The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-07-03
IRON-CASED SHIPS

In the House of Lords on June IL, the Duke of
somerset, in reply to some inquiries as to the ac
uon OF the Admiralty in regard to iron-cased fri
gates, said:
we have now seven of these ships in the course
OF completion. We are now preparing some of nnr
woouen Shps lor plating with iron. do not think
'ney VIII De very efficient; but these ships will he
At least as good as the French NV opinion is
hat we ought really to construct our ships of
out the whole subject is of very great dificul
d;i,,T.;y ETeIy uay My oriDgS out new points and new
diihcultles. When | came into office two things
came upon US at once-nOvelty in shin building
"uu noVelty IN the construction of our guns I
came INTO ohce in 1859 The late government had
oTuered the Warrior to be built but had calculated
that 1t would carry the old style of armnr H.
was not calculated fer the new style of rifed cuns
but TOR the old style of armor When + 80,
iht' once naturally called the attention of the
Board to these subjects. With regard to iron
sblps, saw various perSons-nava men HAVING A
Kno"ledge OF engagements at sea and men of prrat
experience in shp-building with the view Of ac-
curing all the knowledge that could be had on
the subject They said their opinion was that we
should build ships of thin iron so as if it were i'm
possible to keep out shot to keep out she'll said
before doing 50, should like to have some experi
ments tried We had some experiments at Parts
mouth, and ore OF the first upon an iron tar
get OF less than an inch thick. The result was
mat round shot, in striking the iron broke into
pieces but passed on into the vessel and 700 piece
OF iron were picked up inside the shin That shnw
ed that round shot produced as bad an effect a. anv
shell 1t seemed, therefore, that merely tn case
WIN 'hih iron would be to expose men-Of-war to
as great destruction as possible, while rhey were
loading the ship with unnecessary weight We
had no end of suggestions and recommendati,,ns-
some people recommended India Tubbe. others a
thlck mating OF hemp, others chain arrnor The
answer s-nt to these gentlemen WAS that, if thy
would send their experiments to Portsm, nth, we
would try them myself saw chain armur tried
and the very first shot DESTROYED it. India -rubher
and hemp were equally iDeift ctive. Last wear it
| u CO ,9ura ghnrl II, |,
shot striking at an angle would glide of; but when
we came to try Sir William Armsrrnng,s bnIts
the slope made no djlfere ce at all That was The
| iaSt answer received from Sir William Arm
strong Then it was said that the iron should be
AZ inches thick | was rather doubtful yberhaT
Thar would he sufficient. | ordered the vessel 10
De iald down at Chatham, to have such Hntatinn
that she might carry ut Last six inches of irpn
thaught six inches toleraby safe. / now find that
SIR William Armstrong; guns have fired through
o-lnch IRON with the greatest facility Hear
near In building these iron vessels it is a great
problem whore we are to stop. Thin iron won't
do; thick iron is very little better Il is, there
tore, very difficult to say how we to make our
vessels safe.
have had calculations made, and l find that if
you were to cut down, say the ROYAL Albert and
case the vessel in iron, it mig bear 41%-inch iron;
but 1t would not then be very etfec i've sh1p-the
ports would be too near the water. and il would
not be so gond a sea-guing ship as | should wish
the Admiralty to build, unless there vas any pres
sure, for next year we ought to build far better
| ship Another urse might to some extent be
| adopted. We have frames cut cut for Certain line
ot-oattie ships. We can easily add to the length
| oi vessels and make effective wooden ships which
we can use hereafter wooden frigates or as IRON
cased ships. Another course would be to order
frames OF iron ships to be prepared with a view to
case them with thick iron Then comes the ques-
ton of what iron they ought to be constructed
and the best mode of fastening the iron plates
Every day new questions arise ! am unwilling to
advance too fast, because | feel that we can ad-
vance much more efficiently by waiting TttIa
| longer. Hear, hear. 1t is only A few days since
the last OF these experiments took place with Sinch
plates. l am very anxious to do all in nv power
| aud have ordered 6-inch plates. have great
dnuot whether the mode of fastening the plates is
satisfactory. On that account therefore, thought
a trial should be made before we laid down The
scale; and that done, felt we might relv on the
power we have in building iron vessels if the coun-
Lry once takes 1t in hand. [i1ear, hear. We
Know what the private yards in this country can
90. Hear, hear.l We should soon produce
neet OF IRON ships far greater than all the other
powers OF Europe besides Hear.7 1t is true, as
en1 uoole Ear mas stated, that France is not the
only country which is building wooden sbiDs to he
| covered with iron. The are some being bpiIt
t0r Russia. do not know where the contracts
were taken, but contracts are in course of execu-
| ton for Russia and also for Spain One woodep
ship covered with iron has likewise been built for
Sardinia. The French ships are for the most part
wooden ships covered with iron. | believe the
best ships will be found to be those which are
punt OF, as well as covered with, iron. Ours are
iron ships with tw ings-one of teak 26 inches
thick, and one of ir u q inches thick That is
how the Warrier is built, and | have no doubt it
VIII ol1er great resistance to shot and she'll Com
pl lllnts have been made that the Admiralty are
going on buying large quantities of timber We
must do So and especially we must continue to pur-
chase considerable quantities teak il we persist
| In building our ships with teak coverings Teak,
need hardly say, is the best timber for that pur-
pose, because it is Of all woods the least liable to
| decay.