The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-09 00:00:00

REPAIRS IN THE NA VY.

It was stated. by the Surveyor of the Navy, in
a report of the committee appointed by the Trea-
sury to inquire into the Navy Estimates, that at
the end of 15 years, on an average, the hull of
each ship in the navy requires a complete and-ex-
tensi▪
ve repair. And further, that the duration of
a ship• of war cannot be estimated at more than 30
years. The Surveyor took for his guidance the
average of the 10 years from 1849 to 1859, when
35 ships of the line and 46 frigates were removed
from the effective list of the navy. We much fear
that none of our " converted" ships, nor indeed
any of our finest specimens of naval architecture,
will stand the wear and tear for the periods assigned
to them by the Naval Surveyor ; and it is supposed,
when he made the above statements, he alluded
' to the duration of sailing ships only, for we have
had a few warnings lately as to the future Me of
our Victorias, Howes, Duncans, and Diadems, by
the introduction of steam into ships of war.
have found that, instead of requiring a complete
repair once in 15 years only, as many months
are sometimes sufficient to send a ship into dock.
The rapid manner iu which the navy has been re-
constructed in some degree accounts for this pre-
mature decay, in consequence of the unseasoned
timber which has been so extensively used, and
which, from the limited supply in hand, could not
well have been avoided ; but, in addition to the use
of indifferent materiel, we must reckon upon our
steam ships of walebecoming rotten sooner than
our sailing ships did, in consequence of the heat
produced by the volcanic fires we put into them.
Shipwrights know to a plank where to "prick" for
rotten wood in a steamship. With unerring pre;
cision they try her just in the" wake of the boilers,
where the alternations of heat and cold are. the
greatest, and which are sufficient to destroy the best
seasoned timbe”. It is in these places that steam-
ships require repairs oftenest. There is, however,
another destructive power that disables a steamshiP
of war in a very marked manner, and thatqa_the
"shake of the screw." Long-continued screw pre"
pulsion at full speed soon tells a tale, We have
had indications in the Princess Royal, 91, nom
under repair at Portsmouth, of the destructive
effects of the vibratory motion of the screw. She
has been almost rebuilt abaft, after having passe" i
thfough one commission only. It is said, also, n
confirmation of this, that the whole of the Maw
nel fleet is leaky, and that the Royal Albert, the
flag ship, will require a thorough caulkin. Whe.n
we remember how recently this ship g
was Inuit
and commissioned these reports aro by no means
satisfactory. Judging, therefore, from the el'
perience to be derived from the few years the
" screw" has been in the navy, we must expect to
find defects in the " deal-wood" of all our shirt
which is subject to the cross-strain it receives in
passing through a body of water in a state of per
turbation. Olcourse other naval Powers will hale
the same destructive elements to contend with
ourselves. Indeed, we happen to know that the vihre
Lion. in some French line-of-battle ships greatly el•
ceeds that of our best ships. The Emperor, hod'
ever, aims at speed ; he knows its importance s:°_
Well as we do. But to obtain this very desirabl
quality in screw ships of war, he must be prepare'
to do as we do, and that is to anticipate a vel
serious increase in his navy estimates under the
head of "repairs."—Army and Navy Gazette,