The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-12 00:00:00

711 E NAVY.

On Wednesday Vice-Admiral the Hon. S. F. W.
Grey, K.C.8., one of the Lords of the Admiralty,
and Rear-Admiral Robinson, the Surveyor of
the Navy, paid an official visit to Chatham dock-
yard for the purpose of inspecting the progress
made with the iron and iron-cased vessels under
construction. On reaching the dockyard his lord-
ship was received by Capt. Fanshawe, the superin-
tendent; Mr. Lang, master shipbuilder; and the
other heads of departments. After transacting
some private business Admiral Grey end Admiral
Robinson proceeded to inspect the works connected
with the iron frigate Achilles, 50, 1,200 horse
power, over which they were conducted, and the
principal parts of which were minutely inspected.
They also inspected the Royal Oak, 50, in the ad-
joining dock, where she is being rapidly prepared
for sea. His lordship and Admiral Robinson spent
some time in the inspection of the vessels, and, after
transacting official business with Capt. Fanshawe,
left the dockyard for the Admiralty early in the
afternoon.

Her Majesty's screw steam frigate Amphion, 36
guns, 1,474 tons, 300-horse power, Capt. Alex. C.
(Jordon, arrived at Sheerness from the Mediter-
ranean station, last from Portsmouth, on Tuesday,
to be dismantled and paid off into the third-class
steam reserve at that place. She underwent inspec-
tion the same day by Vice-Admiral Sir W. J, Hope
Johnstone, K.C.8., Commander-in-Chief at Sheer-
ness, and staff, who mustered the ship's company
and exercised them for upwards of two hours, dur-
ing which time the after-quarters, topgallant yards,
and masts were hauled on deck, sails unbent, and
topsailyards sent down. The ship's gear was in such
a bad state that the maintopsailyard and maintop-
sails came down by the run, but, fortunately, no
person was injured. At the conclusion the gallant
Admiral expressed great satisfaction with the acti-
vity and efficiency of both officers and men. The
vessel's powder was taken out on Wednesday, and she
will be paid off about the 20th inst. The Amphion has
been in commission about three years and a half, and
was for a time flagship of Rear-Admiral Talbot, C. 8.,
at Queenstown, after which she proceeded to the
Mediterranean. She was cruising on the coast of
Sicily during both the Garibaldian revolutions, was
present at the bombardment of Palermo, and has
rendered efficient service on the coast of Syria and
other places. She left Malta for Gibraltar on the 2d
November, and left Gibraltar on the 15th, arriving
at Portland Roads on the Ist December, and Ports-
mouth on the 4th,bringing home 35 invalided troops.
Since her last commission four captains and one
commander have been appointed to her, and of the
wardroom officers who went out with her only three
have returned. She is very leaky. _ _

The line-of-battle screw steamer Meanee, 80, 400
horse power, Capt. W odehonse, fitting for the Me-
diterranean, will be out of the hands of the dock-
yard authorities to-day. She is under orders to
proceed from the Nore to Plymouth on Tuesday next,
and on her arrival in the Sound she is to be stripped,
in order to have wire lower rigging fitted.

An Admiralty order has been received atChatham
directing that Lumley's patent steering apparatus
is not to be fitted to the Columbine, 4, 150 horse
power, the vessel selected by the Admiralty to be
experimented upon, until after she has made her
trial trip at the Maplin Sands.
On Wednesday Mr. Napier attended at Chatham
dockyard for the purpose of making the usual Ord-
nance survey of the iron cased frigate Royal Oak,
50, 1,000 horse power, and laying out the radius
plates and sections for the Armstrong pivot guns.
The Royal Oak is the most forward of the squadron
of armour plated frigates now under construction,
and from the manner in which the work on hand is
being pushed forward by several hundred workmen
there is every prospect of the vessel being out of the
hands of the dockyard authorities and ready to pro-
ceed on her trial trip at an early date in the en-
suing year. With the exception of some 50 or 60
plates which remain to be bolted to the stem and
stern portions of the frigate, her armour plating
the entire length of both her broadsides may be
said to be complete. The workmen employed on
those portions of the vessel are now engaged in
finishing and trimming off the plates, so that
both broadsides will present a smooth unin-
terrupted surface of iron, of an uniform thickness of
42 inches, the plates extending several feet below
her lead water line. The number of plates already
fixed is about 200, the entire number required be•
ing rather less than 300. The contract price paid
by the Admiralty for each plate delivered and finally
approved at the dockyard is £37 per ton. The
plates have an uniform weight of 4 tons, making
the cost of each £l4B. Taking the number required
to encase the Royal Oak at 280, the total cost of
the armour plates alone may be set down at upwards
of £40,000, in addition to which the most powerful
machinery is required to bend, shape, polish, and
otherwise prepare the slabs of iron before they are
fit to be bolted to the vessel's side, thus raising the