The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-28 00:00:00

THE AMERIC:I;,4 NAVY.

(From the United Service Ga.:fife.)
We have boon favoured by a valued Coreespoedent
at Portsmouth, to whom we were indebted some time
ago 16r a table of the armaineets of all the ‘essels of
war in the 13iitish navy, for the following interesting
account of the dimensions and armaments of the various
cla.;scs of ships in the American nave, i'erived front
an official source. It has been ihe fashion of late,
among writers on nautical subjects, to contrast our own
ships of war with those of Amer:ca, and to assil(l
the superiority in point of dimension anti armament
to the vessels of the latter. \V have, indeed, been
ourselves misled by more than one of our correspon-
dents into the publication of statements to this effect ;
and, as all honest and conscientious writers ()right to
do—profiting by the opportunity which the publication
of the undermentioned data affords us—we a:ltiow-
ledge with cheerfulness and alacrity our misapprohen-
sion. From the dimensions hereafter given, it wall be
seen that we are not only equal in most. but greatly
superior in many points, and so far as our more re-
cently constructed ships are concerned, more especi-
ally ; every class of which are much finer than those
of the same classes in the American navy, carrying
heavier aura :rents with infinitely more convenient
quarters, more space between decks, and guns much
higher from the water.

The first-class line of battle ships, as Ohio, &c., aro
or were evidently designed from our 34's, Ganges class,
with the addition of two feet more beam, thus cinsi-
derably increasing their tonnage ; but, either lions some
injudicious alterations or bad model, they have not
proved the ships they ought to have been, carrying
their lower deck midship ports only 3 feet 6 inches
from the water, whereas our 84's carry theirs 6 het
0 inches, and Vanguard 7 feet. The tonnage of these
ships is ",600, the same as oar 92's, Rodney class,
within a few tons; but their dimensions are the lame
as the 120's, and they carry their lower deck n d •
ports 7 feet from the water, and are evidently a su-
perior description of ship to American two deckers.'
The armament of the latter is very heavy, having
42-pounders on their lower decks, and carrying guns
on their upper decks all thrcugh ; making three en-
tire tiers ; perhaps their armament is too heavy—
give our 92's guns in waist, and they would then maunt
100—but filling up the wait is a very ques-
tionable coarse, and one to which we decidedly object.
The second-class line-of-battle ships, of which there
are but three, are fine vessels, about the size of our 80's,,
as Indus, Bellerophon, but a ith one foot more beam,
making them about 100 tons larger. These ships also
have guns all through on their upper decks, but front
sonic cause (perhaps being over-weighted) carry their
lower leek ports only 5 feet from the water, being •1
inches less than our old 7-I's, and 1 foot lower than the
Bellerophon.
The first-class frigates are fine vessels, about the size
of our razees, but with 2 feet less beam, and therefore
inferior, also carrying their main-deek midship
ports 1 foot 3 inches lower than our razees ; these ships
ere all double banked, and have earronades on the upper.
deck. There are but two second-class frigates in the
American navy ; Macedonian, captured from us during
the late war, and Constellation, one of their earliest ;
both these are rateel 36's, carrying about 46 or 50 guns,
and are about the sin of our Blonde ; bath very inferior
to the Pique and her class.
The first-class sloops of war of the United States are
neither so large nor so powerful as our rants, such as
the Magicienee, but they arc larger than our other
corvettes in point of armament and force. Again, they
arc vastly inferior as fighting vessels to oar new 26's,
like the Vestal, which carry long 32's and two 68's.
The American corvettes are, moreover, heavy sailers,
and carry their midports 1 foot 4 inches lower than
the Vestal and her class, so that their whole battery is
exposed to a vast disadvantage. Indeed, our new 26's
are superior to any foreign corvettes in the world.
The second-class of American corvettes are nearly
similar to our Pearl and Tweed, of 20 guns. There is
nothing between them and schooners. The Americans
have no sloops of war brig-rigged—their small sloops
carry 16 guns, but arc ships.
The American schooners are very inferior in every
respect to our new 10-gun brigs, as Pantaloon, Rapid,
&c., beit g upwards of 100 tons inferior in burthen, also
in length and breadth, and their ports more than a foot
lower in water ; their height between decks also less
by nearly two feet. They arc, in fact, hardly equal to
our old 10 gun brigs.
The first-class war steamers building will, doubtless,
be noble Vessels ; very much larger than any we have,
being 30 feet longer than the Cyclops, 4 feet more
beam, and 600 tons more burthen ; they will, doubt-
less, be very heavily armed, perhaps carrying a 0 or 40
guns. These are the only two steamers the Americans
have in their navy ; but although in this branch we arc
far ahead of them, having at least 20 to their two, still
we should at once lay down sonic five or six of an
equal size. It is not a little odd that the dimensions of
these two American war steamers are as nearly as pos-
sible the same as the steamer by Captain Hendrie,
R.N. To conclude, we have nothing to fear from the
Americans, come a contest when it may. With our
ships properly armed and fully manned, we may defy
.hem and the world.