The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FIIIIMY EVENING, AIARCH 15, 1867,

and the Admiral in command on the Pacific station being
similarly desirous of obtaining vessels. It is important that
the committee, the House of Commons, and the country
should consider what is the absolute necessity of keeping
up these large squadrons in all parts of the world- (hear,
hear)—squadrons of small ships, which on the approach of
any large ship belonging to an enemy would have to " cut
and run." (Hear, hear.) No officer dare at present take
upon himself, in the face of the policy of non-intervention,
demand reparation of any act done against us until he
receive the opinion of the authorities at home. He
should hail with delight a decision to modify or altogether
remove the African squadron, if the present Government
or its successors should think that course consistent with
the interests of humanity and the public service of this
country. (Hear, hear.) The slave trade can be kept
down by fear of vessels stationed at Gibraltar, without
the frightful losses of health and life suffered on the Afri-
can coast. But the question is for the house to decide.
The Lords of the Admiralty had to turn their attention to
the question what class of ships it is best to build in our
dockyards, and on the whole had found it wise to carry out
the opinions of the late Board. The present Board of Ad-
miralty found three vessels of the Amazon class on the
stocks. One had been an unfortunate vessel ; but although
she came to an untimely end through the neglect of the
officer in charge, that is no reason why a very useful class
of vessels, superseding the old first-class despatch boats,
should be discarded. The Roebuck class never exceeded
11 knots, but the vessels launched last year have realised
12.8 and 12.4 knots. Instead of carrying 68-pounders, they
carry two 61 rifle guns and two 64-pounders. The Admi-
ralty ordered four additional vessels of this class to be laid
down. The next class is very dear to all admirals, officers,
officers, and sailors of the navy. These vessels are intended
to replace the old paddlewheel steamers. Two of them will
be completed, of about 1,460 tons, and with admirable ac-
commodation for taking small numbers of troops, supernu-
meraries, and stores. The next work to be done was to
follow the late board in laying down some gunboats, which
will be of 678 tons, and will carry one 61-ton rifle gun and
two 40-pounders. They are built of wood, and have double
screws, enabling them to turn with great facility. They
are of light draught, and adapted for going up rivers and
creeks. They are expected to go at 11 knots, which is at
least two knots in excess of the speed of the class they
supersede. Ten of these vessels have been laid down. The
next class is intended for the suppression of Chinese
piracy. The Chinese squadron consists of 36 vessels,
and of these about 17 aro gunboats, built for the Cri-
mean war. They are of wood, and are rotting away
much faster than was anticipated ; and the Admiralty
have been obliged to get forward a class of ves-
sels to take their place. These will be of 430 tons, built of
composite iron frames, with wood flanking. They will be
of light draught, and of 120 horse power. The engines
will be taken from the old gunboats. Two gunboats
ordered by the late board will be completed at Hasler, and
the Hercules and Monarch at Chatham will be finished.
During the official inspection at Pembroke and Chatham
the board found two small wooden vessels on the stocks,
far advanced, belonging to a class which was tried and
found wanting. One of them, the Newport, of 450 tons,
was ordered to be completed as a surveying vessel.
£5,618 had been spent on her, and the total estimate to
finish her will be £13,000. The other vessel, the 3lyr-
midon,was of 645 tons, and .£14,682 had been spent on her,
and the estimates to complete her are £27,320. There aro
in three of the dockyards vessels laid down as lino of
battle ships, but when the change came over the spirit of
modem warfare the shipwrights were taken to other work.
One of these, the Repulse, has cost £61,711, and if broken
up she would be a loss of £27,500. Instead, therefore, of
breaking her up, it had been decided to finish her as an
armour-plated ship of the improved Zealous class. The
general result of the proposed operations of the year will
be the construction of 22,945 tons of shipping in the docks ;
and the most ardent critic of the Admiralty will not be
able to say, if the programme is carried out, that the
dockyards do not turn out w ork of service to the
country. On vote 10, section 1, there is an increase
of £17,000 for paint, materials, capstans, dtc. Ther e
is a reduction of £lOO,OOO for coals, on account of
the Indian Government having undertaken to pay for
the fuel consumed in its service. There is also a great
reduction in the stock of timb3r. In the " wooden-wall"
period the stock was 60,000 loads, but under the new sys-
tem a smaller quantity will suffice,, and a reduction of
£147,990 has been made. But there is an increase of
£522,550 for iron shipbuilding. But for this increase the
estimates would have been almost identical with those of
last year. A sum of £83,355 has gone for the cupola ship
Captain, now being built by the hon. member for Birken-
head (Mr. Laird). She was designed by Captain Coles,
who was allowed to choose his own tonnage, specifications,
and builder, in order that his system might have a fair
trial. (Hear.) The Board of Admiralty were from the first
most anxious to give not only an impartial, but almost a
favourable consideration to the plans of Captain Cols.
There is a sum of £344,350 for armour-plated iron ships.
It may be asked, what is the necessity for building more
iron-plated vessels ? He was opposed to drawing numeri-
cal comparisons between the forces of this country and the
forces of countries who are our allies and near neighbours,
for such comparisons are liable to give pain, and to convey
to this country a most fallacious idea of the strength of
other countries. Still, it is necessary to refer to the French
fleet, to show what a first-class power, which does not pro-
fess to be a purely maritime power, thinks it right and safe
in the present day to keep up, without in any way being
considered to be menacing the peace of Europe. France
has 43 ironclad vessels, of which 16 are first class. But four
or five of them, after going through a severe storm, re-
turned to port like " crippled ducks," and more recently one
of them has been shipwrecked. The others are to be reserved
for harbour defence. Them are four first-class ironclads in
addition. Of the second class, one is built and seven aro
building; of the third class they have 12, many of which
are of an indifferent character. The Imperial Govern-
ment has followed the example of the American Govern-
ment, and recently laid down four large wooden frigates,
intended to possess great speed and carry heavy
arms, to defend the commerce of France or to harass the
commerce of an enemy in case of war. The total number
of ships in the French navy is 365; in the Spanish, 95 :
Austrian,
siane,B2; Russian, 218 ;. and Americ
231. the American, one word upon
there And
por witht"ot Italian,
eraelpct to
Minister of Marine to Congress. That
report enters most fully into the state of the American
navy; but the most interesting portion of it is that from
which it appears that the American Government have not
die slightest intention of building any more iron-clads.
They intend to rely solely on turretted monitors for the
wooden frigates for
and harassing the
defencer
po
of
stehoe
fi r
pc
rooatsetcst,
na ngd t
hupe
ioru
own,large
commerce of an enemy.

Mr. SHAW LEFEVRE—They will be 3,000 tons.
Lord 11. LENNOX—Yes, and more. There was a pre-
vailing idea that our coast defences were bare, and that it
would be advisable to build some of these turretted moni-
tors in the same way as the Americans. But I venture to
think that is the very last class of ships that we aro most
in need of. In the first place, I hope and believe that there
is scarcely any event that can be more improbable than an
invasion of our shores ; and in the next place, when 1 re-
member what the Americans were able to do in the course
of a very few months, I feel confident that the spirit of
Englishmen, aided by the private yards at our disposal,
will be able to effect as much. (Hear, hear.) Therefore 1
think that that is a class of ships which of all others may
be the most distantly postponed. I may then be asked,
why make ironclads at all ? But my answer to that is, that
England ought not to stand still while all other Powers
great and small, aro progressing in the science of arms. In
the year 1860-61 a sum of £582,000 was taken for ironclads ;
in 1861-62, £865,000 ; in 1862-63, £966,000 ; in 1863-64,
£630,000; in 1864-65, £638,000 ; in 1865-66, £120,000
(not spent); and last. year nothing was asked for on ac-
count of this vote. Therefore, I think, if any board were
justified in coming to Parliament and asking for a vote on
that head, we:were. The French Government make no un-
usual effort. Their estimates aro not unusually largo, but
they go on year by year doing little by little, and the con-
sequence is that in the end they have a great show. I only
wish that had been the policy of the English Government,
and I am sure that it is the soundest. The Admiralty
having come to the conclusion that ships wore to be built,
we had next to decide upon the class and description. We
found that we had 18 first-class ironclads, but that of those
four, including the Warrior, Black Prince, and Defence,
were not perfect specimens. We found that in the second
class we had only three ships afloat and one building, and
that was the class in which we most needed an increase.
Then came the question of pattern, and than again rose the
difficulty of getting a comparatively
small sea-going turret
ship. Upon that Admiral Robinson brought to us a design
by Mr. Heed for such a ship,
and we adopted it. Her ton-
nage will be 3,774 19-64ths, her horse power 800, draught of
water forward, 21ft. 6in., and aft, 26ft. 6in.; her speed, 13k
knots an hour ; and her complement, 450 men. She will
be covered with armour plates 8 inches, except at the ex-
tremities, which will be 6 inches ; she will have a teakback
of 10 inches, and a skin of 11 inch ; the height of the port
sides on the main deck will be 10 feet out of the water, and
of the upper dock 14 feet. She will carry on her main deck
an armament of six guns of 12 tons each, with two 68-
pounders, one fore and one aft, as bow guns ; but her pe-
culiar characteristic will be the semi-turrets, within which
the twelve ton guns will be placed. The weight of her hull
will be 2,704 tons, of her armour 850 tons, and of backing
140 tons. We propose to build two vessels of the second
class, and two gunboats on the same plan and principle as
those already in the dockyards; and there is further an idea
of building another of those ships which were laid down
by the late Admiralty, and which are chiefly intended to
protect or to harass the commerce of an enemy.
She will, however, have this possible objection in the
eyes of Englishmen ; she will be so fast that she will
never get within the range of an enemy's guns. (Laugh-
ter.) But it may be said, when speaking of our coast de-
fences, why go to the expense of building new ships? why
not cut down the wooden ships in your dockyards ? Un-
fortunately the reason is that the board do not believe that
the plan of Mr. Henwood would give either good or cheap
ships. Mr. Henwood is no doubt one of the most eminent
shipbuilders in the country, but ho has had no experience
in constructing men-of-war, and has overlooked the fact
that the ships with which he proposes to deal have been
already deteriorated by conversion from kiiiipg to screw