The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-09 00:00:00

THE WARRIOR.

This noble frigate is now jointly in the hands of
the builders and the workmen of the Admiralty,
both of whom are doing their best to push her for-
ward so as to have her ready for commission by the
end of July. Since her launch a great deal has been
done, and from the present date almost as much re-
mains to be done before she will be ready to receive
the pennant. All the armour plates, except the up-
per row on the starboard side, have been bolted on,
and this partial completion of her sea-going equip-
ment has made a most material difference in her
appearance. She is considerably deeper in the water
and has rather amarked list to port, in consequence
of more of the plates being in their places on that
side than on the starboard. Quiet as are the waters
of the Victoria-dock, the Warrior has, nevertheless,
already given several unmistakable indications of
being rather topheavy in her present trim, and an
armour plate more or less affixed to either side
makes an important alteration in her seat on the
water. Of course, when ballasted, with all her coals,
stores, and water in, her crankness will be reduced
to the minimum for a ship of her class. But, on the
other hand, if ever the Warrior burns all her coals
out, and has to return to port in heavy weather,
she is likely to be, to say the least, almost danger-
ously topheavy. Captain Ford, of the Thames
Ironworks, when building the vessel, proposed a
plan to the Admiralty to diminish this tendency
to rolling, by filling in between the hollow skins of
the ship with water as the coals were consumed.
The plan was rejected for the Warrior, but has
since been adopted by the new Surveyor of the
Navy for the mythical Achilles, which rumour
says is always about to be built at Chatham, but
with which as yet no manner of progress has been
made. The lower masts, topmasts, and topgallant-
masts of the Warrior are already up. Viewed from
outside the vessel, where the eye can take in the
whole of her colossal though fine proportions, these
spars appears ridiculously disproportioned to the
vast bulk of the ship. They are the masts of a 90-
gun vessel notwithstanding, though it is difficult to
credit it till the visitor stands close alongside them.
The traditional three masts, however, will never do
much for this vessel under sail, and, if it is contem-
plated t at she will ever have to depend on her
sailing qualities, she should have been given four.
most of the lower deck arrangements, as far as the
hull is concerned, are now nearly completed, and
one can form a pretty fair idea of what sort of a
ship she will be for internal accommodation when
at sea. She is, of course, of the most roomy dimen-
sions, though we doubt that in times of peace she
will ever be a popular vessel with either officers or
men as compared with frigates like the Ariadne or
Galatea. In the Warrior, even the little scuttles
through which in fair weather officers on the lower
deck receive their small modicum of fresh air and
hazy daylight are omitted. An armour plate admits
of no scuttle or aperture of any kind, so that all
within the iron casing below the main deck is as
dark as pitch. In times of peace living always by
candlelight in a ship that will surely roll awfully
will, not unnaturally, be regarded as uncomfortable,
though in war time the reflection that all on board
are quite sheltered from shot and shell will more
than counterbalance these little drawbacks. Even
the main deck of the Warrior is now very dim,
since the Admiralty have wisely determined to
narrow the width of the portholes to 30 inches, in-
stead of 50. The armament of the vessel has at last
been definitely fixed, and we think our naval
readers will hear with surprise that it has been
determined to give her only six Armstrong guns—
viz., two 100-pounder pivot guns and four light 40-
pounders, two for each broadside. The rest of the
armament will consist of 36 common 68-pounder
guns of 95 cwt. each. Strange to say, also, all the
Armstrong ordnance are on the spar deck, and
therefore entirely unprotected by armour plating of
any kind, while the common guns are under cover.
If the whole vessel was armed with breech-loading
100-pounders, the armament would then be lighter
than the present comparatively inefficient guns by
nearly 50 tons. The fore and aft bulkheads which
are to shut off the stem and stern, not coated with
armour, are now also finished. An examination of
them will give the visitor the best idea of the im-
mense solidity of the vessel's sides, of which they
they are the exact counterparts, except in having
only 10 inches of teak backing, instead of 20. They
shut in the whole extent of the midships portion of
the ship, from the keel to the upper deck. Both on
the main and lower deck small doors of communica-
tion are cut through these bulkheads on the port and
starboard sides. These, when necessary, can be
closed by doors covered with 4-1-inch armour plates,
turning
on the most massive hinges, and filling in
the doorway so
e ne
as to be perfectly watertight. In the
ndgeir. - All that now room everything is
remains
nw perfect'
e r f
theree c t
or
is the erection of a cupola completet
ob e d oannedd down
furnace for melting iron
and filling the hollow shells with the liquid metal.
Three or four such shells sent •
against a wooden ad-
versary would set her in a blaze from
stem to stern
in ten minutes; whereas supposing such a projectile
to get down a hatchway on to the main deck of the
Warrior, it would be as harmless as on a stone pave-
ment, for the decks are of wrought iron. 'With all
the haste that may be made by the Admiralty (and
the long delay in completing this vessel is due only
to the Admiralty, and not to the contractors), it is
likely to be well on to the end of the year before
the Warrior can rank among our available defences.
By that time the Emperor of the French will have
at least 10, if not 12, iron frigates afloat, of which
five, it is expected, will be actually in com-
m4n• The apparent supineness
Admiralty, therefore `hips
, in not building more ,
of tie Warrior class se
ems inexplicable, and their
apathy becomes almost a subject for alarm when
we recollect that France '
such a long way ahead,
and that, even with all our manufacturing re-
sources, it is almost impossible to
build one of these
iron frigates in less than 18 months. With the
most lavish expenditure, and with all the aids our
private yards Could give the Government, it would
be impossible, even supposing them to build no