The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-08 00:00:00

THE NA TTY,

The Royal Oak, the first of the large wooden
screw steamers which are to be cased with iron, is
progressing at Chatham dockyard, where she is
building under No. 7 shed. Although some delay
was occasioned in consequence of the Admiralty
having ordered her to be lengthened, she is now so
far advanced that in a few weeks she will be com-
pletely in frame, and ready for planking. Accord-
ing to present orders she is to be cased throughout
with iron plates 42 inches in thickness, extending
from three to four feet below her water-line to the
plank sheer, the plates being laid on B.inch oak
planking. Her dimensions are—length between
perpendiculars, 273 feet; length of keel for ton-
nage, 232 feet 8 inches ; extreme breadth, 58
feet;
breadth for tonnage, 57 feet ; burden, 4,045 26-
94ths tons. She is to carry an armament of 50
guns, all of which will be of the heaviest descrip-
tion.

The War Department transport Sebastopol was
yesterday placed under one of the steam cranes at
the Ordnance-wharf, Chatham, and landed a battery
of 13 40-pounder Armstrong guns, together with
some cast-iron smooth-bore guns, destined for the
various ships at Chatham. The Henry, War De-
partment transport, Mr. John Bull, master, als°
came alongside the Ordnance-wharf, Chatham, yes-
terday, with a supply of guns, carriages, and other
stores from Woolwich.

about to be constructed at the west end of the island.
The Sharpshooter, 5, screw, Lieut.-Commander C.
Gibbons, paid off her crew alongside Portsmouth
Dockyard yesterday.

Mr. Josiah Jones's angulated target, at Ports-
mouth, has had its face cleared of the old plates, and
bevilled off for the reception of the new ones, some of
which are expected to arrive at that dockyard to-dal-
The Sirius, target ship, at Portsmouth, is having
two large rolled iron armour plates affixed to her
sides, made at the Atlas Works, Sheffield, for the
purpose of being tested with the 68-pounder smooth-
bore gun. The reports of the experiments at Shoe-
buryness on the ridge-and-furrow surface armour-
plate, which appeared in The Sun of the 31st ult.
and Ist inst., gives very different results from those
which were obtained with a 68-pound solid shot
smooth-bore on a plate manufactured precisely on
the same principle, and tested some months since on
the sides of the Sirius in Porchester Creek. On that
occasion the ridge-and-furrow surface, if anywise
differing from ordinarily faced plates, rather showed
a tendency to confine the shot to the spot it struck
between the ridges and to assist it in penetrating
the plate.
Rear-Admiral R. S. Robinson, Controller of the
Navy, arrived at Plymouth on Tuesday evening,
preparatory to the official visit of the Lords of the
Admiralty.

The screw steamships Revenge, 89, Capt. C. Fel-
lowes, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral R. Smart,
K.H. ; Conqueror, 99, Capt. E. S. Sotheby, C.B. ;
Aboukir, 86, Capt. C. F. Shadwell ; and Centurion,
80, Capt. H. D. Rogers, C. 8., of the Channel squa-
dron, arrived in Plymouth Sound yesterday after-
noon.

The screw steamvessel Himalaya, Capt. J. See-
combo, has arrived at Gravesend from Devonport,
and will embark to-morrow the 3d brigade of Royal
Artillery from Woolwich, ordered for garrison dull
at Malta and Corfu. The whole of the baggage of
the force, which consists of eight batteries, each con-
taining 130 men, was shipped this day, and the
wives and families of the men also embarked. The
force will arrive at Gravesend by special train on the
North Kent Railway.

The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—Commander W. S. Brown,
to the Orion ; Commander R. C. Mayne, to the He-
cate, additional, for surveying service; Lieut. G. T.
Morrell, to the Wellesley ; R. D. Hire, paymaster
additional, to the Cornwallis ; and W. T. Richards,
paymaster, to the Cadmus.