The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-05-22
MODERN NAVAL WAR ARE.
Important Report from the Senate
Committee.
Necessity for Radien Reform In the Ams-
rican Navy,
&c. xc &c.

Affairs, made the following report anu onefeu Tue
annexed bill for reform in our navy
REPORT.
The Committee on Naval Affairs having had I'M
der consideration the Navy, and having carefully
examined the means Of improving it, reports:-
The naval service has neither the ships, the arma
ments, nor the organization which the condition,
commerce, and resources of the country, and the
expenditures for its maintenance, demand. With a
commerce covering the globe, and exceeding in ton
mage that OF every other power, our means for pro-
tecting it are far less than those of the smallest
maritime State.
France, with that completeness Of plan and atten-
lion to detail which distinguish all her public inst
buttons and works, has at this moment the best dis
ciplined and most efficient ships, squadrons and
fleets, that have ever existed. Her equipments, her
gunnery practice, her squadron and fleet sailing and
manouvring, aided by her propellers,, have never
been equalled, and have elected the admiration of
the naval world France in the days of her greatest
power, bitterly wept the want of conquering navy,
and by steadlast and consistent policy-frst mark.
e. out and urged by the Prince de Joinville-she
ms nobly prepared TO retrieve the past.
Under one of the last DEGREES Of her National As
sembly, made in October, ls49, the report of its
knmittec OF fifteen members, chosen by ballot was
S6llshed in 1851, in two large quarto volumes of
f.hteen hundred pages an embraces searching in
3uries into every branch Of the material and per-
mel of the naval service Great Britain, with
lore and heavier ships, Is as yet unequal TO France,
) those numerous yet essential details, which COM
pc tie mind and matter OF naval service, in the
ACT efficient organization. Yet both nayios pos.
sess IL common, those elements Of offensive and de
fensiye power, which may be regarded "a changing
tile character OF naval warfare, and destined 70
make its contests the foTlorn hopes OF the seas.
The auxiliary screw, protected from the effect Of
shot, while it enables beligerent ships to approach
and engage, with equal control over wind and sea,
and removes all excuses for avoiding contest gives
10 neither the advantage in the fight; ana this,
with the introduction OF the ght and ten inch PaiX
han ehe.l, is the salient Improvement in naval war
ID
hull of the ship, does it comparatively little injury.
Its course through tho oak planking can hardly be
traced by quill, and carpenters plug repairs the
damage. Still less injury il done If the shot does
not pass through. In Perrys engagement on Lake
Erie, his ship received one hundred and twelve
round shot in her hull, and came galantly and vic
to!iously Into port.
But the DAYS OF such contests are past: and we
may now regard them as the amicable and gallant
jousts Of oceans courty knights, in comparison TO
the future battles OF the great deep If theory tested
by experiments and sustained by the results OF the
late action ct Sinope, may be relied on 1t may BE-
considered as fact pretty well established, that
two or three explosive nine ten inch shells, well
aimed and properly planted are enough to tear out
the side OF the largest ship and completely to disa-
ble, if not wholly destroy her. We quote from the
experiments made with nine inch explosive shot in
the harbor OF Brest, upon the Pacilcanteur, an
eighty gun ship. The piece to be fred was mount
ed on a small pontoon, and planted off upon the wa
ter to the distance Of about six hundred and forty
yards from the eighty gun ship, which 10 be the
target. The experiments were made in the presence
of a number OF the most eminent officers in the
French navy The first shot sufficed to determine
opinions; but to complete the evidence twelve shot
were fired. The following is summary from the
official report on the occasion:-
The first shot struck low, and as soon as
the explosion was heard the Commission re-
paired on board. A thick smoke filled the
between decks, where the bomb had burst.
The fire engine was worked, and the smoke lasted
-fn or twelve minutes; the bomb had made a
nfa DIR md half inch Iia,,a IN bn
fips side, which there was twenty-nine inches
Shick it had torn off two feet of the inner plank
ind then exploded, made hole. in the orlop
teck Of two to three feet square, and knocked away
and shattered to atoms more than one hundred
and sixty square feet of timber.
The second bomb traversed the quarterback, car
ryng with it two pieces of plank, one of which
five and quarter feet long; then, striking the
Dlainmast obliquely, it knocked of splinter from
three to four feet long and nine and half inches
thick and bursting tore away mast band ten and
half feet in circumference, Weighing one hundred
and thirty pounds This mass of iron was driven
with such force that of its halves struck the OPP
poste bulwark seventeen feet distant, where it fiat
tened and adhered The splinters of the bomb shat
tered the bits, cut some of the braces, and would
have injured many men and articles of rigging if the
ship had been equipped. The explosion also set fire
10 4 coil of rope.
The third bomb entered the side, between two
ports struck and tore of an oaken knee seven feet
i've inches long, and six and half to thirteen and
three quarter inches thick which with its iron fast
enings weighed more than two hundred and six
pounds; then bursting, its spiinters Knocked down
forty of the wooden figures nailed around the guns
TO represent The explosion also shattered one
of the beams supporting the decks above, starting
several planks, one of which ten and half feet
long, and another five and quarter feet, &c.
To abridge this detail, we will only refer to the
two most remarkable shots of the remaining nine.
Pcrceiving that the bombs always passed through
the side OF the vessel the charge OF the gun was di-
unfinished each time. With four and a half pounds
nj Oxril and lxyau at Sfy lnnt Trad and fnrfu
yards, bomb struck in the wood between two
ports and burst, tearing away the frame and plank
ing and making breach of several feet in height
and width so shattered, that all present thought
that the shot would have endangered the vessel
had it taken effect near the water line. Besides
this, two pieces of the iron work, weighing sixteen
pounds, were driven inboard, by the force Of
the explosion, and nineteen figures knocked
down. Finally, the twelfth and last bomb,
with the same small charge, and at the same dis
lance, struck the corner OF port, knocked away
heavy piece of iron work, and lodged the other
side OF the ship, against an iron knee five and
quarter inches in size, and firmly supported; the
blow made three assures in the iron, two of which
were four and quarter inches thick: aud the bomb
still unbroken, buried itself further in the side
burst, and knocked down twenty figures.
As to the havoc made upon ship by these projec-
tiles the French commissioner was OF opinion that
II was $50 terrible and so great that it is thought
or two bombs of this kind bursting in battery,
would make such confusion to the surrender
of the vessel or at least conduce materially TO it,
and "to produce, by the power of the bomb and its
splinters such damage in the frame that ii the ex-
plosion should take place near the water line the
vessel would probably sink. There is no doubt on
tbs subject" ii was added as may evidently be
perceived from the result Of bomb No. 4, which, had
II struck few feet lower, would certainly have
done irreparable mischief.
Such are the naval ornaments Of England, France,
and Russia, and while we acknowledge their mighty
power, We may well doubt, IN the absence OF al ex-
tha rolia ~ .ts.
COS battery OF such guns, each OF which f. of itself
sufficient to destroy adversary instead OF divid
ing them among several ships.
Perhaps the following comparative view may best
illustrate the relative force OF our navy. la 1886
tsee Sen. doc. 1877, 20 Cong. | sess.,) before the
three great Powers of Europe had put In commission
many of their ships which have since been sent to
sea- Great Britain, for every 100000 tons OF COM
merce had ailoat and efficient ........ 6SS guns.
France. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 1868
Russia . - q lgg