New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-01-15
ARMORED VESSELS.

ARWOkED tESSELSs
| 1t is semi-ofIicsly intmated that the Navy
Department is about to construct fleet OF
broadside ironclad ships, meant to be seaworthy.
No more turreted ships OF the enlarged Monitor
pattern, like the Dictator and Puritan, will be
built, nor will sea service be expected Of those
now Oh the stocks. The fate of the Monitor
and of the Weehawken-one sunk in moderate
gale off the coast, and the other while lying at
anchor in Charleston harbor--together with the
extraordinary difficulty experienced in getting
the existing Ericsson fleet as far as Port Royal,
and he almost unanimously unfayorable opinion
of their officers, demonstrate the impossibility
of attempting to build good sea boats on the
principles involved in the construction of the
turreted vessels. Theory and experience, pro-
fessionaS science and practical common sense,
are agreed on that point, and tbs Monitors will
henceforth or at any rate so soon as their places
can be filled by more capable ships, be assigned
permanently to the duty Of harbor defense.
| II is settled then that We are to have broad
side ships--but Of what construction Unless
.h. New Ironsidcs be On exception, no broad
side armored vessel, whether American, Eng
lish, or French, has yet been proved to possess
good sea-going qualities. certain weight OF
metal is indispensable 10 the protection Of her
sides. certain buoyancy is equally necessary
to keep her shoat, and certain stiffness to
make her manageable ia heavy sea way What
vessel is known to combine these qualities1
50 far as We are aware, not Que, IN any consider
able degree. IL has not yet been practically
demonstrated that ship of ordinary build CLAD
with even four inches of iron, can be made safe
and seaworthy. They all roll too heavily
10 be- trusted in gale. IL WAS hoped that
the trial trip Of Mr.. webb's new irigate, Re
D,Itsls, would contribute something to. our
knowledge, and perhaps help to indicate wheh-
or extreme oscillation was u result of European
laundering in construction, or was the insyita-
Bile result OF the principles on which the ships
were built. We put reporter Oh board to wit
ness the trial But Mr.. Webb, it is asserted, |
sent his ship to yea with two hundred and hfty |
tuns of he armor which ought TO have been on
her sides, slowed in the hold for ballast ard so
the trial trip Of The Re DItalis, of which the
public has heard good deal, served no purpose
e1cep, 10 miseal. A feet Of French broadside
iron-clads was recently ordered ont for thu OK
press purpose oftesting their ses-going qualities.
Whether they were doctored after the fashion
OF the 10 D'Italia We are unable 10 say, but We
presume not, for the result was extremely /
unfavorable. The best Of them nearly |
rolled herself under in n gale which an old
fashioned line OF. battle ship rode ont with per
feet comforts gale, in fact for which Nelson,
ia one Of his isie 6O0-tun ships like the Victory
would hardly have doublo-recfed his topsails.
In the same way, al English ron-elad of similar
build started not long since 10 20 round from
Portsmouth to the MerSoy, and came near going
to the bottom because oil her rolling. The run
OF the New-lronsides to Charleston, and her
long uninterrupted service on that blockading
station, lying outside and exposed TO oil gales,
give her claim 10 be considered on the whole
"A the best ship yet ahoat; but it is known that
she also has serious defects.
The truth is that the construction o. armored
vessels is in It's infancy. and that any model or
system or theory which may be adopted is likely
10 be reyolutionzed vt any moment. We are
blindly experimenting AZ yet-sounding IN
sea whose depths are unexplored, and whose
bottom is not likely to be reached By any plum
met we have yet invented. Mr.. Ericsson's
ships ase wonderfully ingenious machines for
certain purposes, but We can no longer hope
that they will constitute national fleet or give
us control OF the ocean. Such broadside
vessels as we have at present are maniiestly
but clumsy attempts at adapting old
forms and ideas TO new necessities, and il
was largely because Ericsson discarded old no.
tons and get himself TO make "A neic ship that
the powers OF his Monitors were at first so
greatly oyerratcd and the importance Of his in.
yention magnfcd. They were new, and struck
the popular fancy. One wac successful against
the Mcrrimac, and the exuberance Of national
gratitude proclaimed them inyincible, AID de-
manded fleet Of the same pattern. They then
became alas, the subject OF contracts, and grasp
ing cupdity sought to enlarge their number
without limit and without care for the good of
the naval service.
Fortunately neither England nor France is
much better off than We. They profit little
by our experience and have discovered that two
guns, whether in tuYret or out of it, are no
match for broadside of twenty, and still less for
the unlimited numbers which may BIO mounted in
land Notifications II the fight Of the Atlanta
and Wechawken created momentary panic in