The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-02 00:00:00

The Miantonomah.

This formidable war vessel, which, as the first
American turret-ship that has visited the shores of
Europe, created such an extraordinary degree of
interest during her recent visit to the anchorages at
Queenstown and Spithead, sailed from the latter
roadstead early on Saturday morning for Cherbourg,
where she will remain a short time open, as she has
been to us, to the admiration and criticism of our
good friends and allies across Channel. From Cher-
bourg existing understood arrangements send the
Miantonomah to the Medway or the Thames, and
thence to the Baltic. She is expected to call again
at Spithead on her return down Channel from the
Baltic. During the stay of the ship at both Queens-
town and Spithead she was, during each day, open
to the admission of all visitors. Thousands of
people availed themselves of the opportunity, and
all must have left her impressed with the kindness
with which they were received by the officers and
the untiring pains taken to explain all the numerous
details of the plan and fittings of the ship's hull,
turrets, armour, and guns. We have learnt much
from the visit of the Miantonomah, and her officers
will not go from our shores without having added
to their previous knowledge of the manner in which
guns may be fought in revolving iron towers on
board a ship.

In their visit to the Miantonomah at Spithead on
Friday last the Lords of the Admiralty were ac-
companied by the Hon. G. V. Fox, the Assistant-
Secretary of the United States' Navy ; Captain
Cowper Phipps Coles, R.N., Captain Bythesea,
R.N., V.C., Naval Attache to the British Embassy
at Washington ; Lord John Hay, M.P. ; the Earl
of Wilton, Commodore of the Royal Yacht
squadron ; Mr. Westley Richards, &c., in addition
to a number of naval officers and others.
The Duke of Somerset, with the Controller and
other members of the Board of Admiralty, having
been conducted over the ship by Captain Beaumont,
and minutely inspected her on deck and below, took
up a position on the raised hurricane deck, in com-
pany with the Hon. Mr. Fox, to witness the firing
of two shots from the enormous 15-inch smoothbore
guns which form her turret armament. The officers
and crew of the ship took up their respective posi-
tions at general quarters, all hatches were securely
battened down, the supply of air below was pro-
vided foz by setting the ventilating fans in motion,
and the ship in every respect prepare] for action at
sea. These preparations having been made, a visit
to the deck below demonstrated clearly enough that,
although in certain portions of the 'tween deck the
atmosphere felt slightly oppressive after just leaving
the open of the upper deck, the air was really cool,
as proved by the thermometer ranges, and the ship
might be fought through a long summer day's
action under the same conditions without distress to
any on board from heat below beyond what would
necessarily be found in any ordinary steamship of

war.

The first gun fired was charged with a 1351 b.
powder cartridge and a sabot live shell, at extreme
elevation. The effect was very grand as the vast
globe of metal propelled from the mouth of the gun
with a deep hoarse roar went hurtling on its course
until it fell at an estimated distance of about 3,500
yards from the ship.
The second gun was charged with 351 b. of pow-
der, a solid iron shot of 4601 b., and fired point blank.
If the last shot was grand, as exhibiting the flight
of a 15in. shell, this was more interesting, as exhi-
biting—what we have as yet made no provision for
in rifling our heavy naval artillery—the perfection of
ricochet firing. The immense ball spun along its
course over the surface of the water as truly as the
cricketer's ball passes over the smooth green sward
towards the wicket. The noise of the explosion, the
concussion felt, and the smoke which entered the
turrets on the firing of the guns were neither more
nor less than would be nearly expected in firing 351 b.
powder charges.
The working of the guns on board the Mianto-
nomah on Friday was somewhat slow, but this was
accounted for by the fact that it was the first time
the same crews had worked the guns in actual prac-
tice. The shutters, or port stoppers, were evidently
very much in the way of the men in loading the
guns, and it certainly appears that, with the quick
available means of turning away from the enemy the
the turretlway with.
tl e. n
Theloading,r erevolving
theyn g
be altogether done ,of the
port's face of
turret by steam power, and the twisting power
hull by the reversed action of her
given to the ship's
twin screws, would always keep the gunports hid
from an enemy when the guns are not run out. The
port shutters, therefore,
appear to be superfluous.
To pursue still further our friendly attempt at fault-
finding with a ship that has so deservedly won the ad-
miration of all who have seen her since her arrival on
these shores we must refer to the rotation of her
turret by steam. There are two faults here. The
first is that if any part of the steam gear is damaged
the rotation of the turret is stopped and the guns
are rendered useless for want of a second avail-
able motive power, with which the turrets of
s
the Miantonomah are not fitted. The second fault
is that the lateral oscillatirl
the turret is very
great when being turned by odf
'and discharge of
and must seri-
ously interfere with rapid Itght einain g
the guns on a small moving object.
Sovereign has four available different
mes'anrns lolfoyrea-1
volving her turrets, all, however, by manual labour
alone, and in revolving they are by means of their
greater circle of conical wheels perfectly steady.
Other faults that we can manage to find with the.
Miantonomah, in addition to the weakness of the
ship as a wooden structure, to which we have for-

merly alluded, are her defective accommodation as
a cruiser in tropical climes and her want of
stowage, both caused by the annual shallowness of
the vessel. The Miantonomah is too formidable a
vessel not to be imitated, but we should very pos-
sibly build our Miantonomah of iron, we should
build with a greater depth of hull, and thus
attain greater stowage in the hold, and better
accommodation for the officers and crew in hot cli-
mates. At the same time that we might make these
improvements, as we consider them, our ship could
be fought offering as small a target to the enemy as
the Miantonomah by giving her the means of sub-
merging her bull to any required depth on going
into action by the admission of water to the wing
passages, &c. As a proof of the want of stowage in
the Miantonomah we may mention that no water is
carried in her hold. The only stowage she has for
water is on the after part of the men's berth deck,
where there are iron tanks with a collective capacity
of 6,000 gallons. At sea the supply of water is de-
pendent on the condensers. There are numerous
mechanical notions in various parts of the ship, on
deck and below, that are well worthy of attention.
The manner in which her turrets have been put to-
gether also deserves admiration. Ten 1 1-10th-inch
plates are fixed up together in a circular wall in a
manner quite equal to a rolled solid plate of mode-
rate quality, and very superior to any rolled plate
that has been but imperfectly welded. In fact, the
turrets of the Miantonomah have been welded
throughout their ten separate layers by mechanical
means alone, and without subjecting the iron to the
renewed action of the furnace and rolling mill, to,
as nearly as possible, a continuity of cohesion equal
to that of the best solid or rolled armour in this
country.

It may not be out of place here, and especially as
connected with the power of firing en richochet, as
so forcibly illustrated by the guns of the Miantono-
mah on Friday, to notice how far our French neigh-
bours have gone in the matter of guns for their iron-
clads. In the Corps Legislatif onJune 20 M. Dupuy
de Lome, Director of Material of the Imperial Navy,
stated that three models had been selected for the
armament of the navy of France, as follows :
First class—Diameter, 24 centimetres ; weight,
14,000 kilogrammes. Throws steel elongated bolts
of 144 kilogrammes, as also shells and round
shot. Second class—Diameter, 19 centimetres ;
weight, 8,000 kilogrammes. Throws steel elon-
gated bolts of 75 kilogrammes, ditto shell of 52
kilogrammes, ditto round shot of 25 kilogrammes.
Third class.—Diameter, 16 centimetres ; weight,
5,000 kilogrammes. Throws steel elongated bolts
of 45 kilogrammes, ditto shells of 31i kilogrammes,
ditto round shot of 15 kilogrammes. M. Dupuy de
Lome also said there was another class of gun, on
the same principle, that was 27 centimetres in
diameter, but would be too large for service on board
ship, and would therefore be reserved for the arma-
ment of sea coast batteries. All the pieces averaged
a range of about six kilometres. There is this re-
markable fact connected with these pieces selected
for the armament of the French navy—all fire round
as well as elongated shot, and all therefore are cap-
able of delivering a fire en ricochet.

The American paddle steamer Augusta, Captain
A. Murray, remains at Spithead until about the 6th
inst.

The first guns fired by an American Monitor in
British waters have been in friendly salute. This
quaintly constructed vessel excites the liveliest
feelings of curiosity—but none of dread. If any of
our great iron-clads are lying near, the contrast
between the little monitor, mainly submerged in the
water as she is, though 1,500 tons burden, will be
very striking when compared with the great hull
and huge proportions of the English ships of some
7,000 tons. The Warrior or the Black Prince
lies in the water like a huge frigate, swift,
beautiful, and graceful ; but not differing
mainly in appearance, except in huge bulk, from
ordinary frigates of the British navy. The spars
tower aloft with the yards, rigging, and all the gear
of a full-rigged ship ; and it requires a well-trained
eye, or a vessel whose size is known, to be near,
before a conception can formed of the vast di-
mensions of the iron-clad Warrior. On the con-
trary, the hull of the Miantonomah a few miles off
is not seen at all, and instead of the towering masts
and graceful rigging, a curious paraphernalia of
turrets, and funnels, and hurricane deck, rise as it
were out of the ocean. But huge as the English
iron-clad is in dimensions, and small and submerged
as is the Monitor, the exact reverse is the case as
regards their armaments. The American vessel has
only four guns, but these guns are in proportion to
the Warrior's guns as the Warrior in bulk is to the
Miantonomah. Thus in a small and handy space
is concentrated the most destructive power, and
there are qualities about the American Monitor
which even landsmen, not professing to under-
stand the subject scientifically, cannot but appre-
ciate. The Miantonomah presents no target for her
enemy, she has no towering spars to be shot away
and foul the screw. Her guns bear from any posi-
tion in which the vessel may be placed, revolving
in their turrets by internal machinery. She steers
equally well stem or stern first, and goes " about "
like a Chinese junk, so rapidly indeed that the
pilot conveying her out of a British port, not being
prepared for the speed with which she answered her
helm, cut a brig down to the water's edge, sinking
her in a few minutes. The reason is that her floor
is flat, and therefore she draws little water, and is
particularly qualified for acting in shallow seas and
pushing close up to her enemy. These are all
qualities which we can understand, but an idea was
prevalent in England a short time ago which has
proved to be as erroneous as a great many of our
English ideas on American matters. It was thought
that these Monitors, although well adapted for
harbour and shore warfare, were not qualified for
ocean voyages. Commodore Rogers took his
Monitor from the North Atlantic round the Horn
into the Pacific Ocean, and now we have the testi-
mony of another Monitor which has crossed the
Atlantic to our own ports—that the vessel not only
behaved well, but made much better weather of it
than either of her paddle-wheel consorts. The
Americans certainly are, what they profess them-
selves to be, a people of brains, of striking inven-
tive power, who can accomplish any mortal thing
so long as the thing is within the power of mortals
to accomplish. They have revolutionised the con-
struction of our merchant ships. Clippers owe their
origin wholly to American invention. Not content
with building ships of astonishing speed, they
marked out tracts and defined accurately what
course these ships should steer so as to secure the
most favourable winds. Our shipowners owe a
debt of gratitude to Captain Maury which they
have not yet adequately acknowledged; and it would
be highly improbable that such a people, with their
intellect quickened to the utmost by the dangers
which threatened the Union, and the gigantic war
on _hand, would not invent the most destructive
vessel which human brains and human hands could
frame. That effort and the experience of bitter
war has resulted in such craft as the Miantonomah,
and we venture to assert that the most careful at-
tention of the scientific men of England, now that
the opportunity offers, will result in showing the
vast superiority of such men-of-war, and revolu-
tionise the construction of the English fleet.
The Miantonoinah was constructed and planned
by Mr. F. Delano, Naval Constructor at the Brook-
lyn Naval Yard. She is the counterpart of the
Monadnock, which has lately doubled the Horn, and
made excellent weather the whole way. The
armour of the Miantonomah's hull consists of 5i
inches of rolled wrought iron, her deck being pro-
tected by 3i inches of plate iron. As her floor is
flat, the proportions between deck are large and
spacious, and the visitor is astonished, after seeing
so little abdve water, to find himself in such roomy
Her turrets are 23 feet
iron. Her engines were
10 inches of wrought
t-eariroedutasipdaer,tinaenndts2.ll inside, consisting of
iannddiwamenlel
Her fire-rooms are particular ventilated,
and finished at the Novelty
ship
ly well
rkwsoratth New
and altogether she is a ee
earnest
and serious attention of our 11dinirscarcely add how heartily we re-echo
r visitors may
our contemporary the Times —that ou
the excellent opportunity not be
aitY
.t
h eo
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receive a cordial and hospitable welcome, and that
may allowed to