The Burlington weekly hawk-eye., 1862-06-28
OUR NEW
From the N
We stated the
CLAD NAVE.
-orld, June 81.

vessels, to be completed BY autumn, to render
the United States one OF the strongest nava
powers On earth. The people cannot complain
now of any inactivity in the Navy Department
il1tAs matter of building . navy. II is no
generally realized, perhaps, although the facs
hsvs been casually published here and there fo
the last two or three months, what vast prepar
atoms are going On in our midst in this direction
1t is fact that almost every large available es
tablshment in the country for the construction
Of iron clad vessels is now being worked nigh
and day with the greatest activity. We give
below definite description of twelve such yes
sells that are now building, in addition to tht
Monitor, Gslena and Naugatuck. number O.
them will be ready by the hrst Of August, anc
they will all be completed during the autsmn
Some of them will be of more formidable char
acter than any now ahoat in either hemisphere
We shall see BY autumn the most powerful na
tion on the globe in the matter of an iron.cisc
navy. The whole magnificent resources of oui
country in the building of such vessels have
been called into use. The Department has
spoken the word, and an armor.ciad navy has
been evoked with a rapidisy that would be i'm
| possible in any other country, and that is mar
| yelous here.
RoN.cLAD vrssELs BUILDING.
| The following is statement ir brief of the
iron-clad vessels now building:
Three hulls and six turrets by T. F. Rowland
at Greenpoint. Three sets Of engines and boilers
for these three Eulls are being built at the Della
mater Iron Works, New York city.
Two bulls complete, with engines and boilers,
but without turrets, at Chester, Pa.-Reany &
Sous.
One hull complete, with engines and boilers,
but without turret, at Wilmington, Del.
A. n1nSo -,
| ton Foundry, Jersey City, by Joseph Colvell.
Works, j. s. Underhill
Ericsson l. Co. contract with the Government
for six of the above. Secor & Co., contract for
the one that Colwell is building. Charles W.
Whitney contracts for the one building at the
dry dock works. The other two parties contract
| direct with the Government These are the ves-
sells that are now under way.
The iron clad vessel Ironsides is nearly com.
pleted at Philadelphia.
The o. 8. steam frigate Roanoke is being GOV.
cred with arnlor and supplied with turrets at the
Brooklyn navy yard.
TIE SIX ERICSSON BArrEa1za
Capt. Ericsson has contracted with the Gov
ernment to build six new Monitors. They will
be constructed on the general plan of the Mon.
itor, though it is unnecessary to state that in
| the building of the new vessels each one will
have peculiarities of its own. They will be
much more powerful than the Monitor,
though built upon the same principle. Some
of them will be about 300 feet in length, while
the Monitor is only ITO feet long-a difference
of $50 feet in favor of the new ones. These will
be by far the most powerful vessels on the
ocean. It is not deemed expedient to publish
the details of their plan now but it is sufficient
to know that vessel of this size, armed with q
l5inch gun, throwing she'll of 1000 pounds
weight, could very easily sink the Warrior or
Gloire. Each will be of 1885 tons burden, l.
$50 tons displacement, and IL feet draft They
will be armed with two Is inch guns and the
contract price is 100000 each. Several def.
ciencies in the Monitor will be rectiied in these
batteries. the pilot.house being placed on the
revolving turret, and ventilation passing thro'
the root of the latter instead of through the
deck. The turrets are 81 feet in diameter, and
II inches thick-which is three inches thicker
than the Monitors Their speed will be ten
miles per hour. The plates are being rolled in
Maryland and PENNSYLVANIA. All the rest of
the iron for fsames, fassenings, etc., amounting
to several thousand tons, is being made by Cor
ming, Winslow & Co., and the Rensselaer, Iron
Company at their works in Troy. Four of the
| vessels are to be completed by the first of Au-
gust, and two by the first of September. Some
twenty eight hundred men are at work upon
these six vessels, and it is confidently believed
by the contractors that they will have them
completed within the stipulated time.
The whole six are intended for sea service as
well as for the protection of harbors. It ia a
mistaken idea to suppose that these vessels are
unfit for long voyages The run of the Moui-
tor to Hampton Roads, as ia. as it proved any
thing, seemed to vindicate the opposite az the
truth. There were some difficulties with tridirg
matters, such as the water breaking over the
smoke-stack and leaking through the deck, but
otherwise the Monitor proved herself good
sea-going boat. Captain Ericsson claimed for
ner that she could live in a sea where any other
vessel could live, as she is constructed on the
principle of the life--boat, and we have not
heard Of anything to invalidase the truth of his
theory in regard to her.
Nothing has happened yet to demonstrate that
the Monitor could not make voyage to Europe
with perfect safety, although we don't know
that any such ability is claimed for her. The
greatest difficulty would be that the crew would
aave very dark and close quarters in the cabin
The models of the new Monitors are slightly al
tered to make them much better sea-boats, and
ogive them greater speed. They will be pro-
peilers, like the Monitor, with deck close to the
water-line.
The three gunboats which are being built by
Mr.. Rowland, at the Continental Works, Green
point, will differ from the others in having two
turrsts. The frames, we believe, are entirely of
IRON. Their length will be SO2 feet over all
with breadth of beam of Al feet, and depth
OF hole Of - feet. The armor is to be s;x in
ches in thickness.
The work is well along on all of them. The
plating is going on as fast as possible The iron
ribs and plates are forged in separate work
shop, but small forges are set up round about
for heating the bolts. As large crew of men
as can work with convenience are busy engag-
ed in iveting the plates.
wHrrNEY'S NEW GUssoAr
There is Cow going up at the yard of Mr.. Us.
Y undehiil, Dry Dock Iron Works. with all the
rapidly that the extensive accommodations of
the establishment and the energetic labor of a
crowc OF Workmen can possibly push it, an iron
gunboat, which will be decidedly "new thing
under the SUM-" It is most beautiful and sym.
metncal model, and is of such graceful propor-
tom as to look almost like "thing of life"