New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-08-08

fectual against the Kearsarge, q revolution in
stantly followed in favor of heavier metal. and
there was return of the old dependency
a. to the actual condition of tho British
navy-of which the Alabama had been con-
sidered an excellent specimen. Furthermore,
the main efforts Of Armstrong and Whit
worth and Blakely had been directed
to producing good riaed gun, but here was
smooth-bore putting rifles to shame in the
effectiveness of its work. What to do, there
fore, England knows perhaps less clearly than
before unless it be to pitch existing guns over
board, and begin again to invent and construct.
On the other side Of tho channel too, dis
tinguished artillery officers arc credited with
emphatic asscvcration that France "hadn't
gun in her navy worth a rush." And the fact
is that in that navy all opinion has obtained OF
the impracticability of using heavy guns on
board ship in seaway, and French ships there
fore cary lighter batteries than those OF any
other naval power at the present day.
The Alabama fight naturally did great deal
to assure us Of the effectiveness of the arma-
ment of our ships and the Navy Department
assumed much credit to itself for the good deeds
of the Kcarsargcs guns. Time enough has
elapsed 10 allow us to regard the matter coolly;
and we shall have to confess that our Dahlg:en
gun has not, after all, had very thorough
trisl, nor proved itself quite competent for all
the purposes of naval warfare. 1t is probable
this gun became conspicuous IN extremely
favorable circumstances in the Alabama contest
it being well adapted to do just the work
which such contest demanded. AS
against wooden ships, fighting at short range
in smooth water, the Dahlgren gun is effective
It's merit lies in its perfection of horizontal
shell-Grlng. IL will not stand heavy charge
of powder; il cannot deliver solid shot VIII
such velocity az to be formidable against ortlii-
cations or against iron-clads; and it is not an
accurate gun for great distances; but within
mile. or milo and half, it will lodge shell
that is tocrably certain TO explode, in the sides
of wooden vessel. That in Itself is great
feat, an important branch Of gunnery, and was
deemed by ST. Howard Douglas the desideratum
in naval warfare, before irOn-cladS began to be
experimental with.
Bat all the world is building iron-clad vessels
Of war. Great Britain and France especially
are carrying experiments in that direction to a
great pitch, and should We ever go to war with
one or the other We shall have TO deal practically
with mailed ships. Guns Of ours on shipboard
or in Notifications must be able TO pierce or
crush the SIDES of the Warrior and the La Gloire.
Hayo we such gunsl Not the Dahlgrens,
cortanly-thcTe IL no prc.ense that they ere
formidable against iron. Nor have the 2OO-p1r.
aad 3OO-pdf PARROTS proved their effectiveness
b. any known test. II seems to be supposed
at the Navy Department, however, that the
I5-.nch gan i equal to The work, and we are
pointed to tic Wcehawken-Atlan,a fight for
proof But, in the first place, the Atlanta
was piece OF Rebel patchwork, weak
and unwieldy ship, and was in fact dis
abled by chance shot - the damage to
tho pilot-housc being no evidence Of what
tho ships broadside could have borne. AT all
events, the Atlanta can bear No comparison with
such English and French ships as are now con-
structing and already afoat. Ia the second
piece our IJ-inch guns are carried exclusively
in monitor tnrets, end are capable OF being
fred about once in fifteen minutes. They are
loaded by machinery, which is easily put out OF
order, and without the machinery they are
practically unmabagcable. What can be done
by unassisted human ciEort, on board ship
which has any motion, with a shot weighing f5O
Doundsi Yet the Re5cls showed in the attack
on Charleston last year, that they had guns
capable Of making very serious impression on
our Misunderstanding five out Of eight IN forty
minutes. Their Brooks end Blakcly guns are sand
TO have delivered stccl-pcinted shot OF perhaps
900 pounds, at velocity more than compensat-
ing for their infcriority in weight 10 the lo-inch
projcctiles. In other words, their guns are able
10 stand d charge which ours cannot, and 80 idr
as artillery for Notifications is concerned, they
proved themselves better provided than we are.
Tie sober truth is that our Navy, while posSeSS-
ing some guns very admirable for special pur-
poses, is in no condition TO cope with foreign
mailed leet, in actual war-eyen supposing We
had the ships. The Monitors having failed totally
TO constitute ses-goiDg force, we fall baeh Oh
old classes of vessels, but We do not find that
we have any guns which can make them iorm.d-
able. That England and France have not Is "a
security for the present, hut it bchooves usto see
that We make something ike On intelligent
effort to keep pace with their improvements
Perhaps VIC might begin with Charleston, for In
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