Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1861-03-21
w. ID. WALLACE.
SHIPS IN AHMOR.
England Taking Up the French Gauntlet
La Cleric and the Warrior.


hs'-onal pride fires at the idea that any body,
<pecially Frenchman, has accomplished
some unheard-of act, and he never rests until
he has tried his hand in the same direction,
and produced specimen bigger and more ex-
traordinary in every way than the other. To
cry sFrance' in the ear Of England, produces
an effect like that Of the toss Of gauntlet in
defiance Of acheyalier Of the old regime. John
Bull considers his honor touched, and at once
sets at work in a rage of competition.
The latest instance of this fiery national
rivalry is the quarrel over TIE question of the
iron-clad ships. "When France launched La
Gloire," says an enthusiastic writer in the last
COrnhill Magazine, "she callenged England
challenged her, not to fight, but to fit herself
for fighting on new terms. The Warrior is
England's reply"
Readers curious in such matters, who may
not have had the leisure to follow the elaborate
discussions of the merits Of these rival ships
that have appeared in the English and French
press, will find the story Of the contest pleas
antly told By the Cornhill writer. He shows
that the British public fell into state of vio-
lent agitation when it was announced that
France had begun to build floating battery,
clad IN shot-proof armor, filled with death
dealing projec,iles, contrived upon such plan
that she could neither be sunk nor burned,
riddled by cannon balls nor blown up by an
enemy. Astute British statesman asked the
reassn of this extraordinary movement; stout
English squires quaked in their boots in their
spacious rural homes; the seaboard shiyered
with fright. All England was thrown into
CONSERVATION. 1t would never do for her to
be beaten on the sea by any continuance of
Napoleon. The idea Of allowing herself to be
outwltted by France was preposterous; and
something must be done.
This is not the language Of our writer. He
puts the case in more gingerly way, pruning
down the harsher features of the emergency
and demonstrating the maritime necessity for
active competition. We have given the SUBJ
stance of his introduction in a way which ex-
presses his real meaning. "The British pub
lie. - ne adds, " are probably anxious to learn
whether we have replied worthily or not
The problem to be solved is this ''What kind
OF vessel will best enable British seamen to
contend successfully against La Glorie and
similar shipsP' In other words, although
France had built La Glorie, she was not to be
allowed to have all the glory to herself
La GlOire is a timber built ship, cased from
end 70 end with iron plates four and half in
ehes thick; she is 252 feet inches long, SIS feet
broad, and ~ feet 6 inches deep below the
water line; her ports are 8 feet inches apart,
and from to feet above the water; her en-
gines are Of 900 horse power, her speed IL
knots an hour, and her armament "a guns,
carrying 54-pOund shot and two shell guns
The Warrior is 420 feet long, SO feet broad,
26 feet draft, and $3.50 tons harden She has
cost f350, 900. Hence she is longer broader,
lighter and more expensive than La Gloire.
90 TAR, so good. 1t is claimed, moreover that
sne can outsail, outhght and outlast her French
rival Her ports are higher than those of La
Gloire, and it is confidently asserted that she
can blow the latter out Of the water with the
greatest facility. Or, to quote the Cornhill
Her plan corresponds with the WELL known
spirit OF our naval commanders, who have al
ways had passion fer laying alongside of
foe. Even in a crippled state
the Warrior would probably steam as fast as
La dioiTe, and would certainly carry loftier
battery than that vaunted vessel possesses at
her be ST.
Ire Warrior carries but As guns, but they
are. SO disposed that no fire can ever dismount
tnem, while the remarkable spaciousness of
her fighting deck gives facilities for handling
the guns with ease and rapidity, so that the
Admiralty claim for fer a great superiority Of
power over her rival Unlike the latter, she
IS not protected throughout by armor. Only
the central part of the vessel is protected by
shot-proOf plates; the remainder is fitted up
with bulkheads encased in iron. Hence she
is lighter than La Gloire. Other peculiarities
OF her construction are thus described
" But even with her fine ends uncased, an
immense weight Of iron has to be supported.
And this weight has not, rs some suppose, been
determined in the case Of the Warrior by the
number of guns which are to be carried. The
whole art OF war ship construction lad to be
reversed in this respect; the dimensions and
structure of the hull being the first thing fixed
and the number and position Of the guns be-
ing subsequently, settled. For, let it be un-
d1rstood. there is much more than the guns
and gunners to be protected. In the Warrior
the engines and boilers, magazines she'll
rooms, spirlt-rooms-all the stores, in fact,
that 1t would be dangerous to expose either to
hre or water-are placed within the shelter of
the armor plates. The engines and boilers
alone occupy length of l59 feet. Here, then,
We see at once that u considerable length of
sdOt-proof side becomes requisite. That great
length Of it is also necessary will be seen from
the facts, hrst: that the ports must be eonsid-
erably elevated; next that the plating must be
continued down a few feet below the water
line, in order to prevent shots entering Just
beneath the seas surface, or lower down when
the ship is in a seaway, or heeling under a
wind; and fuslly, that the armor must be car
ried up well above the heads of the gunners,
in order to protect them properly. The side
consists Of an ordinary (but unusually strong)
iron ships hull, outside of which are placed,
in opposite directions, two layers of teek tim
Der, one Of ten inches thick and the other of
eight inches, and upon the outside Of this mass
of timber At inch iron plates are secured"
The cayils Of skeptics are met rs follows:
Very mistaken views are held as to the pro-
baele actisn Of the shot and shell upon her un-
cased extremities, by persons who have studied
the warriors construction but imperfectly. In
apprehension Of the ship there sustaining Sc
rious injury from the FIRE of shells need be en-
tertained The sides are all Of iron; the beams
are of iron; and thin iron decks are laid over
the beams. The only combustible materials
exposed are the plank coverings of the iron
deck, and such little matters of ship furniture
as may be deemed indispensable. The officers
cabins will be in the after part Of the ship, it
is true, and the mems messes in the fore part
but with the ship herself Of iron, and with
well-deyised appliances for extinguishing such
local ignition as may happen, it will be scarce
ly possible for fire to make progress in her. But
even if it should, the main body of the ship
will be perfectly proof to it; for within the
plated bulkheads, and two feet from them, are
placed inner iron bulkheads, and the spaces
between are used as water compartments, so
that vertical sheets Of water, two feet thick,
intervene between the body Of the ship and
her extremities; through these 1t would be i'm
possible for any fire to make its way. In the
next place. there is no good ground for believ-
ing that shot will do much injury to the ships
extremities; except the rudder and after stern
post, perhaps; these arc the weak points in the