The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-22 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The screw two-decker line-of-battle ship Rodney,
78, 2,770 tons, 500-horse power (nominal), for several
years past lying idle among the vessels composing
the 'Chatham steam reserve in the Medway, has been
docked, and at length taken in hand for commission,
the intention, according to instructions issued from
the Admiralty, being to bring her forward for ser-
vice as a flagship in China, relieving the Princess
Royal, 73, 400-horse power, Capt. W. G. Jones,
flagship of Vice-Admiral George St. V. King, C. 8.,
Commander-in-Chief on the China station. From
the great length of time since the Rodney was last
in commission she will require some extensive altera-
tions, repairs, and additions to adapt her for the
special service for which she is intended, and she
will be detained in dock for some considerable time.
Her machinery and engines aro in very good
condition, and will only require some minor repairs.
The Bellerophon ironclad, Capt. Tatham, is now
ready for sea. She has shipped the remainer of het,
guns and discharged the ballast temporarily put on
board for trial. The Commander-in-Chief, Vice
Admiral Sir T. Pasley, will inspect her on Friday,
and she is. expected to leave Spithead on Monday.
The paddle-wheel steamer Dee, 2, 220-horse
power, Master-Commander G. Raymond, halting
disembarked nearly 200 tons of copper and other
stores at Chatham dockyard, will proceed round
from that port to Woolwich at an early hour this
morning.

Some experiments were made in Chatham harbour
on board the paddle-wheel steamer Adder, Mr. W.
J. Blakey, Master-Commander, on Monday even-
ing, in the presence of Capt. W. 11. Stewart, C. 8.,
description t'`llinotii recently introduced
-
into the Royal Navy by Messrs. Brown and Nunn,
the patentees of the invention. The results of the
experiments were in the highest degree favourable.
The improved sloop corvette Reindeer, 7, 200
horse power (nominal), will be undocked at Chatham
during the approaching spring tides, and will be
completed for commission in Chatham harbour.
Her official trial of speed for classification will take
place at deep draught in the course of the ensuing
week. She is to be ready for the pennant by the
31st inst.

The Osborne, Royal yacht, Commodore D'Arcy,
returned yesterday to Portsmouth from Dartmouth,
after being in attendance on the Lords of the Ad-
miralty.

The Dart, screw gun vessel, and Rinaldo, screw
sloop, have made satisfactory trials of their ma-
chinery, under the superintendence of Capt. Cham-
berlain, of the Steam Reserve, at Portsmouth.
The Urgent, troopship, Captain Henderson, is
ordered to be supplied with new boilers, and to be
repaired with all despatch men are to be employed
overtime to facilitate the work.
The steam storeship Supply, 2, Staff Commander
Chas. Bawden, from Malta, en route for Woolwich,
arrived in Plymouth Sound yesterday morning. i
An amended General Order has been issued from
the Horse Guards, by command of the Duke of
Cambridge, in which it is announced that the 61
days' leave of absence granted annually to officers
of the army is to apply only to the officers of the
Staff, the Royal Engineers, and of departments.
The new regulations are to take effect from April 1
instead of from January 1 in each year, as hereto-
fore, and in order to adjust the proportion of leave
to be allowed for the intermediate period 77 days'
leave of absence will be allowed to reckon between
January 1 in the present and March 31 in the en-
suing year.

General Peel and Lord Longford, Secretaries of
State for the War Department, attended by Lieut.-
Col. Milward, Assist.-Director of Ordnance, yes-
terday made their first official inspection of the de-
partments of Woolwich Arsenal. Having paid a
visit of ceremony to Major-Gen. Warde, C. 8., com-
manding the district, they went to the Arsenal, at
2 o'clock, and entered the office of the Ordnance
Select Committee, where were Colonels Boxer and
Clark, of the Royal Laboratory and the Carriage
Departments. They proceeded thence to an inspec-
tion of the new machinery room fitted up for the
manufacture of the wrought iron gun-carriages re-
cently introduced. The departments throughout the
arsenal are now engaged in preparing for shipment
12 complete batteries of field guns of the Royal Ar-
tillery, and their equipment, for transport to Canada.
The General, having informed himself of their readi-
ness for shipment by the end of the present month,
then examined some of the new gun carriages and
slides intended for the Zealous and Bellerophon.
appeared. to
Both General Peel and Lord Longford
enter artistically into the merits of the sulbsintitutioesn
of iron for wood, and made many practicam
into the cost and the advantages in the
answers to which.
of the material now in use, the
satisfaction. awn
were apparently much to theirrt ers ploclyment
here they viewed the
spent some time in thatdepaw
con-
ducted to the shell foundry,
sot.lnfjaent, they were
They then went on-
wardsmanufacture of some steel
gun factories,eof andhe
coilssa wo tfhtehpe rhoecaevsys
fbeating
theout Raonll
° of being made for the fleet. From
guns in course
factories they proceeded to the East Labora-
'el ding on
the
here a large number of girls and lads are en=
tory, w
gaged in filling and preparing the new breechloading
gun
6. Boxer cartridges." An inspection of the ingredients
ancrtle entire composition of the new cartridges,
notwithstanding a former minute examination of
some samples submitted to the War-office, occupied
about an hour. It was elicited from Col. Boxer that
thebreechloading system,being in his opinion so tho-
roughly advantageous, he had recommended its in-
troduction in 1854 to the then Secretary of State for
War, who had called for and examined his cartridges,
which he also approved, but deferred the introduc-
tion of the system for special reasons. After making