The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-31 00:00:00

on Mr. Jones's.plan at such an angle of inclination,
it will be unnecessary to employ more than a very
few bolts in attaching them ; and if the plates arc
well dovetailed into each other, five placed thus : • :
would be amply sufficient to attach them. This is
one most important advantage, but there is another
almost as great in the diminution of the tendency
of the ship to roll by the weight of the iron sides
being made to lean in board and more to the centre
of gravity. We do not mean to say that an incline
of 50 degrees is necessary for iron ships' sides, as
we know there are many important objections to
such a " tumble home;" but every error is only a
truth abused, and Mr. Jones is far nearer the truth
when he states 50 degrees to be the necessary in-
cline than the Admiralty when they state
that twelve degrees are sufficient. The ablest
authorities in gunnery in the navy have officially
expressed their opinion to the Admiralty in favour
of Mr. Jones's plan, and shipbuilders and practical
seamen profess to be convinced that the sides of a
floating battery should have an incline of from 30
to 35 degrees• Still the Admiralty have as yet done
nothing, and in this matter, too, the Emperor of
the French is ahead of them. The success of Mr,
Jones's plan was only clearly established in

June. Yet already the Emperor has tested the

value of the improvement, has built one gunboat
(the Tortoise) on this principle, and others are in
course of construction. Will the Admiralty profit
by this example of our neighbours as they have
done in the matter of iron-cased frigates altogether?
At all events, if they don't build angular-sided
vessels, let them at least build others like the War-
rior. Let the slip that is now vacant at Millwall
be at once occupied by another, and let no time be
lost in diminishing the distance between the pro-
gress of our navy and that of France in the matter
of iron-sided men-of-war. The Warrior
vessel; all that the country wants is a superb
is more of them;
all that scientific gunners and seamen want is that
such an inclination should be given to their sides as
would not only keep out the shot, but glance it up
wards off the vessel altogether. Having seen the
Warrior built the Admiralty are about to try their
hands at building one at Chatham. Far be it from
us to say that this ship will not be in form, strength,
and speed, as fine a structure as the Warrior itself;
but we may, at all events, venture to express an
opinion that some long time must elapse before the
public are likely to see it finished. By all means,
however, let one be built at Chatham. We are too
far behind the French in this matter of iron frigates
not to wish that every means may be resorted to
to restore the equilibrium of our navy. But while
doing this at Chatham let not the Admiralty ne-
glect to employ to the same end the great private
yards which have given such proofs of their skill
and resources as are shown in the Warrior and the
three other vessels of the same class now building.
A few words about La Gloire may not be out of
place here. According to one set of statements, she
is the most perfect and most formidable vessel ever
built ; according to others neither the one nor the
other, but a bad and irremediable failure. Neither
of these extreme reports is true, but the latter is
nearer the truth. From the immense thickness of
the wooden scantling under the armour plates, and
from her being coated entirely with armour, she is
so low in the water that, as we have said, her port-
sill is less than six feet from the sea. When fully
laden, with all coals and stores on board, it is scarcely
over five, and this fatal defect renders her maindeck
guns all but useless in a moderate sea-way. For
the same reason she is not able to stow more than
from three to three and a-half days'coal. The bunkers
of the Warrior hold fuel for six and a-half days'
full steaming, and, with a very little extra stowage
nine days coal can always be carried out of port.
The speed of La Gloire has been stated to be 12
knots. Now, if the statement of one of her officers
is to be believed (an officer, too, thoroughly well ac-
quainted with her engines), the utmost speed that
has been obtained from her has been short of 11 knots,
and at this speed the vibration of the stern was so
considerable that it was evident the armour plates
would all work loose if it was long maintained.
Nine and a-half to ten knots an hour is stated to be
her utmost average speed, and this must be consi-
dered a high rate for a ship of such size and weight.
None attempt to deny the fact that in a sea way La
Gloire rolls almost dangerously. In fact, all iron-
clad frigates must roll slowly and deeply, if in their
construction especial pains are not taken to guard
against such a defect. Their massive iron sides, when
once started, are like heavy fly-wheels set in motion,
and roll they must. Beyond a certain degree of
inclination also, the weight of both sides leans over
on one, and thus the roll must always be both slow
and very deep. To counteract such motion the
Warrior has two ridges of iron on each side of her
bottom, like lee-boards, and extending almost along
her entire length. Each of these plates is about
two feet deep, and the resistance which they offer
to her rolling is, of course, immense. Roll, how-
ever, to a certain extent she must ; but she will
undoubtedly roll less than any iron frigate built
without the ridges we have mentioned. The
work of fitting the Warrior with the rest of her
plates and engines will go on as rapidly as possible
in the Victoria Dock, whence she will start at the
end of May or beginning of June, for Portsmouth,
to be masted.