The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-07 00:00:00

THE WARRIOR.

To-morrow, for the first time, the Warrior will
be on her way under steam down the river. This
trip will not be a very long one—no longer, in fact,
than that of moving down from the Victoria Docks
to Greenhithe ; but short as it is we hail it with
satisfaction, as the commencement of the two or
three preliMinary cruises which she must make be-
fore she really ranks among our effective defences,
of which, of this kind at least, we are just now so
much in need. A very large amount of work has
still to be done on board, which, with a ship of less
colossal dimensions, would be completed before she
left the docks at all. In the case of the Warrior,
however, this cannot be done, as she already draws
within two feet of the depth of water of the docks
themselves, and deeper than this it is not considered
prudent to have her in case of accidental accumu-
lation of sand interfering with her getting away
easily. She now draws 22 feet forward and 23 by
the stern. Her guns, coals, provisions, and other
heavy stores still to go on board, will bring her
down about four or four and a half feet more ; but
nothing further will be added to her present weights
till she is moored lower down the river. To-morrow,
therefore, soon after 1 o'clock, she starts for Green-
hithe. Four tugs will attend to assist in turning,
&c., if necessary, and the Warrior will herself
be under steam, so that the chances of
casualties in the way of her taking the ground
at any point are almost out of the ques-
tion. At Greenhithe she will most probably
remain during the rest of the present month,
swinging to adjust compasses, and taking in
her heavy stores and armament. The latter, with
the exception of two 100-pounder Armstrongs on
the upper deck, will, for the present, at least, con-
sist entirely of solid smooth bore 68-pounders of 95
cwt. What is the reason of thus arming her even
temporarily we cannot say, but it is certain that
during her first cruise she will carry no other guns.
But even this armament will suffice to make her the
most formidable ship afloat, for the 68-pounder is
still preferred by many to the 100-pounder Arm-
strong, with which it is undoubtedly equally effi-
cient at short ranges of from 400 to 500 yards.
Eventually, however, though very likely not before
the close of the year, all her portholes will be filled
with 100-pounders, save only the two foremost on
the upper deck, which will be defended by 40
pounder Armstrongs. But long before this final
change is made, the Admiralty will have ascertained,
to the value of each fibre of iron, the exact amount
of resistance her broadside will offer to either 68 or
100-pounders. The experiments at Shoeburyness,
of which we are always hearing so much, have
hitherto been almost exclusively conducted against
fancy targets, the like of which we must never ex-
pect to see on any ship's side. Now, however, the
Admiralty are going to try the effect of shot and
shell on a broadside manufactured like the Warrior.
For this purpose the Thames Ironworks are build-
ing a target 20 feet long by 10 high, with one port-
hole in the centre, of precisely the same description
o' plates, teak, and all other materials as the War-
rior itself. This will be sent to Shoeburyness in the
course of five or six weeks, and will then be pounded
at till destroyed, when the country and the Govern-
ment will know exactly how much or how little the
1 present class of iron ships can be depended on.
From Greenhithe the Warrior will, early next
month, go round under steam to Portsmouth. This
will be her first real trip, for, of course, when drop-
ping down the river to-morrow there will be no
opportunity of judging how she either steers or
steams. Even the run round to Portsmouth, unless
the weather proves very heavy, will give no fair
specimen of her powers, as the large iron launching
cleats are still fastened to her bottom, which is also
supposed to be very foul. She will be docked at
Portsmouth for three or four days, to get rid of
these impediments, and then, probably in the begin-
ning of October, stand out for a regular trial trip in
the Bay of Biscay, where her sea-going qualities
will be tested with the severest impartiality. Before
all this comes to pass, however, a great deal of work
has to be done to her internally. There are nearly
1,000 hands employed upon her now in completing

the cabins and fitting up between decks, and though
each day shows marked advance towards the finish,
more than enough, nevertheless, remains to do to

show that it is very unlikely she will be able to
start for Portsmouth before the sth or 6th of next
month at soonest. The arrangements for working
the tiller we venture, with the utmost deference, to
think are extremely complicated. She can be
steered alike from the upper, main, and lower deck,
but it seems almost an open question if, with the
utmost number of men they are able to put at the
wheels, they will ever have sufficient power to get
the helm over more than 15 or 18 degrees. The
difficulty which is likely to be experienced in this
respect would certainly seem to call for the intro-
duction of Mr. Humphry's beautiful little machine,
by which the helm can be forced hard over in three
or four seconds by the irresistible might of hydrau-
lic pressure. With this simple apparatus, which
works so admirably in the Mooltan and other ships,
one man would be ample to turn the Warrior in any
direction, though of course the usual tiller ropes
could be kept on in case of anything happening to
the machine itself. Workmen just now are
busily engaged in building a shot pro )f tower
or rifle chamber, in the centre of the spar
deck, just forward of the mainmast. This
tower is apparently being built because La
Gloire and most of the French ships have a similar
iron martello on their upper decks also. That in
the Warrior is oval-shaped, being 12 feet long by
8 wide, and a little over 7 feet high. It is built of
double teak, lined with iron, and will be coated all
over its sides and roof with 41-;-inch iron plates, ex-
actly similar to the Warrior's broadside. At about
6 feet from the ground a series of small apertures,
of some 6 inches diameter, will be pierced, for the
men to fire through. The theory of this tower is,
that the Warrior when fully laden will be little
more than a frigate's height from the water, and in
engaging a large ship (say a French three-decker,
with its usual crowd of guns on the spar deck) the
enemy would be able to fire right down on to the
deck of the Warrior, and clear it of every living
soul. The tower on deck is capable of holding at
least eight men, who have two small openings
through which they can communicate with the
crew below, and up which loaded rifles can be
passed for them to fire through the loopholes as fast
as possible. The fire of these eight marksmen con-
tinually supplied with loaded rifles, and sending
their bullets through the enemy's ports, would be
enough, it is estimated, to keep down the fire of
eight or ten guns, while in the case of an attempt
to carry by boarding, they would, of course, be able
to inflict a murderous slaughter on the assailants
scattered over the vast expanse of deck and utterly
exposed. One tower, however, seems scarcely
enough for all this, and the efforts of its defenders
to be thoroughly effectual should be seconded by a
few marksmen well-sheltered in the fore, main, and
mizen tops. One cupola melting furnace has
been erected in the forward stoke-hole for melting
iron to fill shells with. A full charge in this
of, say, six tons would supply molten iron
for upwards of 500 missiles. A half dDzen
such shots lodging between the timbers of a wooden
ship would set her in a blaze from stem to stern in
ten minutes. Against an iron vessel :they would of
course be harmless. With a vessel of such peculiar
constraction as the Warrior, nothing appeared so
difficult of accomplishment as securing a perfect
system of ventilation through her dark iron-bound
decks. This all-important matter has now, we are
glad to say, been brought to almost complete per-
fection, and either in action or out of it the War-
rior will be one of the best ventilated ships afloat.

The draught of air is secured by means of two large
metal pipes, which pass throughout the entire
length of the vessel from stem to stern. In addition
to the natural draught through these, the air, when-
ever it is neessary, can be driven through them at
a prodigious velocity by fans worked by a 30-horse
power auxiliary engine. These pipes ventilate all
the coal bunkers, and keep a constant passage of
air through the 'tween decks, and ordinary canvas
hose pipes screwed into the sides of the pipe Convey •
strong eurrents to any portion of the ship, just so
much water would be conveyed. When in action a
powerful draught of air can be sent by the fanners
through all the pipes and coal bunkers. The latter,
of course, communicate directly with the coal shoots
on the main deck, the covers of which being taken
off will allow a great stream of air to rise almost
between each gun amidships. The smoke, there-
fore, of the guns will be, it is hoped, driven out
through the ventilators over the portholes. But
for some such arrangement as this, with the very
narrow portholes of the Warrior and the quantity
of smoke generated by the firing of breechloaders,
her main deck wonld be little short of suffocating
during an engagement. The stoke-holes, it is anti-
cipated, will be very cool, but the engine•room not
so much so. It is very likely, therefore, that the
latter will be fitted with down and upcast air-
shafts, which will do all that is necessary in re-
spect of ventilation. The designs for the six
new ironsides the Admiralty are about to build
have not yet been made known publicly. Official
rumour says that they are to be 40 feet longer,
three feet wider beam, and with a flatter floor than
either the Warrior or Black Prince. They are to
be of 7,500 tons, insteadof 6,500, and this additional
thousand tons and greater midship section will
enable them to carry armour-plates over all, from
stem to stern. They will haveno beak of any kind,
but will be almost as straight at bow and stern as
the little river steamers. The stem, however, though
rising at a right angle from the water, will be as
sharp and fine as the edge of a wedge. We do most
sincerely hope that the official incubation of these
schemes is nearly over, and that they will soon re-
solve themselves into something more tangible than
Admiralty on chts. If all six had their keels laid
and were fast progressing, we should still have done
very little to diminish the immense distance by
which France has outstripped us in respect of these
vessels. She can show 15—some quite, and some
almost ready—against the Warrior, to be ready in
October, Black Prince, Defence, and Resistance, to
be ready in December, and two which have just
begun building. As for the Achilles at Chatham,
it is even more mythical than itsredoubtable name-
sake. It has been building we are told, for more
than a year, yet it is only within the last few days
that some of the keel plates were laid. The Admi-
ralty have had warnings enough given them by this
country with regard to iron ships, but all our warn-
ings have been as nothirg compared with the un-
mistakable monitions they have had in the prepara-
tions of France. Yesterday the Thames Ironworks
received an order for an iron steam ram for the
Russian Government. The vessel is to be 3,500
tons, and to carry a heavy armament of 40 guns.
She is to have a most prononce "beak" projecting
under water more than 20 feet in advance of the
apparent bows. If this ship attain the high rate of
speed for which she is built, she will be an over-
match for a whole Channel squadron of ordinary
wooden ships.—Times.