The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-14 00:00:00

INVULNERABLE SHIPS.

The following letter has been addressed to the
editor of the Times :

Sir,—l have seen an article in your paper of the
25th on the subject of the vaisseau belier (ram ship),
about to be built at Cherbourg, and said to be the
invention of the Emperor Louis Napoleon. As the
description of this vessel is thus made public, and
exactly corresponds, even in name, with that pro-
posed by me during the late Russian war,. I can
have now no hesitation in giving you the following
details upon the question. On seeing the steam
shot-proof batteries built for that war it struck me,
as I have no doubt it must have struck many others,
that if the Russians were to construct secretly at
Cronstadt or Sebastopol three or four vessels upon
the same priniciple, but adding to their invulnera-
bilityand weight strength and speed, these vaisseaux
beliers would be able to sink by a blow several of
the allied line-of-battle ships, if unprepared for this
mode of attack, and so give the Russians a fatal
numerical superiority over us. Having received
permission from Sir Charles Wood to communicate
to the French Minister any suggestions on the
naval campaign then going on, I wrote both to M.
de Pcrsigny and to Sir Charles Wood, warning
them of the possibility of such a danger occurring
as that which I have just described, and calling
the vessel the " shot-proof steam ram." I refer you
for further details to the accompanying document,
the substance of my communications with Sir C.
Wood on the subject. As the Emperor Napoleon
gave the first hint of the vaisseau belier by sug-
gesting the shot-proof steam battery, his Majesty is
therefore the cause of depriving Cherbourg of much
of its menacing character as a military harbour,
and of making, probably, the noble ships we have
seen assembled there under both flags worse than
useless for futlire wars. The two classes of vessels
cannot be used together.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, '
G. R. SARTORIU, Vice-Admiral.
London, Aug. 30.

" London, May 14.
" Allow me to bring to your notice an engine of
war which would not only set our lame Steamers
at liberty to carry out the so-much-required troops
to India, but which must prove far more efficient
for home defences than any vessel of the present
construction.

"~The project I shall now lay before you was first
communicated to the Admiralty during the Rus-
sian war, and again more in detail in March, 1857.
Its practicability is borne out by the opinions of the
majority of our most eminent civil and military
engineers, machinists, and shipbuilders. The fre-
quent instances of vessels- being run into by
steamers, the destructive effects of the collision
upon the vessel receiving the blow, the compara-
tive immunity of that which gives it even when the
latter has been the smaller and the lighter, and the
practicability of rendering vessels shot-proof (as
tested during the war in the case of the floating
batteries), suggested to me the possibility and
desirableness of constructing a vessel combining
the qualities of the shot-proof battery with those of
the rapid steamer, whose invulnerability, handiness,
and strength should enable her to expose herself
with impunity to the guns of the most heavily
armed man-of-war, and who by her weight and
speed might run into and sink any ship.
" This war engine, which I shall call the steam
ram,' would require but a very small complement
of men,—not more, perhaps, than one-sixth that of
a ship of war of the same tonnage, and might be
built in any form adapted to the service, and upon
any lines best calculated for speed and quickness of
turning, with ample engine power to overtake any
ship however perfectly built upon the present con-
struction. My notion is that the steam ram should
have stem or stern (for each is either) of the same
form, and at each end a massive projecting prow or
rostrum by means of which the blow is to be given,
the projectionbeing sufficient to protect the rudder
from injury, and the prow having shoulders to pre-
vent the possibility of its too deep insertion. The
extremes being of the same shape, there would be
a screw propeller at each end, thus doubling the
means of propulsion, whether for backing, going
ahead, or turning ; moreover, the vessel would be
less likely to be disabled.
" The object for which she is most expressly
designed is, that of crushing in the side or bow of
an enemy by her beak ; but she would also be
formidable in disabling a retreating enemy by
destroying the rudder. The deck may have three
towers for the purpose of navigation and observa-
tion when in the presence of an enemy, and also to
eject boiling water on an enemy's boarders. I
believe that not only can the requisite speed and
handiness be obtained, but so much more as to
leave the vessels I contemplate at liberty to carry
a few guns of heavy calibre, so enabling them to
act against towns and batteries, as well as by their
proper action to destroy ships afloat.
" There need be no limit to size or tonnage, but
in my opinion 2,500 tons would be the most effec-
tive and convenient. A steam ram of that size
could have at least 20 guns of the heaviest calibre,
from which might be fired not only solid shot, but
percussion shells and (to timber vessels the still
more dangerous missiles) shells laden with molten
iron, which explode on striking the vessel. The
shell becoming red-hot in the transit, and the
molten iron running about the deck or between
the timbers, sets fire to the ship, or whatever com-
bustible matter it meets with, while upon the steam
ram no shell makes any impression. The spaces
required for all the appliances and appurtenances
of these shells is about 10 feet square, and can be so
secured as to preclude all possibility of danger to
the ship using them ; at the same time that a steam
ram is sinking a ship by a blow she may be also
firing at any vessel within her range. Mr. Perkins
informs me he can fit the principle of his steam
gun to shot of any size. French and English ex-
periments have repeatedly proved that the 68-
pounder shot fired against the 4-inch iron plate at
400* yards, although making a deep *dent, never
goes through, though the plate cracks and pieces
fall off after repeated shots. It must be remem-
bered that in these experiments the shot is fired in
a manner most favourable for the action of the shot ;
but in actual service, the shot striking the steam
ram would be more or less oblique, and glance off.t
Steel plate is found to have a power of resistance
over the best iron plate as six to four, consequently
without having more weight, a third more protec-
tion is given by the use of steel plate.
" Every one accustomed to the use of artillery at
sea knows how few shots can take effect when both
parties are in rapid and eccentric movement. If
the ship should haul up to get her broadside guns
to bear on the attacking steam-ram the latter re-
ceives the fire on her fest point—her! bows, the
shot glances off, and she rapidly closes. If the
ship runs and fires her stern guns, the shot still
glance harmlessly off, while those from the steam-
ram (shot or shell) are doing their work with full
effect ; therefore either by her fire or her blow the
enemy must be destroyed. The defects of the
cracking and ultimately falling off of the bits of
broken plate, the result of repeated blows on the same
place, can be guarded against by various means;
among others by the very simple one of casing the
iron or steel side with strong planking.
" Let us suppose a fleet of our ships of the size of
our Wellingtons and Alberts conveying large
bodies of troops met by only two of these steam-
rams, the latter, to make the work shorter, and
surer, reserving their attack until the darkness of
night. The steam-ram, comparatively low in the
water, and masts lower down, effects a rapid and
almost unperceived approach, the first intimation
the larger ship would rec,ueinvecoouflatlbiee proximity
fired, or that
g
her enemy, and before a
man,an,
idhseimstueatamncroaums NiVsituhpotnheucsryr
oshfipthebleo3Orkheoruht
her side, bow, or stern would be crushed, no lives
could bersaved under such circumstances, and the
entire dispersion or destruction of the whole convey
becomes inevitable.
"Imagine one or more steam-rams provided with
heavy guns or projectiles entering Portsmouth,
Plymouth, the Thames, or any other port of the
British islands, what precaution_gould be taken or
what mode of defence extemporised against such a
force ? Having suggested the feasibility of an
attack upon our ports and harbours by such vessels
it may be well to remark that all the parts may be
secretly prepared and rapidly put together. Simul-
taneously with a declaration of war these vessels
might be devastating our coasts, destroying our
military and commercial navies, and burning our
maritime cities,
unless we are prepared with similar
el the m.
,enginesrroatloonidiepetroaliiixditiy7
havel t entered into any
obviously required details, but I believe none exist
which any intelligent sailor or constructor could
not readily supply. Nor do I presume to think
that I have devised the best form and disposition
for the vessel, it being enough for my purpose to
show that the conception and execution of so for-
midable a machine is perfectly simple and prac-
ticable. Moreover, the change is inevitable ; the
employment of shot-proof batteries and the result
of collisions between steamers and other vessels
must lead to a combination, which is too simple and

" In the Portsmouth experiment the steel used was too
brittle and only three inches thick, and did not stand as
well asthe iron. Sheets of iron and sheets of steel may
be rolled together, one cogive strength, the other tenacity."
t "The experiments just made at Portsmo4th, hayo beeA
within 100 yards, aucl WLt OA game result,"
.