The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-06-15
THE MOSQUITO FLEET OF ENGLAND.
The Naval Power or Great Britain-The New
Gun Boat System-Its Value Means OF
Attack.

The Naval Power or Great Britain-The New
Gun Boat System-Its Value as Means OF
Attack.
IRON the Quarterly Review, March, 1861
Contfmporaneousy speaking of the mammoth steamer
Great Eastern] with the remarkable tendency in
crease Of size merchant vessels the thoughts OF sci
enhc men have been turned in an opposite direction with
respect to vessels Of As stand on the deck Of
the Great Eastern and look across to Depord, SEQ
riding anchor of that famous fleet Of gun boats
called forth by exgences Of Baltic warfare She is
y bigger than the boats which the vessel under
our feet will carry each side of her paddle boxes By
referring the diagram will be that she looks like
cockboat in comparison with the great Duke OF yelling
ton The idea of any number Of such little Davds attack
ing Goliath would appear to be preposterous. An ex
animation Of the subject, however, makes ii seem
probable that n fighting ships size is great element of
danger, and dmnutiveness Of safety The massacre Of
Sinope-the first blow Of the present war-gave us
evidence OF the effects Of new order OF projectle,
which will in the opinion Of those vcrsed in gunnery
very much modify ideas with respect TO building such
enormous mer war as we have done lately SIR How.
ard Douglas in his admirable work the Art OF Naval
ed manner, and quotes with applause letter by General
Paixhans published in the Moniter Of February 1854,
entitled, Observations on the Burning OF the Turkish
Frigates by the Russian Fleet in the Black sea- FROM
the report of the Russian admiral the writer shows that
the almost instant destruction OF the gates Of our ally
caused by Paxhans' shells fired from the Paixhans'
guns the lower decks OF the Russian ships These
shells, according to the Turkish official report first set
fire 10 the ships and then blew them up" Arguing from
the proved destrucvencfs Of these projectes the in
venor of them draws the following conclusions =
Guns which fire shells horizontally will destroy vessel
vessels are re large e lie Of and pro-
ctes during an action being for the service Of
explosion ship this fact results me import
ty military and financial and that amour, Of lives
mainly consideration economy lay
s Of e
far less enormous and drawing water may
se at ar c 1se smaller no
vessels would neither require 90 much time nor timber nor
Ssad POINTS
Of large ship the Of keeping q. distance or q
may doubtless near destroy ether oi The others
mortal blows and remain masters Of field Of battle from
the effect q which very Destructive, the advantage w
evidently be in favor Of those who know best how g give
a f d. in he progress these I'VE
an Sc ws DE- to
ss ssms ss X IL ne q
such great draught Of water many men we
hSe Of
give France system Of naval economy which suits her In
May we not carry General Paixhans' idea Of subdvi
sion Of force still farther and ask whether cloud OF
swift and powerful gun boats would not often be still
effective than large rigates2 Let US imagine even
the Duke of wellington of l3l guns attacked by score
ers, placed fore and aft, firing Paixhans shells, would
she not be very much in the position OF parish beade
by mob OF misChevOuS bOySf DrOaoSlue Sucn
hers towering high above the water, would present
target which would be difficult TO miss; whilst she
would have little chance Of shooting swallows with her
long guns, these nmblc gun boats, Tor ever wary
keeping their stcrns n respectful distance and pre-
senting mark not more than twenty-five feet TO her
gunncrs The difficulty Of hitting such mere specks
would be immense; and the turning of these min
the water would expose them to little harm, as
the experience Of the attack on sweabog proved for the
gun boats which kept moving about on that occasion were
never once struck.
If this view is correct, and the concentrated IRE
of few gun boats is likely TO overpower
the radiang fire of three deckcrs, and if the
dire effects OF single shell bursting on ships sde be,
indeed, great as General Paxhans airms y may De
that the necessity of building peculiar class OF vessels
for shallow will open our eyes 70 the garng ms
take have committed in building such enormous ships
of 1t is maxim among military engineers that no ior
thcaton onger than its weakest place Now PAX
hans she'll striking three decker near the water ine
and exploding in the side is most likely TO do from
it's extreme thickness is capable smashing the tmbers
for many feet around it, her very szend weight WIZ
only the speedily cause her to disappear under me
water The tremendous batteries Of such ship would
have little effect upon these boats, which by the use
lancaster guns could fight at 1900 yards distance at
much bigger than floating tubs whilst they would be able
10 destroy their big antagonist with as macn as
Gordon Cumming brought down an elephant al his leisure
Four divisions of gunboats now collecting In the
Channel are living proofs OF the energy 81 our pri
capable Of putting forth at the shortest houce.
OF the 200 boats, more or less, Wmch are
now like dogs Of war straning at the leash of the Mo-
her Bank more than ,wothirds were laid down
hree months ago Not engine had Dcen wrought OUT
d the shapeess mass OF ron not boer OF the zen score
which now lace the leadcn sky with their thh, WINE
wreaths Of steam had been put together.
If be proud Of anything during the late war De-
the gaantry soldiers and the magnihcence oil our
transport system it must be Of our manufacturing ener
gy which has created host Of armed ships, moved by
complicated machinery, almost as quickly as Cadmus
created legions Of armed men out OF the ground NC
other nation could by any possibility have accomplished
the task. for the simple reason that they nave
neither the tools the skill to direct them Inc Messrs
Penn Of Greenwich for instance received an ORDER nrce
months since to complete, by the beginning OF Aprl,
eighty marine engines sixty horse power each the en-
moving power in short Of nearly half the Mosquito
fleet. If such order had been given TO any contnent
engineer, he would have treated II as Joke put the
Nessrs Penn have not only completed II within the spe
Gifted time but have put them in working order on Doard
been accomplished by house pattern engine
agreed upon the contracting hrm sent duphcate
patterns 10 all the principal engineers through
out the island ordering so many dinerent poruohs
to be delivered certain day. In TINS manner the
whole force Of the country put upon the work. ana
cylinders connecting beams stulng boxes piston rods
&C. from dozen different factories, have Dcen seainhe
for weeks past the island, towards the Messrs
PENIS fitting shops where they met and were put toge
Their the first time. The major portion OF the gun
boats themselves have been furnished by the private
shpyards From half dozen points Of the Thames these
handy little craft, sometimes IN wos ana threes ready
rugged with engines board took the water during
the last six weeks. AT Liverpool Bristol Newcastle,
Sunderland Northam Southampton and Cowes, tins tiny
been fashioned through the long winter nights
though outward appearance the boats are all precisely
alike their tonnage draught and propelng powers are
widely different as see in the following table -
DrdugM
Of Water Hors.
No. TINS. Qight) 2ouoer. Speed
f. In. knO<s