The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-20 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

An order received at Chatham garrison, by tele-
gram from the Horse Guards, directs two officers
and 50 .killed sappers and miners of the Royal En-
gineers to be held in immediate readiness for special
service—it is understood in Ireland. On receipt of
the t order at Brompton-barracks the men were
immediately selected, and were yesterday medically
inspected. They have been placed under orders to
leave the garrison at a few minutes' notice.
Capt. and Brevet-Major Bent, Lieut. Wright,
and a detachment of 59 picked non-commissioned
officers and privates of Col. Gardner's sth brigade,
Royal Artillery, left head-quarters, Woolwich, on
Sunday, under special orders from the War Depart-
ment, and proceeded to the Euston-square Station
on their way to Pigeon House Fort, Dublin, to be
placed at the disposal of the General commanding
the district.
Yesterday an order was received at Chatham gar-
rison directing the head-quarters and service com-
panies of the 72d Highlanders, which arrived a few
days since from Bombay in the chartered troopship
Tweed, to proceed this day to Edinburgh, where

the regiment will be quartered. The 72d will leave
Tilbury at 1 p.m. this afternoon by special train,
and, after resting four hours at York, will arrive in
Edinburgh at 6 a.m. to-morrow. The strength of
the eighth companies which arrived from India is
12 officers, 27 sergeants, 21 corporals, 14 drummers,
and 316 rank and file. Two of the depot compa-
nies of the 72d Highlanders have already arrived at
Edinburgh from Portsmouth.

Capt. John Hallowes, 87th Royal Irish Fusiliers,
has succeeded Capt. Jackson as instructor at the
military gymnasium, Chatham. Capt. R. H. Stot-
herd, Royal Engineers, has been ordered to join at
Chatham, for service at head-quarters. Lieut. C.
K. Brooke, Ist Battalion 15th Regiment, has joined
at Chatham, for service with his depot at that gar-
rison. Lieut. Mill, 2d Battalion 2d Queen's Royals,
has received orders to join his depot at the garrison,
and Capt. J. T. Twigge, Royal Engineers, to pro-
ceed from head-quarters to Manchester.

A draught of 70 non-commissioned officers and
men of the 29th Regiment, at Chatham, has been
placed under orders to embark for Malta, to join the
service companies at that station.
The screw line-of-battle ship Meeanee, 60, 400
horse power, Capt. G. Wodehouse, which arrived at
the Nore a few days since from the Mediterranean,
as previously reported in The Sun, was officially in-
spected on Saturday byVice-Admiral Sir C. Talbot,
K.C.8., Naval Commander-in-Chief, and his suite
previously to being dismantled and put out of com-
mission. In the course of his inspection the Vice-
Admiral visited the principal portions of the ship and
mustered the whole of the crew, whom he saw exer-
cised at quarters. Before leaving Sir C. Talbot ex-
pressed a favourable opinion of the condition of the
vessel. The Meeanee is a teak built ship, constructed
at Bombay dockyard, and is a sister ship to the ill-
fated Bombay. From her age and the length of time
she has been in commission, she is anything but
sound, and it is, therefore, not at all probable she
will be again placed in commission. A considerable
portion of her stores have already been sent to
Chatham, and she will at once be stripped in the
great basin, preparatory to being paid off.
At Portsmouth on Saturday, on board the armour
plate proof ship Thunderer, a plate 9in. in thickness
from John Brown and Co., Atlas Steel and Iron
Works, Sheffield, and one 6in. in thickness from Chas.
Cammell and Co., Cyclops Steel and Iron Works,
Sheffield, were put through the customary firing test,
in accordance with the new conditions of trial re-
cently established by the Admiralty, and both plates
proved of excellent manufacture. They represented
the armour now being manufacted by the two firms
named for the Hercules, broadside gun frigate,
ordered to be commenced at Chatham dockyard
from designs furnished by Mr. E. J. Reed, Chief
Constructor of the Navy. The trials were conducted
under the supervision of Capt. A. C. Key, C. 8., of
the Royal Naval College, and H.M.S. Excellent ;
8-inch spherical shot were fired at the plates, with 131 b.
of powder, at a distance of 30ft. Messrs. J. Brown and
Company's 9-inch plate is the first of that thickness
of metal which has yet been tested at Portsmouth,
and considerable interest was therefore felt as to the
manner in which it would resist the shots—taking
a 6-inch plate under fire as a means of comparison.
Twelve shots were fired at the plate, all overlapping
each other at the edges of their blows, and the three
central shots being delivered on the centre of pre-
vious shot-indents. The damage inflicted was trif-
ling; in fact, after the plate had been struck by the
first four shots it seemed to be improved by those
which followed. There was no sign of a crack on
the face of the plate at the conclusion of the firing,
while the greatest depth made by the shots in the
centre of their indents in the cluster of shots-marks
was only 2 in. A ship clothed with such armour
would be as impervious to 8-inch shot fired from
95cwt. smoothbore guns as she would be to snow-
balls. The target, which was built to represent a
section of the ship's side for which these six and
nine inch armour-plates are now being manufactured,
and that afterwards gained such fame at Shoebury-
ness as " The Hercules Target" in the latter part of
last year, by its successful resistance to the Arm-
strong 300-pounder gun with its enormous projec-
tiles and powder charges, and its subsequent contest
with the Armstrong 600-pounder, or " Big Will,"
was faced with its 8-inch and 9-inch plates—to the
excellent quality of which the successful resisting
power of the target may justly be attributed—by
Messrs. Charles Cammell and Co., the makers of
the 6-inch plate tried with Messrs. Brown's 9-inch
plate on Saturday, and the sharers with the latter
firm in the Admiralty contract for the supply of the
armour-plating for the Hercules.

During the past week the Ordnance Select Com-
mittee have been engaged at Portsmouth in wit-
nessing some very interesting and important shell
practice against the old experimental frigate Ame-
rica, on the upper waters of Portsmouth harbour.
The motive of the experimental firing was the selec-
tion of one percussion fuse, available alike for rifled
or smooth-bore guns, that should supersede the varied
descriptions of shell fuses now issued to her Majesty's
ships. The practice in the harbour at the America
has been concluded, and so far the Petman fuse has
proved to be superior to all others, and, with im-
provements lately introduced in its action and con-
struction by Mr. Petman, it appears to possess the
peculiar qualities required for a percussion fuse sup-
plied for universal use with all guns in her Majesty's
navy. The second and concluding course of the
experimental firing will consist of shells fired en
ricochet over the Horse and Dean Shoals, off Ship-
head, the harbour having no length of range for
such__ practice.
The Wivern 4, turretship, Capt. H
V-C., sailed from' H. Burgoyne,
Portsmouth on Saturday for De-
withrt. She is
the,_
.our
12complete in her turret equipment,
new fro:Cairria
esi-ton smoothbore guns and their I
The new ce_ll4g &c.
gas screw steamer Imogen, a
vessel of 300 ton
built for the Admiralty b White, of Cowes, and fitted
with screw engine y
s of
50 horse power nominal b
,
Son, made her official trial
ol‘fle"rs. John Penn and
sured mile at Stokes Bay yeateleeday-
over the mea-
Lieut. J. B.
Michell, of her Majesty's ship A aia
of
Portsmouth
in command
of the vessel, and the officers
steam-
factory and reserve conducted the trial. The Imo-
gen drew 12ft of water aft, and Bft Sin forward,
rigged and complete for service, with all her stores
on board. She attained a mean speed of 9.7 knots.
The Racoon, screw corvette, 22, Captain Count
Gleichen, arrived at Spithead from the Mediterra—
nean during Sunday afternoon from Gibraltar, sail-
ing thence on the 12thinst., and bringing toEngland
a number of military and naval supernumeraries.
The crew of the screw steam frigate Topaze, 31,
Capt. W. M. DowelY, C. 13., at Plymouth, were in-
spected yesterday by Capt. F. B. P. Seymour, C. 8.,
of the flagship Royal Adelaide.
Her Majesty's 17-gun sloop Chanticleer, Capt.
W. H. Fenwick, from the Mediterranean, having
been dismantled and discharged her stores at
Woolwich, will be paid out of commission this
morning. The sister ship Zebra, from the West
Coast of Africa, was yesterday docked at Woolwich,
for the purpose of carrying out the alteration and
repairs detailed in a former number of The Sun.
The War Department steam storeship Lord Pan-