The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-17 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The following General Order, addressed to the
army at home and abroad, has been issued from the
Horse Guards by command of the Duke of Cain-

bridge :
" The Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, in concur-
rence with the Secretary of State for War, has decided that
the 61 days' leave of absence granted annually to officers of
all branches of the service, shall be reckoned from the Ist of
April, instead of from the Ist of January in each year as
heretofore, This arrangement is to take effect from the tat
of April, 1867, and 77 days' leave of absence will be allowed
to reckon between the Ist of January in the present, and
31st of March in the ensuing year, in order to adjust the
proportion of leave to be allowed for the intermediate
period. "By command,
"WILLIAM PAI7LETT, Adjt.-Gen."
The B battery, 4th Brigade, Royal Field Artil-
lery, numbering six officers and 150 non-commis-
sioned officers and men, 91 horses, six 12-pounder
field Armstrongs, and six waggons, has proceeded
from Chatham garrison to Sheerness, for a fort-
night's duty at that station. The following officers,
proceeded from Chatham with the detachment—
viz., Capt. the Hon. R. V. Dillon, Lieut. 11. P.
Georges, Lieut. B. F. Danville, Lieutenant G. 11.
O'Malley, Lieut. A. B. Stopford, and Assist.-Surg.
A. C. Roberts.

Col. 11. B. Symes, 16th Lancers, has been ordered
to embark at Gravesend on board the East India-
man
Clara, for. conveyance to Madras, to join the
service companies of his regiment in that Presidency.
Notwithstanding that thethird dock at Chatham,
in which the double turret ship Monarch is ordered
tp be constructed is still unfinished, an& the works
at the entrance uncompleted, a number of hands are
employed at the temporary workshop, alongside the
dock, in fitting the keel, a considerable portion of
which is finished .and ready for lowering into the
dock. The turrets and central battery of the
Monarch will, in accordance with the designs of
Mr. Reed, be protected with a thickness of 7in. of
armour plating, while her free board will be very
high for that description of vessel, the drawings and
plans showing that she will have a height out of the
water of from 12ft. to 14ft.
The armoured iron frigate Bellerophon, Capt. E.
Tatham, weighed her anchor at Spithead at noon
yesterday, for a trial of her speed over the measured
mile in Stoke's-bay, sunk by means of temporary
weights placed on her upper and main decks to her
designed deep load line draught of water. The
weather looked wild, with the wind from W.S.IV.,
but hopes were entertained that the wind would
moderate sufficiently to allow the trial to come off,
and the frigate was run out for some distance to the
south-east of Spithead, when her course was reversed
for the measured mile course in Stoke's-bay ; on
reaching it, however, the wind increased to a fresh
gale, and continued during the time tide was avail-
able for the ship's trial. Under these circumstances
the frigate returned to Spithead, where she was again
brought to anchor. The trial will be made to-day
should the weather prove favourable. The established
Admiralty rule for the trials of ships over the mea-
sured mile is that the wind shall not exceed a force
of 4. Yesterday, during the tide-time available for
the ship's trial, the wind reached a force of 7. The
engines during the short time the frigate was under
steam worked very satisfactorily, the revolutions at
full speed being 72 and 73, and their indicated horse
power, 6,100. In returning to Spithead from the
south-east, for Stoke's-bay, the ship reversed her
course in lmin. 45sec.
Sir John Pakington, attended by his private
secretary, landed at Portsmouth Dockyard yester-
day morning and proceeded to the Admiral's office,
where he held the usual levee of a First Lord on his
annual visit to the outports. Sixty-seven naval
officers and chaplains attended.
Admirals Milne, Dacres, Seymour, Sir J. Hay, and
Mr. Du Cane, accompanied by Lord 11. Lennox,
Secretary to the Admiralty, landed at the yard at
half-past 10, and inspected the officers and men of
the Steam Reserve drawn up in front of the Steam
Reserve-office, under the command of Capt. W., C.
Chamberlain. The total number of officers and men
was 1,583. Their lordships next visited the Tamar
screw troop ship, Capt. Sterling, where they in-
spected the general means of accommodation for the
crew and troops, and the cooking-galleys, Eye.
From the Tamar their lordships embarked in their.
lel n
some
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tered and inspected. The gunnery
Johnafter
splendid gun practice woiwth
elt
they returned to their yac.
ht the Osborne. After
next visited, where their lordshipssilitxecses
luncheon the Board, n
accompaniedblbryke/didinirhaelir Sbuaprgereinfrtoemndtehnet
Pak-
ington, jOilintedanbdyshSeilrl,
Osborne, and ngdga/scsneld cover to Ilaslar boatyard and
patent slipway This last visit finished the day's
work of Rear-Admiral the Board. Rear-Ad • l R
active R. S.
Robinson, the Controller, left for London by.mid-
day train.
The official dinner given by the Board in the Os-
borne took place last evening ;.
30 invitations were
issued.
T
he Osborne is expected to leave Portsmouth this
morning with Sir J. Pakington and the Sea Lords.
on board, for Portland, where the fleet will be in-
spected, and possibly put through a few evolutions
off the " Bill." From Portland it is understood the
Board returns to London.
It was understood at Portsmouth yesterday that
one of the results of the visit of Sir J. Pakington's
Board to Portsmouth is the appointment of Capt.
Astley C. Key, C. 8., now commanding the gun-
nery-ship Excellent, and Governor of the Royal
Naval College, to the new office of " Director-
General of Ordnance to the Navy." We hope this
may prove to be correct. Capt. Key is a naval
officer of the highest professional attainments, and,
necessarily by reason of his greater experience,
stands above any other in practical knowledge of
all matters relating to ships' guns, projectiles, and
armour. We believe that the scheme for the arma-
ment of our ironclad ships, and which was one cf
the latest official acts of the Duke of Somerset's
Board of Admiralty, was drawn up primarily by
Capt. Ivey.