The New York herald., 1862-04-27
Tremendous Agitation I'm England
Iron Against Wood and Stone.

sources.
Tremendous Agitation I'm England-
Iron Against Wood and Stone.
Every mail from Europe brings US fresh
intelligence of the completeness of the revolu-
ton in naval warfare produced by the late
action in Hampton Roads. The details Of the
news of the artillery experiments upon iron
plates at Shoeburyness, brought by the Persia,
are highly important The alarm in England
for the safety of the island is intense, and the
agitation in Parliament and in the press is of
the most exciting character. The intelligence
which we published on Friday, and by
several previous arrivals, shows how COM
| pletely the subject has engrossed both the
| public mind and the attention of tho govern
ment. The discussion is highly important
| to the United States, under present circum-
| stances and demands the earnest attention of
| our government.
Already experiments have been made on
| sections corresponding to the Warrior, with
wrought iron cannon twelve tons weight,
fourteen feet long, loaded with forty pounds of
powder and throwing a ball of only one
hundred and fifty-six pounds, at q distance of
two hundred yards. The result was that with
the first shot, 'the iron was shattered into
crumbs Of metal and the teak splintered into
fibres literally as small as pins" And so
damaging to the woodwork was the missile,
that il wonld have rendered it almost impossi-
BILE to stop the breakage. A second shot rem
dered the damage tenfold worse. "Had these
two Shots" says the London Times, ''struck
an iron frigate at tho water line, no
means could have prevented her from
sinking in half IN hour An Increased
charge was next tried, with even more tremen-
doas effect; and Sir Vim. Armstrong says shat,
with this gun loaded with fifty pounds Of
powder, he can break through the sides Of
the Warrior or Of the strongest ships sAoat.
II is. at present, a smooth bore one hundred
and ffty-six pousder Of coiled iron but it will
| be rifed in month, and then it will be q
| three hundred FOUNDER, the conical projectile
| being twice and half as long as the diameter
| of the round ball. Of course, with this weight
| of metal in a lathsaded shot, the gun will be
| more effective at any range than before, and
| not even six inches of armor the heaviest with
| which ship can float, will be sufficient to re-
sist it, An ordinary gun will not produce such
results. Two things are necessary. The
weapon must be OF wrought iron in order to
| enable il to stand the heavy charge; and it
must be long to give the heavy charge effect.
shot upwards Of half ton will be thrown, and
| the London Times estimates that it will be able
to destroy srmor plates even foot thick.
| Captain Coles. who claims to be the real
| inventor Of the Monitor. offers to build two
| of these vessels (Which he calls "shot-proof
rafts'), with three hundred-pounders at an ex-
pense of $500, 900 each, which will dispute the
vessels Of that class, and would most certainly
either destroy or drive her away. He makes
another proposition He offers to build sea-
| going vessel on his principle, nearly one hum
| dred feet shorter than the Warrior, and in all
respects equal to her, with one exception-that
| he will disable and capture her in an hour-hs
ship to draw four feet less water, to require
| only half the crew, and cost $500, 900 less to
build. In reply to Capt. Coles, Mr. Blake
ly says that il is mistake to suppose that guns
throwing three hundred pound balls can iniure
iron-plated vessels. He thinks that nothing short
Of seven hundred pounds, propelled by eighty
pounds Of powder, can do it. The guns of the
| Monitor, he says, threw shot Of one hundred
| and eighty pounds, with a powder charge of
only twelve pounds, and did no material injury
to the Msrrimac; whereas, an ordinary sixty
eight-pounder, at short range, might have done
great damage through the portfolios, into which
the larger sized balls would not be 50 likely TO
enter. He concludes that ships similar to the
Warrior and those of Captain Coles will bonn
bard towns in total disregard of the presence
Of these vessels. and that therefore England
has no choice but to provide herself with steam
rams or make arrangements to ransom her sea-
ports. The London Times, arriving at the
same conclusion, says :-"In fact. no weapon of
offence or defence seems left to us now, so eff
cient "a a large armor-clad and very swift
ram"
As bearing on this point we may here state
| that Mr.. Osborne. in a recent speech in the
| House of Commons showed that in 1907 Sir
| John Duckworth. in command of the British
| feet, passed and repassed the Dardanelles, and
| his wooden vessels we're struck both going and
| returning with solid shot, seven hundred and
eight hundred pounds, and yet he did not lose
a ship, though he had eleven vessels, and the
total killed were forty-fve and wounded two
hundred and thirty-fve. How much more able
to resist such projectilss are strong iron-plated
vessels? II is admitted, toe, that shells, which
are so destructive when exploding in wooden
ships cannot penetrate iron-clad vessels.
But we are informed that targets consisting
of sections corresponding 70 the Monitor have
been fred at by order Of the British govern
msnt, and have been found "almost as vunera-
BILE as TIMBER" and IL is added that prepara-
tions are being made to test in the same manner
the srmor of the Merrimac, and that there can
be ,;tse doubt Of A similar result This we