New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-09-17
THE GREAT NAVIES.
No. Iu.-RUSslA
SrT1CAL SURVEY BY oOh
N1H epnNDENT.

IoNU'N' aus -, ,,ards AZ in her aTsenals, and
EVIDENT III n'i 'o,ho, powers may have deceived
bOwe'ei uiu'n i1 os to their naval strength, they
W ,,otec,lv well that in the event OF se"o'"
know p''Ao O-.s,,,n,sts Of Russia will find her
Wal s.oDo,t customer 10 deal with than she was
~, She has more than any other European
IN - rrostod by the experience OF that wal in .he
- and the American struggle Oh Iool' hoi
- to-day more formidable, IN the weight Oh l's
,.'l and The lighting qualities OF Its SHIPS than
HU''l ts,Dce Prussia Italy, Austria, OF Turkey,
el'hd ao,y aprroaches that standard which it
ton nv object in these reports to dehne. Ihls
hNS - 80 10 the more remarkable in view of the
'h0'D--' .ivo disabilities under which the country
coup 80, no said TO have labored; and to make
t'"9 - 4 viii be well TO cast a retrospective
glance. -, .>,,, ppoGRyss OF THE NAVY.
1T, almost the beginning of the Eighteenth
,o,,,,yv Rnssia had no navy at all. The boundaries
tbe Empire were frst advanced to the sea by Peter
the Great that sovereign who 40 well deserved the
EEL and who laid broad and deep the foundations
on which the present grand Muscovite Empire is
hni,t. His master mind foresaw the importance that
b,s country might be made to have in the destnies
q, Europe, and set himself the task of creating
navy. aud educating shipwrghts to build his ships
and sailors to man them. In 1896 the gigantic work
was commenced by the construction of several Lake
Papas or small yachts, carrying lateen sails, under
Ms own personal superintendent assisted by expert
shipwrights from Holland and Venice whom he had
engaged for the purpose. He not only
made himself familiar with the art OF
ship-building, but studied navigation as well.
NJ that no obstacle of any kind whatsoever which
might arise should defeat the object he had in view
The experiment necessarily slow one, en-
yironed by difficulties, but, being pursued with
tenacious perseverance, resulted in Ill., IN the con-
structiop of the Dock Yards of Cronstadt and st.
Petersburg and from this date the Russian Navy
randy increased We find it. at the outbreak Of the
Crimean War, in 1854, after a lapse Of l49 years
counting on It's navy list 215 war ships and trans
sorts some Of which were armed with the heaviest
rms then in use. The Kamtschatka a side-wheel
steam sIoop built in 1910 by William II. Brown Of
kew-York had, among others, two 10-inch pivot
shell guns which, at that time, were considered very
formidable indeed. The commencement Of hostili-
ties in the Crimea put stop TO the progress OF Rus-
sian naval development, for the strength Of En-
gland France, and Turkey combined, on the ocean,
compelled her to play almost the same ignoble
part as Prussia has during the present war Her
cruisers hardly dared show themselves at any
important point, share in the national defense.
much less undertake offensive operations. There
was nothing left for Nicholas but TO withdraw from
channels of Sevastopol HarbOr and sink them where
their huIks least might bar the entrance of the
overshadowing fleets which the Allies had masSed
for the attack on the fortresses in that locality The
Notifications were armed with 10inch guns, the
range of which was much greater than that OF the
q Founders which the attacking vessels mostly car
ned and the Russian authorities sunk their ships al
rmeh distance as would prevent the vessels coming
p where they could participate in the attack by the
land forces while at the same time their unplated
wooden bulls could be perforated by the shot and
shells from the forts The plan was completely sue
oessful and the naval forces of the Allies had no
important effect upon the Notifications until the APP
peaTance Of that first iron-clsd steamer TO when
alluded IN my last report.
THE ORIGIN OF IRoN-CLADs.
England and France had both been engaged il
experiments at home in testing the effects of heavy
ordnance upon wood and iron targets They dis
covered that at distance of 1000 yards the lOlnch
shell and 42pound shot then in made little or no
impression on an iron target four inches thick, and
the navy constructors at set about building gun
boats for use at SevastOpol The first one
was completed in 1855. and France opened
fire with il on the 18th of October. The
dimensions Of the vessels of this type were:
length IT. feet breadth, 4S feet; depth, II feet;
displacement about 1900 tuns The bottom was
fat sides vertical to the spar deck, and above that
they inclined TO inward the rail. The armor was
four-and-a-half inches thick and below this the
botton was sheathed with thin galvanized iron.
They had three masts with yards and squaresails Oh
the foremost and foreand-aft sails on the main and
mizzen masts. Sixteen ports were made on a side,
each three feet wide and 10 feet from center TO cen
ter The port slls were little more than two feet
above water when the boats were ready Tor sea-
They had each one screw. The armament was 10
lo-ipch guns all Of which were used on one side OF
the ship al SevastOpol They were not gOod sea-
boats had little speed, and steered badly; put
1y some sucb lucky chance as befel the Monitor on
her hrst VOYAGE they reached their destination IN
safety During the engagement they were STRUCK
90 or 60 times each but received no injury ana no
casualty resulted on board except from shot lhat
entered the ports. The French Ton-elad DeVasta-
ton was also struck IS times at kmburn ana WIN
The same results Other irOn-clad boats were Dullt
by England ON a slight modification of this plan. the
Thunderer being a familiar example, but as neither
they nor their prototypes worked very well the
plans were abandoned, and Mr.. Reed, the newly
appointed Chief Naval Constructor, set about hnd-
ing improvements The dimensions of the Thun-
derer class we're Length 1856 feet breadth 49, feet;
depth, l6 feet They were of wood, and plated Ike
the frst-clsss. This, il must be reCOlected, was
only 10 years ago and yet how many different kinds
Of iron-clads have been tried since then, and what
progress has been made toward the realization Of
the great essentials Of war ship! What may not
the next l6 years have in store for US IN the same
field Of discovery The wonderful changes IN naval
architecture date from 1854 but il would not be fair
10 say that then for the first time vessels were en-
plOyed which were shielded by external coverings
from the impact of shot.
AN ANCIENT sHOT-PRooF BATTERY.
Away back at the siege of Gibraltar, 1852, the