The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-13 00:00:00

IRON-CASED 8111 P S.

The question of iron-cased ships spay be said to
have been practically decided by the discussion
which it has received in oar columns. Two great
facts appear now to be established. The first of
these is, that all iron plates can' be penetrated,
under certain conditions, by shot, and therefore
that no vessel, however thus protected, can be pro-.
nounced invulnerable. The second is that the re.
quisite conditions are Aifficult of attainment, anti
therefore that an iron ad vessel would possess a
decisive advantage over an unprotected antago-
nist. We consider these results as established,
not only because they have been affirmed
and explained by correspondents of unim-
peachable authority, but because they have met no
refutation. Witnesses in abundance, got rofes-
sional and independent, have testified to eality
and importance of the new invention, b ere has
been no direct denial of its merits. Mr, hitworth
has naturally made a stand for the honour of his
guns. The Gloire, in short, is not an invulnerable
frigate, but as she is probably proof against all
shel and a good many shot, few wooden frigates
could encounter her on equal terms. We shall be
excused, we hope, for reminding the reader that
this is precisely the conclusion which we ourselves
submitted to the public.
Now, succeeds, however, the important conside-
ration of the measures to be adopted and the ex-
pense to be incurred in consequence of this new
discovery, The bare announcement of a fresh
" reconstruction of our Navy," especially on such
costly terms, is enough to fill the nation with
alarm. We have but just emerged from the flood
of extravagance ensuing upon a sudden panic.
We have succeeded by incredible efforts in almost
doubling the strength of our marine since the
beginning of 1858, and the British fleet has at
length been brought into a condition befitting our
resources and our position. Is all this ground to
be lost, and have we another up-hill fight to go
through before our Navy can again become what it
should be? We think we can reassure the public
mind on these points. We see nothing very for-
midable before us in the way either of expense or
difficulty: All our wooden ships have not become
useless, and though we shall certainly want some
iron-cased vessels, our wants in this respect are not
so great but what they can be supplied in good
time and without extraordinary charge.
The measure of our obligations is derived, of
course, from the proceedings of the French. Nobody
attempts to blink or disguise that fact, so we have
first to consider what the French have done. They
have taken the initiative, much to their credit, in
constructing men-of-war upon an entirely new
model, and have left us, as on many former occa-
sions, with the duty of following in their steps.
Fortunately, however, they have not yet got very
far ahead. This time, if we do but bestir ourselves,
we need have no great difficulty in recovering our
place. The French have laid down ten iron-cased
frigates ; they have launched two, and of these one,
at least, is a complete success. Perhaps the Nor-
mandie is less of a failure than has been reported,
but, at any rate, France has only two of the new
fabrics afloat, and eight on the stocks. We have
on the stocks four such vessels, two of which were
ordered by Lord Derby's Government nearly three
years ago. When these are launched—and we
hope the event may be expedited—we shall at once
be a match for our neighbours in frigates afloat,
and though they will still have the start of us in
the numbers on hand, it will not cost us much to
overtake them. In material, in mt.chinery, and
in all the conditions favourable to such manufac-
tures we possess infinite advantages. The Gloire
herself would have been a better vessel if built in
England. Good as she is, she merely represents
the best that could be done in France.

_ .
Much alarm, however, has been created by the
inevitable costliness ascribed to these fabrics. To a
certain extent, no doubt, the current impressions
are correct ; but we hope something remains to be
abated on this score, and we shall presently show
that there are considerations on the other side.
General Peel stated at Huntingdon last week that
the two vessels bespoken by Sir John Pakington,
and now in process of construction, would cost " no
less than a million of money—£soo,ooo each." That
is certainly a prodigious sum. The Duke of Wel-
lington, one of our largest three-deckers, cost but
£170,000, and the Orlando, our finest and most ex-
pensive frigate, only £lOO,OOO. But we really do
not understand how General Peel's figures were ob-
tained, unless the work has grown wonderfully under
the hand. We remember no such demand as
£1,000,000 for these purposes in the Navy Estimates
of 1859. There is an item, certainly for ships " to be
built by contract," but it is only £252,000. We were
very well aware that the oast of an iron-cased
frigate would be largely in excess of the old
standard, especially if reckoned by the number of
tons. The old computation, for instance, 30 years
ago, gave £l,OOO per gun as the average cost of a
vessel of war ; this was raised by the modern
system of screw propulsion to £2,000, and the
iron-cased frigate, it was said, would cost £4,000.
Thesz results, however, were produced not merely by
the expensiveness of the ship, but by the compara-
tively small number of guns carried by the new de-
scription of vessel. The Warrior and the Black
Prince mount but 36 guns each, though of enormous
power, and consequently their cost appears larger
than if they carried 60 or 70 pieces of smaller cali-
bre. Assuming, however, that iron-cased frigates
can be constructed for £130,000 each, which was
what we imagined, they are neither extravagant
nor unfavourable bargains. They cost more than
a wooden frigate, no doubt, but less than a wooden
two-decker' whereas they are more powerful, we
are assured, than even the latter class of vessel. If,
therefore, we obtain for £130,000, or even £150,000,
a ship more effective than those for which we have
hitherto paid £160,000 or £170,000, we are clearly
no losers, not to mention that the 36-gun vessel can
probably be worked with fewer hands than the
old 91.
Lastly, let it never be forgotten that
without
submitting to any fresh burdens, or embartkri naf on
e of
any fresh outlay, we have at our presen
expenditure a good million a-year to spend
to time
on new
ships of such models as may
from
timeoint because it
_
be preferred. We insist upon this p
is here that all our embarrassments have been in
brought up to the
curred. If the products ourofahl
y
given year had been invariably
whatever that might
have been, weshould have highest mark of the period,escaped all our perplexi-
ties and panics. The i:
long to obsolete models,
that we always clung too
, I
fabrics which were pre-
sently to prove useless the labour and funds which
and thus lavished upon
tnllsechief has lain in the fact
with
specimens of t h
e best
would have supplied us w
current patterns.
What caused us such trouble in
we, front various causes, had g
suchof into
approved
thtahte mwheorsetasattha modelt time the screw two-
decker of a
arrearsline-of-
in the construction of these vessels that
actually ahead of us, and the most ex-
1858
was,
a wass,
tFbrarataotnrldece wasisnhairpy exertions were required before we could
recover our place. It might be the same in 1862,
if we again neglected the new pattern, and ad-
hered to the old one ; bat we trust the alarm has

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