The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-17 00:00:00

Launch of the Northumberland.

To-day another addition to our fleet of ironclads
will be made by the launch of this huge vessel from
the yard of the Millwall Ironworks and Shipbuilding
Company. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and
Princess of Wales are to be present, and Lady Percy,
as representing the noble house of Northumberland,
is to name the ship, which will be sent afloat under
every circumstance of ceremony.
It is not too much to say that the Northumberland
is deserving of these honours--indeed of the highest
—though, looking on her merely as an instrument
of defence, we can scarcely hail her accession to the
fleet with as much satisfaction as we could have greeted
another on theplan of the Warrior. As a specimen of
ironclad architecture, the Northumberland is beyond
all doubt the finest model and the finest example
of skilled workmanship ever sent afloat ; but as a
mere instrument of defence she is much behind
both the Warrior and Black Prince. The fact is
painful, but no ironclads have yet come up to
the conditions of excellence of the two which were
first built, and which we have just named. In
speed, in strength, and in seagoing qualities not
only have the Black Prince and Warrior not been
equalled by more recent productions, but all our
later vessels have shown such a steady deterioration
in almost all these qualities as to make it a serious
question whether it is wise to continue building on
our present plans. At first two distinct classes of
vessels, known as the Warriors and the Minotaurs,
were designed and built. The Warrior and her
sister vessel, the Black Prince, were ships of 6,100
tons, 380 ft. long by 58ft. broad, plated only over
the midship portions of their broadsides with 4iin.
armour, backed up with 18in. of teak, angle irons,
and an inner iron skin. These were only meant to
carry 46 guns, 26 being protected within the ar-
mour, 10 on the spar deck, and 10 more at the bows
and stern, which have no armour, but which are so
subdivided by a webbing of iron compartments
that they might be riddled with shots without
much danger to the main part of the ship. Each of
these vessels pf the Warrior class is driven by en-
gines of 1,250-horse power, nominal. 'They have
hitherto proved not only the fastest ships of the
navy, but, from their bow and stern not being over-
borne by heavy armour, they are buoyant and tole-
rably easy even in a head sea and very broken
water. In an unfortunate hour, however, the Ad-
miralty undertook to improve on these fine models,
and vessels of what is called the Minotaur class
were ordered. These ships include the Minotaur,
the Agincourt, and the Northumberland. They are
of 6,621 tons, 400 ft. long by 59ft. 3in, beam, and
plated from stem to stern with siin. armour, in-
stead of 4iin., on a backing of 9in. of teak, instead
of 18in., as in the Warriors. Their horse-power,
too, was increased from 1,250 to 1,350, with
which a speed of 16 knots was expected, and as
Mr. Penn, who makes the engines, promises it, there
is every likelihood of its being attained.
Hardly were these vessels designed and commenced
when the result of experiments at Shoeburyness
proved that a mistake had been made in diminishing
the teak backing, a mistake which the additional
inch of armour by no means compensated. The end
of all the experiments at Shoeburyness has been to
show that the amount of resistance of armour to shot
depends generally less upon the thickness of the
plate than the thickness and system of the backing.
Thus the Warrior target, with 4iin. of iron and 18in.
of teak, stood fire obstinately, while the Minotaur
target
literally crumpled up under the fire of the smooth-
bore Buy when this most unpleasant
discovery
made all the Minotaurs were too far
advanced
:was uinbe altered, so that in these magnificent
6 s ofp 5 with only 10in. of teak behind it,
looking vessels we have really got only much more
expensive Warriors, with less powers of resistance
than the Warriors possess. The Northumberland,
like all the Minotaurs, as they are called, is built on
the ram system, having what is termed a swan-breast
protruding forward beneath the bow, under water.
The stem of this portion, which would have to resist
the first shock of a blow in running down a ship, is
a most gigantic forging, as is also the huge iron
beam which forms the stern frame. Every part of
the vessel is of iron, even to the spar deck, though
the metal here, which is less than tin. thick, is, of
course, covered with wood, in the ordinary fashion,
and the iron is only meant as a protection
from fire in cases of shells coming inboard.
Every part of the hull is divided into longitu-
dinal and transverse water-tight compartments.
There are no less than 15 of these, which not only
insure her safety in case of accidents below the
water-line, but add immensely to the stiffness of
the whole ship, which is virtually made by these
means one huge hollow wrought-iron girder, of im-
mense strength.

The Northumberland has a different system of
armour plating from her sisters, the Agincourt and
the Minotaur. The experience gained with the
Achilles seems to show clearly that the limit up to
which seagoing frigates can carry armour has not
only been reached, but rather overpassed. Thus it '
has been that, in arming the Northumberland, 11fr.
Reed has suggested an alteration which has certainly
been an improvement, though the idea is taken
from what the French have done in the Solferino
i
and Magenta. This alteration consists n not
casing the vessel with armour entirely at the stem
and stern, but merely over those parts taking a
broad belt of iron above and below the water-line,
reserving the great mass of armour for the midships,
which enclose her heavy guns. Thus the North-
umberland's armour, for the length of about 100 f t.
forward, is only a belt of about 10ft. broad, and
for the same length at thesaftermost part of the
vessel it is only Bft. broad, going to a depth of Eft.
below the water forward and 4ft. aft. For a length
of 200 ft. amidships, however, the whole body of the
vessel is cased with plates up to the main deck.
Here the armour rises to a height of 16ft. above the
water, and goes to a depth of Gift. below it. This
main portion of the ship is further protected by
transverse bulkheads, plated with 4i-inch iron,
inclosing the battery inside the ship as in a box.
These armour coverings extend from the floor of the
main deck to the spar deck. Above and beyond
these protections the Northumberland has a semi-
circular shield, also 4i-inch iron, which com-
pletely inclobes her bows at the forcastle. Within