The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-07-04

ran the blockade as the Fingal. They
were built on the Clyde, and are models
for their beauty and action.
First on the outside were wrought-iron
bars, six inches wide by two inches thick,
running perpendicularly with her side, and
| properly secured, both above and below,
by riyits and bolts. Across these bars,
horizontally, and on the inside, ran bars OF
like material and pattern, fastened to the
outside layer by the strongest riyets.-
| Within this layer, and fastened TO it, were
| two thicknesses of live oak, two-inch plank
also, running perpendicularly and horizon
tally, and again within these were two
more similar thicknesses of Georgia pine
plank, forming the lastseries of her armor.
You will thus see that her armor is twelve
inches thick, and presenting all the solid
lity which could be given it by four inches
| of wrought-iron, four inches of live oak,
and four inches of Georgia pine.
| Her PORTFOLIOS, however, were made es-
pecially strong. Extra layers of iron and
plank. so that the embrasure measures
from the inside to the outside forty inches.
| These portfolios were a foot and half
long by one foot in width, and were pro-
tected by wrought-iron shutters, formed
by two transverse layers OF iron bars, of
| the same dimensions as those which COM
pose her armor. These shutters hung upon
a pivot, firmly adjusted over the portfolio,
and were raised or lowered by a small
chain, which, being attached to the side of
each shutter, ran though small aperture
! into the gun deck.
, Forward of the smoke-stack was an ele-
walton on the top-deck, to all appearances
| like cone; upon this cone was small,
square lookout, just large enough ON the
inside to allow mans head to turn with
| freedom. On each side of this lookout
in hn oh Of
parallellograms, slanting toward the inte-
rior, and presenting to the pilots optics in
the lookout two look-outs, an inch and
| half long by an inch wide. This lookout
| was of wrought-iron four inches thick and
the cone upon which it stood was the same
thickness, with this additional strength,
| however, that the interior of the pilot house
being square, the interstices between the
sides of the upper part of the pilot-house
and the concaye surface of the cone were
filled with eight-inch, square, live-oak
blocks. From the top of the lookout to
| the base of the cone was but two feet and a
half, SO that the pilot exposed only about
one-thire OF his person, the rest of the pilot
house being within the body of the ship
and reached by a step-ladder from the gun
deck. The second shot from the Weehaw-
ken, although it was a glancing one, wrench
ed of this lookout and smashed in the
cone. From this pilot-house were seven
propriate rooms below, and all properly
lettered and numbered, so that the man at
the wheel can readily communicate with
those below.
Her length from bow to stern-post is a
small fraction over three hundred feet. The
gun-deck covering is at it's base two hun
dred feet long and forty feet in width. and
| at its top one hundred feet in length by
fourteen feet in breadth. You will thus see
that her roof does not slope all the way up,
but has very respectable top deck. From
the gun deck to the roof the perpendicular
highth is six feet, and the sides of the roof
sloping at an angle of forty five degrees
the standing hight is eight feet. The low
er edge of the roof is twenty inches above
water mark, so that she stands above
the water about eight feet. From her aft
roof edge it is fifty feet to the stern post
and from her fore roof edge it is also fifty
feet to her bow. The distance from her gun
deck to her keel is sixteen feet and frac-
ton over. Her steering apparatus is perfect,
and her rudder completely submerged in
the water, thereby being in the Safest place
imaginable. Her iron plating extends two
feet below the water line.
1t is evident that the rebels have taught
us good lesson on the torpedo subject, as
connected with lron-clads, from which we
may well afford to learn. It has been a
question how u torpedo could be safely
carried in front Of u vessel without inter
fering with its steering and other move
ments and at the Samet time be secure from
explosion until the proper time. The At
lanta's torpedo gearing solves this ques-
ton. The forward part of the ram Of the
Atlanta is solid iron twenty feet in length
and so OVERLAND by steel bars, with their
ends protruding below the cutwater that
huge steel saw is formed which would cut
any,WOOden gunboat in existence. This
ram at its bow end, comes to point, if l
may so call it, about two inches square.
From the deck of this iron ram, Just
ahead Of its juncture with the vessel arts
es strong iron bar, with pivot at its top,
to which Is attached a massive iron boom, |
which runs just over the rams PROV, and
then forming an elbow, it descends three |
feet below the Water.lire, where it forms |
another elbow, and then running out some
two feet 1t forms at its end a powerful ring
or socket In this socket is firmly inserted |
another iron boom, which extends beyond |
the socket twenty-eight feet, and at its end |
is hung the torpedo, all capped and ready |
for the explosion. From this cap runs an |
insulated wire along the boom and ending
in the pilot-house, where are the necessary |
electrical arrangements with which the pi- |
lot can explode the torpedo as soon as it is |
run under a vessel. You can hardly con-
Geive of a more efficient engine Of destruc-
ton than such torpedo, and thus carried |
The iron ram is also savage enough in its !
appearance, and would saw a hole in
wooden vessel without much difficulty.
Such'is but feeble description of the re-
bel ram Atlanta, which Capt. John Rogers
has the honor to present to the Govern
ment. She is certainly superior, in many
to any ram which has yet been
built; and, as Webb said, if she had not
run aground, the result would have been
different. She is a very fast vessel. When
she came into the harbor, yesterday, she
was making, in a heavy sea, seven knots
an hour; and our officers, as well as her
own, say that she can, under full speed,
and in ordinary weather, make eleven
knots easily. This speed is greater than
that Of any of the monitors, and she might,
if she had not run aground, steamed away
from them, deiying pursuit. AS it was,
Providence interferred in our behalf and
the Atlanta immovable in the mud, became
an easy prey.
THE SECOND Iowa CAvALHY.-The fol-
lowing incident, illustrating the fighting
qualities Of the Second Iowa Cavalry and
the cool gallantry OF its commander, Col.
Hatch, is taken from the correspondence Of
t1,a