Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-07-30

pean conflict Is now owned BY
France, having been purchased BY
the Emperor Napoleon in June,
1867, and formerly known as the
Dunderburg, but now registered
in the marine Of France as the
Rochambeau. This famous ram
was built in this city by Mr.. VIM.
H. Webb, the celebrated ship.
builder, under a contract with the
Navy Department, and was de-
signed by the Government for our
navy. At the close Of the war
when = general reduction took
place in our navy, and when Con-
gress neglected to compensate Mr..
Webb for the immense OUTLAWS
exceeding the contract price, her
constructor secured the passage
of an act by which the Dunder-
burg was placed at the disposal Of
Mr.. Webb. Immediately propo-
sitions poured in from several
South American Powers and from
France and Prussia; but France
offered the largest sum, and she
was purchased by the personal
direction of the Emperor, who
had heard Of her proves and
wonderful offensive and defensive
devices. II is said that Mr.. Webb
received 10000 00f. for the vessel
as she stood.
The Dunderberg, now Rocham-
beau, was launched inthe summer
Of 1864, after she had been in pro.
cess Of construction for three
years. She is an immense iron.
plated ram, d~isplacing 1000 tons
of water. She is built Of the best
timber fore and aft, though some
mendacious writer's have had the
audacity to make contrary asser.
tons. She is 37S feet long, has
70 feet breadth of beam amid
ships and is 80 feet in the hold.
She has more regular available
deck surface than any war vessel
ever constructed.
Here lines are original with Mr..
Webb, and the principles upon
which she is built are bold and
progressive, but have been sue
cessful and brilliantly triumphant.
She has no dead-rise-that is, she
is fiat Newfoundland her bilges
rise almost perpendicularly from
the bottom. Forward she is sharp,
and has an invulnerable iron ram
twenty-five feet long, sharp.point.
ed and so curved on the upper
surface as to take the bilge of q
ships side. 1t is this ram that is
one of the destructive features of
the Rochambeau. In the naval
battle of LISA the victory was
won with this weapon; and that
and other engagements have I'm.
mistably shown that in the future
running the enemy down" is more
important than repeated broad
sides.
1t was computed by Admiral
Goldsborough that the shock sus-
tanned by impact with the Rocham-
beau would be equal to the i'm
preston made by a cannon ball
weighing 1000 tons and moving
at the velocity of 1900 feet a sec,
ond, provided the Rochambeau
were steaming ten knots an hour.
If the Rochambeau had this
great feature forward, she had an
other aft equally important, but
which the French have destroyed
her overbang. This overhang
was placed there by her builders
to protect her crew and rudder
from terrific seas and the assaults
Of an antagonist. In her passage
to Europe, the Rochambeau de.
monstrated the value of this ap.
pendage, and it is not clear that
the French authorities have not
been guilty Of a piece Of folly in
making the alterations.
Upon the spar deck is q case.
ment 200 feet long, eight and a
half feet high, and sixty feet wide,
protected on the top by iron deck
plating; on the sides by forged
iron plating, nine inches thick,
inclined to the deck at an angle of
sixty degrees and backed by three
feet of solid wood. This inclina-
ton of the easement sides renders
it absolutely impossible for any
prejudice to make an indentation.
A ball wound glance and go tum-
bling and Kissing through the air.
Casemated vessels, it is needless
to say, are superior to monitors
and all the worthless inventions
of Ericsson, Coles and others,
and this fact was demonstrated in
the late war.
The Rochambeau carries four
l5-inch guns, purchased in this
country, two of which were placed
on board by Mr.. Webb. She CON-
pleted her battery with fourteen
Is inch she'll guns of the Dahl
gren pattern. Her battery weighs
300 tons and her plating LOO
tons, making a heavy superim-
posed burded of 1,400 tons. Her
crew has q diameter Of 20 feet
her shaft one of 20 inches. Her
engines are two of 5000 horse
power each, and she can carry l.
500 tons Of coal, using but 70