The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-13 00:00:00

UST.

IRON CASED SHIPS.

In the matter of ironcased ships the French Ad-
miralty has taken one line, and our Admiralty has
taken the other. The French' have convinced
themselves that ironcased frigates will supersede
all other vessels as fighting ships, and they are
building a new navy, therefore, as fast as they can
do it. The Duke of Somerset did not pretend to
deny that what was recently stated in the House
of Commons was true. France has so many iron-
sides in hand, and is making such exertions to
complete them, that in a year's time or so she will
have a fleet of some six-and-twenty armour-
plated vessels—a force equal even in mere num-
bers to our Mediterranean and Channel squadrons
together. The Italians, too, and the Spaniards are
each preparing their ironcased vessels, and it is,
of course, possible that Spain and Italy may
be in alliance with France. All this while we
have only seven ironplated frigates in hand ; so that
for the moment, if these vessels are really such im-
pregnable
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clearly behindhand, and might be taken at a dis-
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ment brought it out very forcibly.
The French, it is true, are building all these ves-
sels, but they are building them very indifferently.
Oar Admiralty can see all their mistakes as they
go on. It seems as certain as possible that in
twelve months' time their models will be utterly
superseded. The Achilles, for instance, will pro-
bably be as far in advance of the Gloire as the
Gloire was in advance of an old sailing frigate.
Even with our present experience, we are a long
way ahead of the French—not indeed in results,
but in ideas. For example, the Duke observed,
that if it should be advisable to make defensive pre-
parations of some sort without loss of time, we could
do so very easily by finishing off as ironsides some
fabrics which have been commenced as wooden two-
deckers. "I do not think," continued his Grace,
" that they will be very efficient ; but these ships
will be at least as good as the French." In other
words, our very makeshifts will be as effective as
the best productions of our neighbours ; and this, we
dare say, is true enough. Not that the Frenchare
incapable of turning out good vessels ; they are
among the Lest shipbuilders in the world, but
they are in such a hurry to " reconstruct " their
fleet, and the true theory of these new vessels is
as yet so imperfectly apprehended, that the results.
must from the very nature of things be imperfect
too. All this is so very clear, and in this respect we
are so completely on the safe side, that the only
question is as to the security of the country
during the "infancy" of the new science. What
should we do, for instance, in the event of war, if an.
enemy should meet our half-dozen ironsides with a.
fleet three times as strong ? To thisit is briefly replied.
that orders have actually been given for the imme-
diate completion of five of the makeshift vessels
described above, and if these are at least as good
as any others afloat, while our six or seven originals
are far better, we could not be taken at any great
disadvantage. Moreover, we could push that system
of conversion to almost any extent. If there was
any " pressure," we could cut down our three-
deckers, plate them with iron, and send them out
to keep the seas till we had got better vessels built.
But the Duke had another argument also, and a
most important one it was.
We have assumed throughout that these iron-
cased frigates are really or practically invulner-
able ; at any rate, that they are so much less vul-
nerable than other ships as to possess an incon-
testable superiority. But it happens that within
the last few days this supposed impregnability
has been brought seriously into quest on. "I now
find," said the Duke, alluding to very recent
experiments, " that Sir William Armstrong's guns
have fired through eight-inch iron with the greatest
facility." In point of fact, an Armstrong bolt of
about 110Ib. weight was sent through and through
a target not only stronger than the sides of any
French ship, but stronger than those of the Warrior
herself. We should like to know all the conditions
of the experiment before founding a conclusion
upon it, but, if all is true that is reported, the
science of attack has once more become superior to
the science of defence, and ironsides are compara-
tively worthless. Our fleet of gunboats, if each
vessel carried a 100ib. Armstrong gun, would be a
match for all the iron navies of Europe. Govern-
ment, indeed, has been proceeding upon this calm-
tion, and has been serving out these tremendous
engines to the ships of our fleet, so that if for the
moment they 2 h ould be inferior in powers of defence
they might be superior in powers of attack.
All this, however, does really show the extreme
difficulty of the problem, and goes far to justify the
hesitation which our Admiralty has shown. The
Duke of Somerset admitted with perfect candour
that Government got perplexed by its own experi-
ments. The more they try the more they are puz-
zled. First it is found that armour plates, if strong
enough to resist a shot, ara too heavy for the vessel
to carry. Then, when a new ship has been laid
down with flotation enough to carry thicker plates,
it is found that plates of the new thickness can
be pierced by a new projectile, and so are no
longer to be relied upon. In fact, one of our
departments is working against another, and
each gets the upperhand in turn. In the Victoria
Dock lies the redoubtable Warrior, on which all
the resources of the Admiralty are concentrated,
so that she may take the water proof against at-
tack. Just across the river stands the Royal Gun
Factory, where all the science and organisation of
master-minds are employed in manufacturing
engines for the destruction of such vessels as the
Warrior and her kind. As soon as we have suc-
ceeded in one place, we succeed again in the
other, and the second success destroys the first.
The French are, only carrying out one idea;
we are elaborating two. They are building iron-
sides as fast as they can ; we are experimenting
upon ironsides, and at the same time developing
new powers of artillery. It is because we learnled over
the armour by which a gun can be F so
clearly what a gun can do that we are p
length, just now, instead of usezdz, and at
precipitatelybuilding
our
old ships with new
ppo
ironsid©, we are supplying
100-pounders. The Duke of Somerset's explana-
tion was not only very interesting, but exceedingly
frank, and it is impossible to ceny, after what has
now been said, that the problem before our autho-
rities is enough to perplex them. We can only
trust that during this periad of transition they will
never allow our actual means of protection to sink
below a safe standard.-1