The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 22, 1860.

IRON-CASED SHIPS,

The following letter appears in a contemporary :
Sir,—As a statement of the following facts may
assist to bring the public mind to a safe decision on
the question of that great change in the material
and character of future war-ships so ably mooted
in your article of the 10th inst., recently received
here, I beg to offer them for insertion if considered
of sufficient importance.
There are now before me all the data and obser-
vations, taken on the spot for my own professional
information, of the several trials made off Shoebury-
ness since January, 1859, to penetrate the sides of
the floating battery Trusty, built in 1855 for the
purposes of the Russian war, with a scantling of 23
inches of oak timber, covered with 4 -inch iron
plates. This vessel was prepared for being fired at
in the beginning of 1857, and, had the experiments
been then carried out, our present state of " indeci-
sion" would most probably have been avoided ; for
at that time no rifled cannon of any power had been
produced, and we now know that at the distance
then intended of 450 yards the spherical shot of
the heaviest smooth-bored gun must have been
found quite powerless to enter the ship.
It was not, however, until January, 1859, that
the first attempt -was made to penetrate the
Trusty's side, the gun used being Sir W. Arm-
strong's rifled 32-pounder, which had given the sur-
prising range of 9,200 yards. Fourteen shots in all
were fired, with charges of 61b., and at distances
varying from 450 yards to about 20 yards, the mate-
rial of the shot being cast iron, wrought iron, and
steel. Of these latter two stuck into the side, be-
tween the joints of the plates, projecting externally
6 inches and 2 inches respectively, and indentations
with some cracks were likewise produced on the
plates by the other shots ; but the gun was evi•
dently powerless to injure seriously the complete
protection of the side.

In September, 1859, attempts for two successive
days were again made to penetrate the side with
Sir William Armstrong's rifled 80-pounder, which,
with a 121 b. charge, had also thrown its shot more
than 9,000 yards. The first day's distance was 400
yards, at which 10 shots in all were fired, only three
of which, however, took effect so as to giVe proof of
the combined resistance of the side ; but this, to the
surprise of every one, was found to be so practically
complete that it was judged necessary to reduce
the distance for firing on the second day to 200
yards. At this range 11 shots in all were fired,
some of them of 100 lb. weight and of hardened
steel, but even with these no entry could be effected.
One 801 b. steel shot did, however, succeed in enter-
ing the ship. Its immediate predecessor had struck
a joint of the plates, and opened it three-quarters
of an inch. On this opening the shot in question
struck fair, and within two inches of the former
shot, which, besides opening the joint, had also
shattered the timber; but, although thus assisted,
the force of the shot on entering was so expended
that it only reached half-way across the deck,
throwing before it, however, a formidable splinter
of iron ; and this single violation of the protection
of the Trusty's side was the only result of the 14
shots which in the two days took effect upon her
plates.
At the trial made in June last with Mr. Whit-
worth's rifled 80. pounder I was not present, but
have since carefully examined the effects then pro-
duced, and found that of the three shots which
took effect on the side only one entered the ship.
It received no assistance from the effects of any
previous shot, but where it struck outside the plate
was unsound, and where it entered inside the timber
was rotten; and though a greater power of penetra-
tion was here exhibited than in the case of the Arm-
strong shot, yet, like it, it entered the ship in a spent
state, and reached no more than half-way across the
deck. Twelve and thirteen pound charges were
used on :this occasion, the shot being of carefully
prepared steel ; but, as in the previous trials, no
shells were fired, it having been judged useless to
do so wheresolid steel had been so completely foiled.
Excluding, then, altogether the attempt with the
32-pounder, we have thus 17 shots, of from 801 b to
lOOlb weight, made of special material, of special
form and temper, fired with the heaviest charges
the guns will bear, as far as practicable at right
angles, within the shortest safe distance, from the
two most powerful pieces of artillery ever yet pro-
duced, and the ship's side thus subjected to proof
has been penetrated twice. The side which has
exhibited this power of protection is one of the first
of its description ever constructed. Its outer lining
of iron is slighter than that since manufactured;
the plates of which it is composed are much smaller;
and instead of being firmly bolted upon the timber
beneath them, they were found to be loose, owing
to the shrinkage of the wood since the ship was
built. When struck near their edges these plates
were more or less injured and broken, when near
their centres more or less indented and cracked;
but the iron splinters which went in with the Arm-
strong shot was the only mischievous one of any
sort which the whole 17 shots produced, and both
that shot itself and the Whitworth would have been
perfectly harmless to any one on the other side of
the deck opposite where they entered. With every
advantage, therefore, on the side of the guns to an
extent which could never occur in action, these re-
sults may, I think, be safely accepted as conclusive
proof that, in the terms of your article—
" British manufacturers can, indeed, produce plates of
iron capable of affording. such protection to the sides of
British ships that the best of even British guns cannot pene-
trate them."

But it will be asked, with such results as these for
now a year before us, whence has arisen that " inde-
cision" which, as your article observes, has hitherto
characterised our own adoption of this invention,
and which still seems to delay its progress ?
The only reply is I believe to be found in the
fact that, simultaneously with the experiments at
Shoeburyness, other experiments have been taking
place at Portsmouth which have furnished results
of a totally different nature. Month after month for
more than a year the public has been informed, in
general and in detail, of the entire destruction of
armour plates of all descriptions and of almost all
thicknesses, effected, not by any new and powerful
rifled cannon, but by the old smooth-bored gun of
heavy calibre, with its limited range of some 4,000
yards. And although, as you observe," it is impos-
sible for us to balance our own experiments in this
matter against those of the French, inasmuch as we
cannot be sure that the conditions were equal," yet
it may be well to apply this process to our own two
sets of experiments, if only to remove the perplexity
caused by the great discrepancy they represent;
and we shall then readily, perceive that the differ-
ence in the essential conditions under which they
have been respectively made will fully account for
the opposite deductions they admit of. The side of
the Trusty, as before stated, was built but five
years since for the express purpose of sustaining
the shock it has shown itself so well able to bear:
The sides of the Alfred, the Undaunted, and Sirius,
experimented upon at Portsmouth, were built
nearer 50 years ago, with a strength of scantling
and with fastenings totally unfitted even then to
undergo that hammer-and-anvil process of hanging
heavy plates upon them to be attacked with the
heaviest guns, and under which plates and timber-
ing have both inevitably succumbed when the ope-
ration had been performed, after " old age" had of
itself already brought these ships to the verge of the
breaking-up dock. Why experiments of such a na-
ture were made under such conditions at all I pre-
sume neither to know nor inquire ; but I doubt not
their necessary results have had the natural effect of
inducing. that doubt and indecision in the public,if not
the official mind, which it might have seemed so de-
sirable to avoid in a matter so serious and new, and
in which only the most practical experiments pos-
sible could be expected to afford a safe guidance.
But, whatever may have been the especial object of
these Portsmouth experiments, we may be assured
that whenever British armour-ships may have to
contend with those of ether nations the timbering
which supports their plates will be found, not of
the same age and weakness as that of the old ships
named, but on the same scale of strength as that
of the Trusty ; as witness the 24-inch scantling of
the Normandie, now receiving her plates in the
basin at Cherbourg.
Thus, within a period of 10 years, has the match
of human progress twice overtaken with serious
change the status of British naval affairs ; and,
while our requisite force of screw ships of the line is
yet far from complete, we find ourselves unavoidably
launched into the most complete revolution in the
character and construction of ships of war ever yet
known. No ship of wood, of whatever size or force,
can be expected to contend with the modern projec-
tiles of conical and spherical shopitai,vesroheueerldalsba,itaenadlalcm;clowldteletnhnt
iron, against even a single-decked ship with sides
as impenetrable as those of the Trusty, Even at
alone
ye ardsw
enables we have
such seenside s
t o b
thate
sufficient steam speed to enable a fitinsg4dls'etraa- nueset
h :I; port-
of 1,000 yards to be maintainewd,i
prove "invulnerable" (except 0
holes) to any gun yet kno;7„,while capable them-
selves of the most effect:v., "
use of their powers of de.
struction against ar-
" reconstructior" opponent of wood; and the
fleet ham, it • of the line-of-battle portion of our
.eca becomc an imperious necessity. Nor

is our present position that alone of having been sur-
prised in the numerical inferiority which your
article places before us, but tb;s time we have lost
our usual priority in practical experience too ; for,
while our own first armour frigate will require still
some considerable time before she can be launched,
the Gloiro appears to be in full course of
realising established data for the future management
and improvement of the similar structures of our
great neighbour. Doubtless, the superiority in re-
sources of money, material, and skilled labour to
meet the occasion are all on our side, and it had
been well if such considerations had weighed with
our Administrators during those indications of the
approaching crisis which were evident to so many,
so as to have urged them to secure to ourselves the
lead in this great change and this now rivalry. As
it is, however, the "stern-chase'' can be no longer
delayed ; and if it be wisely and energetically
prosecuted, with that united effort which the talent
and great practical experience in iron constructions
of this country enables us to call forth, every allow•
ante will, no doubt, be made for any over-reluctance
which may hare been shown to enter on that in-
crease of naval outlay which must now be encoun-
tered before England's requisite superiority in the
new description of war-ship can be established.
I remain, sir, yours, &c,,
E. P HALSTED, Captain, RN., lately
Commanding the Steam Reserve Fleet
in the Medway.
Talladh-a-Bheithe, Perthshire, Sept. 17:

(from the Times.)
A letter whibh 'Vse insert this morning from an
able correspondpnt will furnish the public with
some authentic }'information on -a subject of the
highest importence to our national security—viz.,
the success or failure of the new scheme for casing
ships of war in iron. Our IT:lsmer remarks on the
question will have explained the position in which it
now stands. In the main it was a question of experi-
ment only, and yet by some strange divergence of
induction, British and French authorities had ar-
rived at conclusions diametrically opposed to each
other. The French had satisfied themselves of the
utility of the invention, had discontinued the con-
struction of wooden line of battle ships, had put ten
iron-cased frigates ou the stocks, and had actually
launched two of them. We, on the other hand, had,
indeed put out four of the new men-of•war to contract,
but wo had not regarded the case as in any way
urgent, and had still concentrated our principal
efforts upon screw two-deckers, exactly as before.
This policy, too, seemed to derive a certain warrant
from the results of experiment, for we were assured
day after day that no plates .of iron producible by
our manufacturers had been found capable of resist-
ing the effects of out guns. Naturally, therefore,
we imagined that the French, to say the least, had
been precipitate, and that, whatever-might be the
conclusion finally established, invulnerable ships had
not become a reality up to the present moment.
These impressions, however, will be most mate-
rially modified by the statements contained in Capt.
Halsted's letter. From that communication it ap-
pears not only that a ship's side had been found
practically impenetrable when battered at short
range by the most powerful rifled ordnance, but
that the discovery was made twelve months ago, so
that unless the conclusion was to be corrected by
other evidence, we should have had our iron-
sheathed frigates afloat exactly like our neighbours.
Nothing can be more instructive than the results of
the Shoeburyness experiments, as here detailed.
The vessel taken as a target was the floating bat-
tery Trusty, built for the express purpose of offer-
ing the greatest resistance to shot some five years
ago. She was the earliest type, in fact, of the new
invention—the very class of ship which the French
naval architects have since developed into the
Gloire. In 1857 she was "prepared for being fired
at," or, in other words, as we presume, she was cased
in the strongest armour which could be manufac-
tured at that time. The sheathing, in all proba-
bility, was by no means so strong as could be menu-
factored now, and yet it. repelled 801 b. shot from
Armstrong and Whitworth guns. We need not reca-
pitulate the results which our correspondent so per-
spicuously details. It is quite sufficient to observe
that with every condition in favour of the attack it
proved virtually ineffectual against the defence.
Twice only in 17 shots could the new artillery pene-
trate the old floating battery, although each of these
shots was fired under advantages which could rarely
be reckoned upon in actual conflict.
This seems decisive ; but there are two or three
questions still suggesting themselves for considera-
tion, and the subject is so vitally important that
not a single point should be blinked.- Were these
rifled cannon really the most formidable weapons
that could have been employed in the experiment ?
Admitting their extraordinary powers of range and
accuracy, were the shots which they threw at point
blank range mole likely to be destructive under the
circumstances of the case than heavy spherical shot
from a smooth-bored gun We have heard that a
681 b. ball fired from one of the long 95cwt. guns
will, at a range, say of 200 yards, produce more
effect on an iron-plate target than the elongated
bolt of an Armstrong or Whitworth cannon. This,
indeed, may possibly be alleged as an explanation of
the strange discrepancy between the experiments at
Portsmouth and those at Shoeburyness. At the for-
mer place the smooth-bored 68-pounder was tried
against what our correspondent describes as weak and
worthless targets ; at the latter a target thoroughly
well constructed was battered only by rifled guns.
Perhaps, therefore, there is still some room for
uncertainty, though it is natural to ask why so
very obvious a course as bringing the strongest
target to the test of the most destructive shot was
hot thought of by those who conducted our experi-
ments. A second question arises from certain
special results discovered during these trials. It
was found that though one or two shots might be
repelled by the iron sheathing, yet when this sheath-
ing was finally penetrated, as at Portsmouth almost
invariably occurred, the destruction produced was
infinitely greater than would have been the case on
board a wooden vessel. The first shot or two, per-
haps even the first broadside, might rattle harm-
lessly against the ship's armour, but the next would
create such tremendous havoc that the temporary
impunity would have been dearly purchased. When
the side of an iron-cased frigate was once smashed
all on board, it was said, were doomed. This is
evidently a point of great consequence. Captain
Halstead, it will be seen, actually claims an advan-
tage for iron-sheathed vessels on this very score ;
but here again he is speaking of bolts, and not of
cannon balls.
We can only add that points like these, which a
week's experiments properly eonducted would suf-
fice to decide, should never have been left thus in
doubt. For ourselves, we conceive that upon the
whole evidence now before us there is reason for
believing iron-cased ships to be, if not a perfect, at
any rate semost important invention. We suspect
that, though the Gloire may not be absolutely
invulnerable, she would be found possessed of such
advantages as would justify our neighbours in thus
closing with the new theory. Possibly our autho-
rities might be ably to show that no iron plates
have yet been proof against the effects of artillery
continuously fired, though, as they seem never to
have tested the best targets with the best guns, we
cannot feel any certainty even on this point. It
appears, however, quite plain that, though this
marine armour may not be impenetrable to the
last, it is impenetrable for a good while, and at
certain distances altogether so. Is not this an ad-
vantage worth securing p A frigate invulnerable
at six hundred yards, and proof against at least
one broadside at a third of that distance, would
surely overpower an antagonist possessed of no
such protection. We think it highly probable that
the best iron plates yet manufactured might be
penetrated sooner or later, and under given condi-
tions, by heavy shot, but if that result could be
averted for a certain time it would clearly be so
much gain. If the French, in short, have not proved
that a ship can be made invulnerable, they have
proved that a ship can be made far less vulnerable
than other ships without any material sacrifice of
' mobility or speed; and if that example is lost upon
us it will go hard with England.
We do sincerely trust, therefore, that all this evi-
dence may have produced its effect upon our Board
of Acim!r itv during their recent survey of the
a
:.T'ngdom. Ifthe case be but fairly
dockyards of the
s%oth in it which should
. ing
grappled with there is
deed, the more naval
give us any uneasiness;
architecture is brought Within to sphere of mecha-
nical science the more certain would D. our national
superiority. We excel the French both in h._ she
and manufacture, We have the beet Iron and 4.-
greatest resources for working it. We have the best
eneineers and the best mechanics. We have also
the best coal, so that, what with fuel and engines
together, we ought always to ensure a general supe-
riority is only in one respect,
riority in speed. unhap-
pily an important one, that we are surpast;V.l-
by the
trench. They go to 'work, with judgmeni, tromp' ,
titude, and decision. They allow no obstruotione to
stand in the 'way of approved reforms, They satisfy
themselves of facts, and then apply their conclu-
sions with a single-mindedness and determination
which infallibly sends them ahead. so
. _
with screw' two-deckers, 'and left us to gtrAiti 0

immense resources in overtaking them. Hardly had
we done so when they strike out a new line ; but it
will be unpardonable this time if we are allow td to
fall so seriously into arrear.