The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-24 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

Her Majesty's paddle yacht Victoria and Albert,
Capt the Hon. Joseph Denman, sailed from Ports-
mouth yesterday for Antwerp, to convey to Eng-
land the Prince and Princess Royal of Prussia.
According to present arrangements their Royal
Highnesseswill sleep on board the yacht at Antwerp
on Tuesday night, the voyage to England com-
mencing the following morning.
The Diadem, 32, screw, Capt. Cockburn, was re-
ported in several of our contemporaries of Friday
last to have been sent to sea on application by her
captain owing to a spirit of dissatisfaction having
evinced itself among the crew on the question of
leave. We are requested to state that not the
slightest foundation existed for such report. The
Diadem's crew exhibited no discontent, and the
ship merely sailed from Spithead on receipt of her
orders, which had been expected for several days
previously.
The Wanderer, 4, 200-horse power, screw steam
sloop, has been commissioned at Sheerness by Com-
mander M. C. Seymour (1859). She is to receive
her Marine Artillery and Royal Marines from the
Chatham division.

The Bombay, 81, 400-horse power, is in the hands
of the contract engineers at Chatham, being fitted
with her engines and machinery. On Saturday her
funnel, which had been removed to undergo some
alterations, was refixed in its place, the Bombay
being placed under the powerful floating sheers for
that purpose. According to present arrangements
she is to be fitted for the third division of the steam
reserve, and in addition to her other armament will
be furnished with one 100-pounder and two p•
pounder Armstrong guns.
Her Majesty's screw steamship Caledonia, now
building at Woolwich, and intended to be iron-clad
with plates of 41 inches in thickness, is progres-
sing rapidly in construction. Her keel, the first piece
of which was laid dolA I. on the Bth inst., is now
complete, and the half of her flooring is already on.
Capt. Cole's battery screen now erecting on board
the Trusty, in basin at Woolwich, was on Saturday
completed, as far as regards the exterior fittings,
and will be ready in a few days for the commence-
ment of experireents. The plates, which are 71 feet
long and 4!-7 inches thick, are placed roof fashion
over a solid covering of thick oak wood beams, in
the form of a tent, on the upper deck. The screen
is to contain a number of embrasures or portholes,
according to the number of guns supplied. In the
present instance, as only one gun will be experi-
mented on, one battlement has been affixed. The
screen is fixed to the lower deck on a solid pivot,
and revolves with great facility to the required
point, or aim, at the power of one man. The weight
of the screen is supported by numerous rollers rest-
ing on the upper deck, so that the circumvolution
of the ponderous machinery is a work of compara-
tive ease at any desired speed. The peculiar advan-
tage of the screen lies in its oblique form of face
presented to the enemy's guns, and the shelter it is
expected to afford to the gunners accordingly, offer-
ing much greater resistance than any vertical sub-
stances of much greater thickness. The invention
is well spoken of, as being likely to realise the in-
ventor's plans.

The following appointments were made on Sa-
turday at the Admiralty :—Wm. S. Bouchier, mas-
ter, to the Southampton, for the Medusa ; Dr. John
W. Elliott, staff surgeon additional, to the Hawke;
Dr. Sohn L. Trousdell and Alex. Collins, assist.-
surgeons additional, to the Hawke; Michael C. Ray-
mond, second master, to the Hawke; Richard Reed,
acting second master, to the Hawke ;David Leitch,
second-class assist.-engineer, to the Hawke, for
service in the Advice; Horace H. Small, second•-
class assist.-engineer, to the Southampton, for
service in the Medusa; Benjamin Gent, acting
second-class assistant-engineer, to the Asia,
for service in the Duke of Wellington ;
T. Scott (a), engineer, for temporary service in the
Indus ; J. Lawler, acting engineer, to the Hawke,
for temporary service in the Advice ; and J. Moore,
assist.-paymaster, to the Hawke, as secretary's clerk.