The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-08-26
OR OCEAN IRnN.CIAns.

The new iron-clad monitor, Dictator, is nearly
ready 70 go TO sea- and will sail in few DAYS for
Europe, under the command of Captain JoHN
RODGERS. This vessel will be the first Of the
kind which the Europeans have ever seen, and
her advent in the eastern hemisphere will Occs-
sion as much excitement in military and naval
circles as has yet been produced BY anything
connected with the history of the United States.
A ship which is Of the large tonnage of three
thousand and thirty-three tons, snd carries but
two guns, would SEEM in the light Of old naval
ideas, 10 be constructed upon system on which
there is an immense disprOpOrtion between the
burden and the armament In the great middle
period of our naval history, nautical conversation
abounded with Rllusion TO seyenty-fours aud one
hundred-and-twcnty-g gun ships. The power Of
vessel was rated by the number Of guns which
she carried. A double-decked frigate was
q formidable antagonist, and ship-ofthe-
line, or threedecker, was an ugly customer
wherever it might appear. The multiplication Of
guns was the object of the naval architect, and
the grcater the broadside the more formidable
the ship. 1t would have been hopeless thing to
convince the nautical men of the wooden ship
age, that they had merely applied two ancient
ideas in combination, and went on believing that
they had attained the elements Of perfection.
They had for commerce ships, they had for ordi-
nary military operations guns. They put their
guns on board their ships, and the business was
done.
1t is not probable that many material changes
would have been made in the general style of
building wooden war vessels at any time But
the introduction of iron plating for ships of war,
the capacity thereby gained for the use of heavy
guns, and the necessity which arises for the EN-.
ployment of ordnance Of great power, if iron
ships hope to contend with iron ships has pro-
duced very important notifications in the shapes
of such vessels. The turret of Captain ERICSSON
and the cupola Of Captain COLES are notifications
of the same ida What we call the Monitor shape
of ships is having full test in this country and
Europe, although there are many persons who be-
oye that this style of vessel, except for har-
Dor defense, will have to be abandoned. The New
Iropsiaes has been success exceeding any other
chip in our navy. Her sea-going capacity is equal
to that of any wooden ship, and while the Moni-
tors at Charleston have been popping way with
their two guns each, the Ne,O Ironsidss, upon oc-
Casion, has shook the echoes with her magnificent
battery of eighteen guns.
The large feet of Monitors now in use at various
places along our coast were not constructed for
ocean service or for cruising. They were meant
for operation in harbOrs and rivers, and it would
be folly to send them upon long voyages. But
whilst Secretary WELLEs has been forced 70 rely
upon these ships for present duty, he has not
been idle. The United States not only needs a
class of Monitors for harbor fighting, and of
lighter class vessels to control the riYers, but it
needs full class of large ocean going ships, fitted
20 cross the Atlantic, and bear the accidents OF
battle and storm. The Net0 Ironsides was the
first, and for long tiue, the only one of ships Of
this class which we possessed. But work has been
prosecuted for many months upon Others, and at
the present time the following list is given of the
ocean iron-clad feet in commission and prepsra-
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