The Portland daily press., 1864-12-26

Important Admissions Concerning the
British NAVY, aa

NJ
British NAVY. aa-
The following highly interesting and impor.
ant article showing the necessity of an entire
revolution in the British navy we copy from
the London Erening Nail: ir.sa
The Admiralty persists IN sending to the
Mediterranean, as flagship OF the Admiral in
command, a line OF Dattle ship which could
NOT possibly take a place IN line of battle,
which could be undoubtedly knocked to pieces
by a little iron-clad gunboat, and which, though
utterly unserviceabie, requires the largest crew
and the greatest expenditure known to our
navy. The Victoria is an Immense threedeck-
er, carrying Ia guns and complement of.
about 1 100 men. Her engines are OF 1900
horsepower, she is finely built, is a new ves-
sci, and would, ten year ago. have represented
most formidable man Of war. Butsshe is
now no man OF war at all. We are not sexag.
gerating the case, or using any extravagant
terms OF depreciation. 1t is simply and liIer-
ally the truth that If a war were to break out
this costly ship could not 60 into action, ex-
cept on the condition of going straight to des
truction. She is a. wooden ship, and her en-
ormous armament is composed of guns de-
signed for fighting with other wooden ships.
whereas no such vessels would take part in
modern warfare. A naval engagement in the
clads, which iron -clads, while absolutely inn
pregnable to any gun carried by the Victoria,
would themselves carry guns by which in a
few minutes they could send the Victoria to the
bottom, or convert her crowded decks into
blazing shambles. There is not the slightest
doubt about this. The very people who now
propose to commission this vessel for service
have for the last week or two been trying the
effect OF modern projectiles on a target-ship
moored within short distance of the Victo.
ria herself They must have satisfied them
selves, as they have satisfied the public, that
wooden vessel exposed to these missiles is
simply exposed to certain and summary des-
truction, and yet they take one of these wood
en- vessels and send her to one of the principal
naval stations to carry the flag of a British
Admiral. The Victoria is not one bit strong-
er than the target-vessel on which the expert
ments were tried; she is not in the least de-
gree more competent to resist attack, and
scarcely more competent to return the fire of
an enemy. Perhaps one or two of her 121
guns may be rifed Armstrong;, throwing
heavy shells, but the chances of her injuring
an antagonist before that antagonist had OPEN
ed chasms in her defenceless sides are forlorn
In the extreme. At the same time, such are
the acquisitions made upon the several depart
ments by this huge machine that some OF the
best ships in the Channel squadron must be
dismantled to man her; the crews of two of
our largest iron cIads would be absorbed in
her complement, and the total expenditures
upon her in wages, fuel, and stores would pro-
baby be not less than 35,000l. year. ~ ll 5
Now, as all this is perfectly notorious, as
there is not the least disguise or secret about
the matter in any quarter whatever, it will be
asked with considerable astonishment what
such proceeding can mean. We cannot an
swer the question on authority, but we sup
pose it must mean that the accommodation pro-
vided for an Admiral and his suite on board a
three decker like the Victoria is very superior
to that offered by one OF the new iron-clads.
Our modern men of war sre splendid fight
ing ships, but they are not very comfortable
vessels. The best Of them, we fear, are com
paralively incommodious, and some of them
might be thought. on fastidious estimate, to
be scarcely habitable Tor any heightened term
of service. They are ftter for the brunt of
battle than for ordinary demonstrations in
time Of peace. Ifwar were to come, nothing
but iron-clads would serve our purpose, bit
in the meanwhile we may drop these shells
as knights put of their armour and go to sea
In undress for the sake of ease and comfort.
Even in the Channel squrdron the Admiral's
flag was carried In a wooden two-decker,
though feet of iron-clads followed his COM
mands. This we imagine must be the expla-
nation OF the affair; at least, we can put no
better Interpretation on 1t.
Ga no hypothesis, however, can we think the
proceeding justihable. Even ii it is to be as
sumed that an Admiral In command should be
lodged on board convenient packet ship
rather than good man of war, that would
not warrant the employment of the Victoria,
for she processes to be man of war and not
pleasure yacht, aud she will entail enormous
charges i'll capacity she can never sustain.
Ii an Admiral for the duties of his Office in
peace Time requires spacious cabins, hand
some furniture, and extensive accomol alton,
better recognize the TACT at once and make
arrangements accordingly. A good corvette
or roomy old paddle-wheel sloop might be
converted into floating hotel superior to
the Victoria at one twentieth psrG of the
charge, aud without any scandal. The mon
strous Thing in the present case is that ii it Is
simply Tor acc0modation's sake that the Vic
toria is selected, she is fitted out and dispatch
ed in another character altogether-a charac-
ter in which she is mere imposture, but
which, nevertheless, makes the most extrava-
CANT and inconvenent demands upon the re-
sources of the State. Either the Victoria is
intended for a fighting ship or she is not. If
she is, sho is great deal worse than useless !;
ii she is not, why give her III guns, and up
wards of thousand trained seamen.
We are of opinion that the flagship of the
Mediter aaean feet should be fighting ship
like all the other ships OF the squadron. Ii we
maintain a fleet in those waters for any pur.
pose at all, it must be for the purpose of as
serting our rights or maintaining our policy
by force OF arms in case of need. For the
most part we may hope there would be no
fghtng, out we must still be prepared for it.
10 seno 70 tne Mediterranean as part of the
BRUSH heet on tnat station q ship incapable
of going into action would be an anomaly as
great as sending into garrison at Malta a reg
iment incompetent to perform military duty.
The feet is on active service, and ave,v vas-
sci in it is presumed to be in fightino ordar
But if the Victoria is really to 60 out sha will
be an exception to the rule. Her crew NAV ha
admirably disciplined, and she may be IL ali
respects an efficient man of war if measured
by the standard Of ten years since. That
standard, however, is no longer applicable, as
every sailor in the feet would know full we'll.
To take the Victoria into action against a
modern fighting ship would he simply to make
a wanton sacrifice of LIE. Nor need it be as
sumed that frstrate iron-clad would be re-
quired to destroy her. Any one of the little
iron plated vessels now afoat, such as even
the smaller maritime Powers possess, would
suffice to give an account of the British flag
ship, The Victoria would not be safe for an
hour after the declaration Of war; in fact, we
do not suppose that under such circumstances
she would be kept at sea. Bnt this only makes
1t more extraordinary that she should be sent
to sea at all, and present such spectacle to
the eyes of the world as a man of war of enor-
nous size, armed to the teeth, making the
greatest possible pretensions to fighting pow
er, and yet notoriously incompetent to engage
q Runboat. II our iron. clads are at present
less commodious than the old wooden ships,
hot fa dafa0t which fha - -, :.