The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-04 00:00:00

2.11.101
I 16

IRON -CASED SKIPS OF WAR.

I TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
61r,—May I venture to crave sufficient space in
your valuable olumns for a few further remarks on
the above subject, which some of the observations
contained in your article of the 22d inst., and in
some subsequent correspondence, lead me to believe
may prove useful ?
1. The " preparation of the Trusty," referred to
in my former letter, consisted in filling ifn
thethe port-
holes with timber and iron plating of as that of the side, in the vicinityo same
of where
the ship was to be fired at, so as to prevent the
profitless mischief of shot finding entrance at the
ports.
2. Nothing could have been easier thanc pounder
opnrodve-re
the comparative effect of the heavy s
smooth-bored gun again the sides of the Trusty at
the Shoeburyness trials, inasmuch as this gun con-
stituted the permanent armament of the gunboat
from which the firing took place on that occasion,
and it was by no means requisite to remove it in
order to make room for the rifled 80-pounder. The
reason why it was not used I therefore conclude to
be that it was thought useless to do so. A solid
681 b. spherical shot of wrought iron, carefully lathed
so as to have the smallest possible windage, was, I
am aware, driven from this gun through the plated
side of the old Albert at Portsmouth from a distance
of 20 yards; but no shot from this gun has, as I
believe, ever yet succeeded in entering a ship with
a side of combined timber and plating especially
constructed to resist it ; and if in any single case
this has, indeed, been done, the conditions have
been, I doubt not, quite as exceptional, in point of
range and other circumstances, as those by means
of which the rifled " bolt" succeeded. The superior
" smashing power" claimed for this gun is said to
reside in the greater initial velocity of its shot, a
superiority which, even if admitted, is in name and
nature essentially ephemeral, and from the range
usually adopted at experiments, a distance of 200
yards seems to be the limit assigned by its
advocates for its existence at all. But 2,000
yards is a perfectly effective distance for shot, shell,
and carcases of molten iron,' directed against the
sides of a ship of wood ; and if such a ship should
indeed succeed in reaching, undamaged, the above
smaller distance from her iron-sided opponent, the
signal disparity between the two would only become
the more obvious and decisive where every shot on
both sides must equally strike, but not at all equally
" strike home." If a proportion of only one-half of
the British shots which decided the close fights of
the Nile and Trafalgar had done no more mischief
than that of sticking in the sides of the French ships,
history must have had to record very different re-
sults from those which now adorn her pages in re-
spect to those battles.

3. Perhaps the most practical mode in which to
submit to public judgment the moot question of the
effect of " ordinary" broadsides will be thus. Out
of the 17 effective shots so deliberately fired at the
sides of the Trusty, is it to be expected that a larger
proportion than two would have entered the ship
if the whole number had been fired at once, with
the necessarily more promiscuous and uncertain aim
of a broadside ? Those who entertain such an ex-
pectation will perhaps furnish the public with the
reason why.
4. With respect to concentrated broadsides, no
persons can, I think, be found who has ever wit-
neesed the serious practice of this mode of attack
between any two ships. Concentrated broadsides,
and " divisions" of broadsides, for which all our
ships are prepared, have, I am well aware, been de-
livered against targets by well practised crews with
formidable accuracy ; but in all such cases favour-
able circumstances have been chosen, the focal dis-
tance has been carefully ascertained, and the firing
has been all on one side. Nevertheless it has been
seriously proposed to concentrate the entire broad-
side of a 90 gun ship on some given portion of the
side of an iron-clad ship, and thus endeavour to dis-
pose of the whole question raised by that very dis-
agreeable Gloire by sending one of her representatives
to the bottom--a result which lam bound to admit,
under certain conditions, might be practicable. But,
besides determining the exact distance, it would
require in this case that the ship firing, and the
ship to be fired at, should both be fixed in im-
movable " rests" similar in principle to that pro-
vided by Mr. Whitworth for her Majesty's coup
de grace at Wimbledon. And instead of trusting
to the perfectly simultaneous "pull" of the 45
" trigger-lines" of the 45 seamen gunners distri-
buted over the three decks of a ship 250 feet long,
it would also require each gun to be provided with
its own voltaic apparatus, and the combined wires
be placed in the hands of a single operator. With
the tail of the bird thus properly prepared the pro-
posed " concentration" of " salt" might, no doubt,
be effectually applied. Finally, having now ful-
filled what I have conscientiously regarded as a
paramount public duty, viz., to submit for general-
....idoraaon on a zubjcct of tho gravest national
importance such information of a relevant nature as
the course of my professional duties has brought
before me, I have now only to render to yourself,
sir, my sincere thanks for the very liberal oppor-
tunity afforded me for so doing, and to add that,
except for any necessary purpose of explanation, it
is my intention not to be led into any public con-
troversy on either the facts or opinions I have thus
felt it my duty to state.—l beg to remain, sir, your
obedif..Prt. servant,
E. P. HALSTED, Captain R.N.
Tallaah-a-Bhiethe, Perthshire, Sept. 29.