The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-01 00:00:00

arrangement, there is a:space
further increased. The Black
same dimensions as the Warrior, , inte. led to
carry only 40 guns, and, as. at- present arranged,
only six of these are to be breech-loaders. The
main deck will be artned,*iith 34 95 cwt.. 68-
pounders ; the upper or "spar. deck _with fOUr 4C•
pounders, and two pivot guns of 1.001b:i all -Arm-
strongs. The Main deck -ports are' 3ft. Oin. big+,
bat only 2ft. wide,instead_of 4.:as they were at first _
intended to be ; and the lowest edge of the portsill.
will be 9ft.6in.above the water; even at the greatest
immersion of the vessel. In La Gloire thwportsill
is. scarcely over sft. clear of the' sea; disadvantage
so grearas,would in the ICast
main deck guns almost useless. Aceording,o24
ordinary method of mounting ships' guns the •wid
of the ports, both in the Warrior and BtackTrini,,,
would have been at least. 3ft Ain.. if not 411-4 and
the broadside would then have iireserited- a -series-.4
of gaps at intervals of 12ft., whieVifv-ould 'hay()
detracted most seriously from the'deisired'inipene-
trability against shot and shell. By a very simple
contrivance, however, this danger has, been almost
entirely obviated, and the newly constructed gun-
carriages are made so that the gun pivots . round
point near the outer edge of the Port, an,arranv
meet which allows the width of the port itielf being.,
reduced to little more than 21t. Itisprobablattn,
by a siinilar mode-of allowing for:the eleimpon,and
depression the size oLthe ports in 4371_)tilt lie'
reduced to little more than that of the maanliiof
,the gun. It need hardly be pointed' ont,'What an
ithportant improvement this .rs even -for wooden
men-of-war. ' '
As. we have said, .the only difference between:the two frigates will be one of 'armament.
ithis dissimilarity Makes 'any difference of speed
is favour of the. Blaek,Prince,,the number of guns
in the Warrior 326.11'0ub4 also' be reduced to
40.. It on the 'CentrarkAhO aof steaming is
alike, the
guns -the ~Priticp' *ll beini,
creased to 60„ for there isOmpla room forthem all.
!Neither, vessel,, Orkittreq't has yet beettried at sea,
and, tho Ugh it does not require thii test to enable
naval architects to arrive at a very close approxi-
mation of what will be their probable rate of

speed, yet nothing but an actual -cruise will ever
determine the vexed question of how these ships
will roll. That they must roll very deeply no one
appears inclined to. deny, though they are not
likely to do so to such an extent as is the case with
La Gloire, which, in anything like a sea-way, is
almost helpless either for attack :or resistance. To
counteract the tendency, both the Warrior Wand
Black Prince have four broad wrought-iron beams
about two feet and a-half deep, extending two on
each side almost the entire length of each ship's
bottom, and if these are not found to answer the
purpose of checking her lateral motion, it will, of
cft
ohoruaetr ss
liberaleme be ,
nadyi ebrceoua sy
discount
ennaqt
unavoidable
add
o
uooi
ffirde
adtb to t.hl
eetheir
Allowing,he
a pi
faults, rp aw
rne do nhtthodot o an
y
that
doubt
teny
merits
however,
hfaeoaxrtmt
eeuvonnest:

remains that the Warrior and the Black Prince arc

two of the finest iron-clad frigates yet built in the
world. We by no means intend to say that they
are perfection, or even so good as to justify others
being built like them ; but,, for the means of infor-
mation at the disposal of the Government at the
time they were ordered, they are far finer ships
than could reasonably have been expected from the
hurry in which their design was conceived and the
rapid manner in which it has been carried out.
Very little more than a twelvemonth has elapsed
since these ships were ordered, yet the progress
made in knowledge in this new branch of naval
architecture already shows the faults committed
in the construction of them both. For instance,
it is found that had these vessels been built
of 7,000 tons each instead of 6,000 the slight
increase of size and expense would have
enabled both ships to carry armonr plates from
stem to stern. As they are now constructed
both these portions are left quite unprotected by
armour, and, in spite of all the precautions taken in
the way of subdividing them by numerous water-
tight compartments, they must always be serious
sources of weakness. Thus the forward end be-
coming waterlogged would bring either vessel so
much down by the head as to almost lift the screw
out, of water, while if, to counteract such a danger,
the after portion was filled with water also, the
whole ship would he brought down so low that the
main-deck guns would be almost useless. As far as
possible, therefore, we believe the Government have
determined that in the new ships about to be built
every portion of the hull above water shall be
ent (rely eased. Another improvement, with a view
to carry out which in the most effective manner
experiments are now going forward, will be to do
away kith- the. teak lining- entirely.- A 41-inch
plate of iron is almost invulnerable to shot, but a
53-,-inch plate would he completely so. An extra
inch in thickness might be added to the armour
plate if the weight of the teak lining was done away
with, but it would he absolutely necessary to have
something between the plate and the iron side of
the ships, the rivets in which would infallibly be
started by the concussion of a shot striking. A
peculiar arrangement of girders is found to answer
this purpose pretty well, and there is no doubt
that when the experiments are completed all the
new ships will be of iron only, but with 51 inches
or 6 inches thickness in their plates, against which
no artillery that has yet been discovered would
have the slightest effect. Another alteration since
last year seems to be the abandonment of the idea
of using them as steam rams in running down
other vessels. In both the Black Prince and the
Warrior the first intended design of the beak
or prow has been so modified that very little at
all remains of it, and it is said that in the new
vessels it will be given up altogether. Certainly
as long as the Admiralty will insist on rigging
these ships as three deckers they must always be
useless as steam rams. At the moment of collision
with the enemy's vessel every mast and spar would
go by the board, and leave the despoiled " ram"
almost as effectually wrecked as her adversary. In
this matter La Gloire is most decidedly a better
ship. Her rigging and spars are as light and small
as those of a yacht, while her slight bowsprit is made
to house on board, so that nothing whatever would
intervene to mitigate the tremendous force with
which she could strike an enemy. But so much are
the qualities of steam rams disregarded by our Ad-
miralty, that in addition to the heavy rig and im-
mense bowsprit, the beak is still further hampered
by a huge projecting false cut-water and figurehead
which extend so far in advance of it that it is more
than doubtful, in a collision, if the beak would even
touch the enemy's ship.
At the present moment our formidable ally has
one iron-clad frigate in commission, one nearly
ready for sea, and 13 building, four of which are so
much advanced that, with a little additional labour,
their launch could take place at any time, and
nearly every one could be at sea within the present
i year. We will not say to oppose these vessels, but
at least to compete with them, the English navy has
not much to show just yet, and the French navy
has gone so completely ahead in this matter, that it
is likely to be some years before, proceeding at our
present rate, we overtake them. In the Navy Es-
timates for this year one iron-cased frigate appears
as finished and six as building. But the Warrior is
not finished, and will not be rigged and ready for
sea before the suntraer. Of the six returned as build-
ing the Black Prince is one, the Resistance at
Messrs. Palmer's yard another, and the Defence at
Millwall is a third. But the two latter, so far from
being like the Black Prince, are merely
vettes of 3,500 tons. In fact, the AdinirtteYeh 16 -$. un_ caovadre
-
taken credit in the estimates for
having
ditional ships building when the only been
th ealaepse before a
ordered, and some weeks.muste
Yeirwouleeomous resources
rivet is driven for any. Withh t
hit dbe easy to
of the Clyde for ship building,
et on
build half a dozen in that river alone, yly one
smaller one has been commanded, and the Thames
ship building works,
o '
rks from which the Warrior was
launched, are
with their enormous plant, so
admirably suited for the rapid production of these
ships, still without orders. Of the three screw
vessels returned as building by the Admiralty, one
is to be constructed at Chatham, and the plant
necessary for the work has not even been erected
yet. One has been ordered of Messrs. Bailey and
Westwood, at Millwall, and one of Messrs. Napier,
in the Clyde. The plans for the latter vessel show
great modifications in the plan even of the Black
Prince and Warrior. Its length over all will be
about 300 feet, aFnl the beak is entirely done away
with in the bows. The breadth is to be 56 feet,
depth 38, and tonnage 4,003. Yet this vessel is
pierced for 32 gunr; in the main deck, and on the
spar deck will moat probably carry 10 more; in all
twu more guns than the Black Prince, of which she
is little more than halt the size. This vessel is to
be coated entirely, from stem to stern, with armour
plates 4, inches thick, arid with the same teak lin-
ing. This additional coating of iron, of course,
increases her price. The Warrior cost £37 per ton
of 6,173 toes., The new vessel (the name of which
has not yet been fixed) will cost £4l 10s. per ton
on 4,063 tons. Her engines are to he of 850 horse-
power, and the whole vessel will probably be afloat
in the Clyde by the end of the year.
Near the slip in which this is to be built Mr.
Napier, among other vessels, is building one for the
Cunard line, which, after the G:eat Eastern, will
be the largest merchant steamer afloat. It is the
Scotia, mail steamer, and is intended to be larger, i
faster, and more powerful than the Persia. tis
366 feet long, 471 feet broad, 331 feet deep, of 900
horse-power, and 4,050 tons burden.—Tinier.