The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-03-15


n tho vieor which will 10 Given 20 the mail
clothing bu6iness for The navy, b the Hsrrmec-
- amope our vessels and fortiAsd posts, and By
the reported. but probably overdrawn victory
Of Ericsson's Monitor, with the additional
stimulus Of the fifteen millions which Congress
has appropriated for that purpose, Il 10 to be
hoped chat the Navy Departments will not too
hastily adopt The Ericsson round tower plan for
IA iss har6ss ere, Or ssa;eoin1 var yesssis i. ,,
nerability, and the only advantage No can sec
in Il 10 In the lighter draft which may be secured
BY reducing the portion which u raised above
the water high enough for the guns. 20 Q small
section. In this quality they furnish . plan for
invulnsrable gunboats within the capacity Of our
rivera Bot this 10 obtained at the cost Of space
for the guns, and lighting men and whatsoever
may be the Improvement, guns and men will
continue to be essential; and, other things being
equal, the most guns and fighting men will be
likely to decide the contest
1.-THE whole gun-deck can be made invulner-
able, that of course would be vastly better than
q cramped tower and only two guns. If the
Monitor has done al that is reported, the nerri-
mac also was success, and il may be that she
has approached nearer the true plan. She is
cut down to near the water, and slanting iron
roof built over her. A fraction Of the thickness
of iron required to directly resist shot, will
make it glance off It is necessary that tho ar
NOR should extend only about three feet below
| the surface. 1t seem possible that vessels may
be built curving outwardly from about that line
to one few feet above the surface, and then
slanting inwardly to sufficient hight for fat
spar-deck over the gun-deck, 90 that much
lighter armor than that used for the Warrior and
other British and French Imen-ofwar will turn
shot at any angle at which they can possibly
strike it.
This form Of the hull would greatly increase
the buoyance of the ship in seawsy, and in
that respect might nearly compensate for the in.
creased width near the surface. A light armor
would protect the upper deck, and probably
that Of the sides could be reduced SO a. to OBJ
viate the objections the British and French mail
clad vessels have found. These vessels are 80
heavily loaded by their armor as seriously to Of.
feet their seagoing qualities the sea water per.
| colates between the iron plates, and must soon
rust off the bolts and the weight, which furnish
es no compromising support to the vessel, straina
it in q seaway. In her recent passage to Lisbon
the Warrior experienced two of these Difficult.
ties.
1t seems to BE- thought by some that if the
guns are large enough, one or two will answer
| but if both sides have as large, the number Of
them will become as important as before. The
chances are greater for missing the mark than
| for hitting it, and the greater the number of guns
the greater the chance for making bit. There
| is nothing in the armor or armament of vessela
to make the number of guns any less important
now than it ever was. Besides the importance
Of great armament and crew, and plenty Of
fighting space, our mail clad men-of-war must be
great rams, prepared to take tilt with theil
sharp beaks. For this purpose size and weight
/ are essential -TCin Gazette