The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-03 00:00:00

ships, almost an impossibility. An immense extent of pro-
perty must be sacrificed in any case, and the sum of human
suffering grievously increased, but we contend that the pro-
portion of loss will be very much less than in 1812, and far
too slight to leave the Americans much hope of victory
through British exhaustion. Granting that in every other
respect America is as well armed now as she was in 1812,
the growth of the power of steam is wholly upon our sick.
—Spectator.

OUR IRON-CLAD FRIGATES.

In the article on this subject which appeared in
our columns last week we stated that it was a great
error to suppose that all our built ironsides were

'ike the Warrior. We venture now to point out

another error which is also very general—namely,

lat of estimating the whole of our iron frigates,

whether building or built, as an already effective
fleet. Now the fact is that at least 20 months from

the present date must elape before four of our finest
vessels—the Alinotaur, the Achilles, the Captain,
and the Northumberland, are even afloat; and we
learn from the experience of the Warrior that,
even using the greatest speed in equipment, it
would be at least six months from that time before

they could be ready for commission. The truth is

that our iron fleet is much deficient in numbers as

compared with that of the French. The great size
and enormous massiveness of our vessels render the

building of them a very slow process. It is the
knowledge of this that makes us anxious to see
more of them in hand, and we should heir with
unmixed satisfaction that the Admiralty had car-

ried out the intention they expressed this autumn

of calling for tenders :for the construction of three
more, in addition to those now building. The four
really iron ships now being constructed (for we
do not include in this category either the Bul-
wark or the Royal Oak at Chatham, which are
merely wooden two-deckers cut down to be
plated with iron, on the French system) are what
are called the " improved Warriors," whose names
we have already given. Every improvement which
it is now seen that the Warrior requires these ships
will possess, while, on the other hand, they will be
free from all her defects, especially that most im-
portant one of construction, which leaves the stem
and stern vulnerable to shot, The new ships will
be coated with armour from end to end. At every
point they will offer to the fire of an enemy plates
of wrought iron not less than 5 inches thick,
backed up with 10 inches of teak, with half an inch
of iron (the skin of the ship) inside all. After the
complete success of the trials at the 'Warrior target,
the propriety of adding to the weight of the armour-
plates by increasing their thickness an inch is
strongly disputed by some of the highest autho-
rities. For every purpose of warfare the Warrior
is practically invulnerable, and it is contended
that by still further adding to the weight of
the plates no additional protection is gained,
and a great deal may be lost in the effi-
ciency of the vessels by rendering them dan-
gerously unwieldy in rough weather. The War-
riot's plates of 41 inches weigh 950 tons, but to
cover the new larger ships from end to end with
plates of 51 inches will require no less than 2,000
tons of metal—an enormous mass of dead weight
for a ship to carry in addition to her ponderous en-
gines, stores, guns, shot, and shell. It is this in-
creased number, size, and thickness of the plates
that add such a heavy item to the cost of each of
the new vessels, which require for their hull, en-
gines, and rigging alone an outlay of nearly
£452,000. The Warrior up to the present time has
cost rather over £400,000, and her successors, before
they are at sea, will cost £600,000. These are
large items, but it may be truly said that the
country gets value for its money, and the first out-
lay is the last, for the hulls of these tremendous
vessels ought to be as good two or three centuries
hence as they are now.
The new ships are not only to be steam frigates,
but steam rams also, for their bows project be-
neath the water far in advance of the apparent
bows above. The bows, in fact, are formed like the
outline of a swan's breast, according to the plan first
suggested in the Warrior by Captain Ford. The
length of the Warrior is 380 feet, breadth 58, and
her tonnage 6,170. The new ships are 400 feet long
591 broad, and with a tonnage of 6,815. The in-
crease of breadth in the new ships will, however,
be almost entirely under the water line ; and by
this means, and by giving them a slightly flatter
floor, their displacement is nearly 1,000 tons greater
than the Warrior. This, as the decks are not wider,
also increases the slope of the sides inwards from the
water's edge, which in the Warrior is at an incline
of about 1 in 13 feet, but in the new ships will be at
an incline of lin 81 feet. This not only almost
doubles the chance of the shot glancing, but has the
still more important advantage of getting the
weight more to the centre and diminishing the
tendency to roll. The power of the War-
rior is 1,250 nominal ; that of the new
ships has not yet been decided on, though en-
gineers say it is a point which admits of
very little doubt. If the high speed of the War-
rior is to be maintained the new ships should have

an in crease of power in proportion to the increased
weight and bulk of the mass to bemoved. Bearing

in mind that they will have a greater displacement
and greater midship section than the Warrior,
1,500-horse power is considered the minimum of
what they ought to have to do their 17 knots.. No
economy will be so false as that which reduces the
speed of these noble vessels. The arrangement of
the bows in order to fit them for the discharge of
their tremendously destructive duties as steam rams
is very peculiar. The " beak" is below the water
line, and projects, as we have said, at least 20 feet
in advance of what seems to be the bows above.
Thus the long overhanging weight which the false
cutwater of the Warrior necessitated in order to
conceal her beak, which is above water, is entirely
done away with, and the bows are water-borne for
some 20 feet at least before any weight comes upon
them. A space of 30 feet long by 9 feet deep of
these seeming bows is left without armour plates,
and only defended ftom the spar deck line upwards
by teak bulwarks, which lower down like the bul-
warks of the little gunboats. But inside this slight
defence comes a semicircular shield of armour, 7
feet high and 51- inches thick, and spreading com-
pletely across the bows of the vessel before the
foremast, from side to side. In this there are to be
portholes for two immense Armstrong guns. On the
main deck below is another similar shield, reaching
up to the iron spar deck, but without guns, as it is
simply intended to cover the crew against the
chance of a raking fire. By this arrangement the
most complete protection is given to the men both
on the spar and main deck, yet without incurring
any top-heavy weight forward, as the shields are
both within the water-borne line of the hull by at
least 40 feet. The bowsprits of all are to be of
iron fitted with a powerful hinge where
they spring from the deck, so that before going
into action they can be turned backwards and in-
wards, that there may be nothing to deaden
the force with which the ships w;11 strike
when the occasion offers to use them as steam rams
against the enemy. There appears to be very little
doubt but that all these vessels will have four masts
specially designed to carry more fore and aft can-
vass. Even the short cruises of the Warrior have
shown that the conventional three wooden masts
and square rig are as unsuitable for these ships as
armour plates would be on a Holyhead packet.
But, above all things, whatever the number of the
masts, it is of the last consequence that all should
be of wrought iron. Wooden masts are not only
easily shot away, but are perfectly certain to go by
the board on the very first attempt to use the vessels
for one of the purposes for which they are specially
built—namely, as steam rams. It is very possibie
that in this last case the iron masts might do the
same too, especially if square rigged; but they have
this immense advantage over timber, that they
could not be shot away, and that if they went
overboard from other causes they would tear them-
selves clear, and go down alongside like a deep
sea lead. Wooden ones would of course, float ;
drift astern, and to a certainty foul the screw with
the wreck of cordage. No officer in either service
was more alive to the imminence of the dangers
which must thus arise from this cause from the use
of wooden masts than the late Sir Howard Douglas,
and as iron masts are as light, much cheaper,
and ten times more durable than wood) every