The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-04-29
SHIPS AND GUNS.
From the N. Y. World.

FROM the ". 4. HOfM.
Since it is probable that, if the Hon. Zachariah
Chandler and the equally Hon. Nathaniel P.
Banks have their way, we shall soon find our
selves embroiled In war with England and Span
and perhaps half dozen other nations, and as
it is certain that such war will be chiefly
naval one, 1t is rather interesting to compare the
latest development of the skill of ship-builders
in this country and in Europe in the construc-
ton of men-of-war. 1t is by no means certain,
however that, If our navy were suddenly called
into active service and compelled to fight one or
two severe engagements, we should not suddenly
finda ourselves without any guns. Ii the recent
report of the Congressional Committee upon
army and navy ordnance be correct in its asser-
tons, there is scarcely large gun in our SER
vice. on sea or land, which is not more dan
gerous to those who stand behind it than to
those in front, and which can be relied upon not
to burst the first time it is fired. And 1t is no
longer a matter of doubt that the heaviest Eng
lish gun-the 6OO-pounder-is far more formid-
able and in every way better than any gun which
we have in America, even if ours do not explode
as they did at the bombardment of Fort Fisher.
The first thing, therefore, which Admiral Porter
and his assistant, Mr.. Borie would have to
attend to, is to take steps for procuring guns
equally powerful and safe with those of the
English fleet and replacing with them the rotten
pieces now mounted in our own ships.
Some of the English journals, while describ-
ing the latest and most formidable of their men
of-war, have compared it with what they term
the best and most formidable ships in the Ame-
rican navy-the unarmored sloops-of-war of the
Wampanoag class The latest English ship is
called the Captain. She is turret ship, built
from the best designs, and under the superin-
tendence of Captain Coles. She is 1886 feet long
over ALL her turrets are nine inches thick of
solid iron and ten inches round the PORTFOLIOS,
and her hull is plated with eight-inch armor.
Towards the stem and the stern, the armor is
slightly thinner, but the vessel is coated all over
her hull to the depth of five feet below the
water-line. Her skin consists of two platings of
rfn M AM mol hinE oh
of this is foot Of solid teak, strengthened by
framework ten inches thick, supported by
ten-inch girders, so that the hull is in all
thirty-one and half inches thick. She draws
twenty-three feet of water; her engines work
up to 5400 horsepower; her deck is eight
feet above the water, and the port-sills of the
turrets are two feet above the deck. Her arma-
ment is four twenty-five ton guns, 600
Founders, two in each turret and a 100
FOUNDER bow and stern chaser She is a
fnll-rigged ship with masts and sails; and it is
easy to see that if the Captain, with her
eight feet of free board, and her masts and
sails as targets for an enemy's shot, were en-
gagged in a fight with our NiantOnomah or
Monadnock the latter-provided their guns
were equally powerful and reliable-would have
the best of it. Our monitors, with their decks
level with the sea, and have nothing to be shot
away but their turrets, would very probably dis
able the Captain in a little WHILE and hammer
away at the hull until something broke. But
the Captain, it is believed, could run away
from any iron-clad vessel which we have,
although she is not fast enough to come
in contact with our fast unarmored sloops
like the Wampanoag. This ship can
carry guns of the heaviest calibre, and can
make twenty miles an hour in rough weather.
In case of a war with England she could attack
and destroy any British ship of inferior force,
and at the same time, by reason of her une-
qualled speed, run away from enemys ship
of greater power. She would be able to run
away from the Captain for instance, with ease,
since the Captains greatest speed is only twelve
kpots; and it would only be in case of an acci-
dent that the two ships would have an opportu-
nifty of testing each others metal. The wooden
ship, in such an engagement, would almost in
evitably go to the bottom after the exchange of
one or two shots. The 600-pound shell of the
Captain would crush through the wooden walls
of the Wampanoag as if they were paper, while
nothing short of miracle would enable the lat
ter to infct the slightest damage on the iron
cased hull of her foe.