed per hour, 9 statute
miles.

Various delays occurred in the construction of
the vessel, which was not completed by the contract
term ; she was launched on the 30th instead of on
the 4th of January. The congratulations of the
Navy department in answer to a telegraphic despatch
announcing the event, concluded with a request to
"hurry her for sea, as the Merrimac is nearly ready
at Norfolk, and we wish to send her there."

Of the iron-clad vessels nearly ready for service,
the next in importance is Stevens's floating battery,
which has been described in detail. This vessel, it
is alleged, will make 19 knots an hour, and throw a
greater weight of metal than anything afloat. It
will, however, take two or three months to finish
her.

Tho Galena, an iron-clad vessel, built at Mystic,
in Connecticut, and now being finished at Green-
point, New York, will be ready for sea in a fort-
night. She appears, however, to be too lightly
constructed. The IVew York Times calls her " a
plated egg shell." Another " dark" vessel, which,
being at present without a name, is referred to as
" the formidable vessel now building at the Phila-
delphia Navy-yard," may probably be classed with-
out injustice with the Galena.
The Naugatuck, a small but strong gun-boat, is
a present to the government by Mr. Stevens, and
a miniature of his large floating battery. liar
speed is ten knots an hour. She can carry coal for
twelve days, and her armament is a single One-
hundred-pounder Parrott gun. Like the Monitor
she can be sunk at will nearly to the top of her
deck—thus presenting only a narrow stripe to the
Enemy's shots. It is supposed that, from the small
surface she exposes, she could easily steal up to a
hostile vcseel in a dark night and deliver her missile
with effect.

The Adirondack, a wooden frigate, is being plated
with iron.

The foregoing vessels represent the iron-clad navy
of the United States at the date of the action at the
mouth of the James River. It remains to speak of
the subsequent action of Congress.
The bill introduced by Senator Hale, who is
chairman of the Senate's Committee on naval affairs,
is designed to lay the foundation of the new navy
of the United States. It appropriates 13 million
dollars for the building of iron-clad gunboats, three-

quarters of a million for the completion of Stevens's
battery, half a million to the Washington Navy-
yard, for; new buildings and machinery for rolling
and forging iron armour plates for the ships, and
one million for the construction of a mail-clad steam
battering ram. The project of the last-named
engine appears to have strongly fascinated the
Northern mind. Its construction is, moreover, re-
commended on the most practical grounds, as the
South has two shot-proof batteries nearly ready at
Mobile, and N'a others OH the lower Mississippi,
against which the &demi squadron in the Gulf
would be as powerless as was that at Hampton
Roads before it was reinforced by the I\lw-dim
The ram, according to the proposition before
the Senate, is to be "of not less than 5,000 or
6,000 tons burthen, and of great swiftness and
strength." The New York papers observe, truly
enough, that "if constructed in accordance with
these conditions, the ram will undoubtedly be an
engine of warfare against which no iron-plated
vessel, battery, or ram in the world, either built or
being built, can cope." But after Congress has
done its best, it will depend on the skill of the
naval engineers of the United States to combine
in one :vessel qualities which Governments have
hitherto sought in vain in iron-clad ships. In the
United States, as in England, there are people
whose imagination is so overpowered, and who are
so possessed with the notion that " something must
be done," that no projects are too wild for them to
entertain. There are 4.1:-.0 tbero other people whose
professed business is simply to "study public
opinion," and who fool the former class to the top
of their bent. As a specimen of what these latter
can do, we give an extract from the New York
Herold :

It is a grand point to have the start in these
engines of destruction, and America will have gained
that point over every power of Europe. In the
event of a war between the maritime powers, that
nation which has the most and best iron-clad ves-•
sels first at sea will be able to maintain the su-
periority to the and ; for not only can she destroy
and capture all the mere wooden war vessels of her
enemy, but prevent the construction of iron-clad
craft by entering her ports and burning her navy
yards, with the ships on the stocks. *No coast for-
tifications now built can keep such vessels out of an
enemy's harbours. They can be easily demolished
or rendered untenable, and seaboard cities will be
at the mercy of iron-clad frigates. How do the
Powers of Europe and the United States relatively
stand in regard to such vessels ? The following
table will show what has been done and is now in
progress in Europe ;
England is building
France
Spain
Austria 2

Total

Of the English, according to the recent state-
ment of Lord C. Paget, six are to be of the same
model as the Monitor, having a turret and two
guns. The Warrior and Black Prince, already com-
pleted, are each upwards of 5,000 tons burden. In
addition to her other guns the Warrior carries
one which throws a projectile of 4501b5. weight.
This vessel is shown by her trial trip to Lisbon,
in smooth water, to be in some respects a
failure. The iron-clad ram, the Defence—of whose
performances on her trial trip we gave an account
in our columns last week—appears to be more sea-
worthy, but a clumsy structure, though it is stated
she made 11 knots an hour. Her burthen is 3,660
tons. The French iron-plated frigate Glorio is the
first ever built, and a few others have been finished
by order of Napoleon, which arc regarded as an
improvement on her ; but what is done in this re-
spect is kept as secret as possible, while the Em-
peror gets all the information ho can of English
experiments and of our own—as, for example,
through his Minister, M. Mercier, in relation to the
Stevens battery.

The United States have the following already
built, contracted for and proposed :

The Monitor
The Galena, built at Mystic
The powerful vessel at Philadelphia
Tho Adironback
The Stevens battery
The Naugatuck, built by Stevens 1
Iren-clad gunboats ordered by Congress 2O
Iron-clad frigates recommended by Senate Naval
Committee
The iron ram, do.
Gunboats ordered by Massachusetts 2

Total. .

New York State will probably add one or two
more, thus making a naval force of 50 iron-clad
gunboats, greatly exceeding the combined iron-
plated vessels of all Europe, and able to whip the
navies of the world.

The New York Enzes, which thinks the perma-
nent interests of the nation should not be forgotten
in the midst of all this excitement, with more
moderation than its contemporary, points out that
it is better to look at actual wants than to indulge
in dreams.

If we once had provision made for our present
safety and for the destruction of the rebel iron-
plated floating batteries—which we should consider
done were the ram, a brace of Monitors, and the
three iron-clad gunboats now in process of construc-
tion completed—we could almost wish that we
should pause awhile before going any further, at
least, that we should await the results of the expe-
riments that will be made with these before spend-
ing many more millions. It is our national tem-
perament to " put things through," and rush to an
extreme, and there is just a danger that the mania
for iron-clad vessels may cost us dearly. Having
provided
for our immediate necessities, let us bear
in mind that we have large and prospective needs
as well as present demands ; and that it is the plain
dictate of prudence to avail ourselves of all the ex-
periments, on both sides of the Atlantic, that tend
to throw light on these novel and still obscure,
though overwhelmingly important questions. One
thing is certain, we are bound to have an iron-clad
navy that will defy those of the most powerful
European nations. Already, at one leap, we have
taught the world more than all it knew respecting
this new warlike enginery. The country is opulent
with creative genius and engineering skill. This
genius and skill will now largely take the direction
of iron-clad vessels. Let us, therefore, not sink
money in building structures which the rapid strides
in the science may soon render obsolete.

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE METROPOLITAN RAIL-
WAY.—On Saturday morning the police forwarded to Mr.
Brent, the deputy coroner, the particulars of the death of
William Hollingworth, aged 28, a labourer in the employ
of Mr. Jay, the contractor for the construction of the Me-
tropolitan or Underground Railway. It appeared that the
deceased was engaged on the previous night between the
hours of seven and eight, along with some other mono n;
the new station at King's-cress, in lowering a large an
heavy iron girder, when suddenly one of the links of the
chain broke, and the beam fell, knocking the deceased to the
ground. In its fall the beam struck a piece of timber, which
fell on the deceased, and killed him on the spot-
Ile leaves
a wife, who is now near her confinement, and a young

s result, occurred
family.
NARROW ESCAPE OF AN EXPRESS TRAIN,--Anaccident,
accident, which narrowly escaped
a serious
on Wednesday Ist to the exprc.o train leaving Cheltenham
at 2.25 p.m, for London. Tiro trail' had PIA arrived at the
very high embankment by which the rails are carrier
through Badgworth, about five miles from Cheltenham,
when the axle of the leading whirls or the engine snapped
iu the centre and drePPed hetwcen Cm: rails, the engine at
the same time pitching
breaks being forward. The driver at once sounded
an alarm, and the applied the train was brought
to a stand before the engine left the rails, although the fact
of its keeping the track at all under such circumstances is
quite inexplicable, had the engine once left the rails great
loss of life must have ensued, as the Badgworth embank-
meat ii, of unusual height. As it was, very slight damage
was done to the permanent way, and beyond the inconve-
nience of a three hours' detention on their journey, no
injury was sustained by the passengers. Great credit is
duo to the driver mad guard for their promptness in the
emergency,

The Gibraltar Chronicle of the 28th ult. says
Letters from Tangier mention the arrival there,
on the 25th, of 150 mules with specie. to the
amount, it is thought, of about half a million of
dollars. The treasure was in charge of Hadj Abd-
el-Kader Ashash, one of the Sultan's treasurers,
who has returned to the court. Another treasure
caravan is daily expected from Fez, to complete the
million of dollars required for the next instalment
to be paid over to Spain. The Sultan certainly
ea
gresm t
eo
sstruggling inanfally to fulfil hie
nt.
be
By the last accounts the Sultan was about 20
miles north of Rabat, and near Mehedia, A fight
was going on between the two tribes, engagements.
Ilecania and
Shragna. The insurrection in the vicinity of Mc-.
roceo is said to have died out of This menu%
probably that the rebels. having cut off the :leads
of a fey" of the officials, who, by tyranny and
oppression, had driven them into rebellion, have
again returned to their allegiance. The Emperor
intended to move southward after crushing out the
rebellion in the northern districts.