Middletown transcript., 1870-06-25
MODERN NAVAL WARFARE.

| "oueru improvements III guns. auu pro-
jectiles are changing the whole system of
defensive warfare. Hereafter great bat
ties on the ocean will be fought between
iron-clads carrying very few guns. but
those of enormous calibre. The wooden
war ships that fifty years ago went sailing,
so gallantly into action, with signal meIls
in their tops and three tiers of ports alf
open, behind which lay grim cannon ready
to belch forth laundering broadsides from
their fiery throats, are becoming obsolete.
The cloud of canvas spread; the daring ma
neuvre of breaking the line; the grand,
cool, skilful seamanship displayed in baf-
fling or beating a superior foree-all these
if not yet altogether of the past, are rap
idly becoming SO. The mainmast is an
iron funnel, darkening the air with long
trail of smoke. The shrouds are the iron
stays that support it. Rollicking Jack has
degenerated into stoker in the fire room,
and an engineer with his hand OH lever
controls the movements of the ship, and
may decide the fate of those who sail in
her. There is no wooden ship ahoat whose
sides could resist for five minutes the i'm
pact, immense masses of metal which mod
ern guns are capable of hurling at her
The Rodman smooth-bore and the Arm
strong rifed cannon; elongated bolts, and
Palliser chilled iron shot, have necessita-
ted the use of corresponding powers Of
resistance. But experiments have shown
that the best built war ships, although
sheathed with iron plates five inches thick
on backing of teak fifteen inches thick,
can be penetrated by the tremendous mis-
siles now in use. Low sides and revoly-
ing turrets offer the only security, and
thus the problem of the relative powers of
attack and defence is lodged rather than
settled The ability to destroy has moro
than kept pace with the ability to protect.
and the final result is, that after the ex-
penditure of immense sums of money, ma
ratime nations are placed at no greater
advantage in battle from the use of IRON
clads and Armstrong and Rodman guns,.
than they were when engagements were
fought between fleets composed of wooden
war vessels armed with nothing heavier
than the old forty Founders.
In like manner the entire system Of
harbor and sea coast defences has been;
revolutionized. Stone Notifications, how.
ever skilfully planned and strongly con-.
structed, are speedily knocked to pieces
by modern artillery.
For nearly four years a number of the,
very best military engineers in the service
of the United States have been conducting
from time to time, a series of experiments
at Fortress Monroe and Fort Delaware,
with viow to discover, if possible, whe-
ther iron, in some form as a covering to
stone, might not be so applied as to sue.
cessfully counteract the destructive effect
of the enormous cannon balls now in use.
The report has recently been published,
and the conclusion reached is that stone
fortresses, like wooden war ships, are
things of bygone age, and that a simple
earthwork offers at this day better means.
Of defence than the most imposing forti6-
cation that Vauban ever planned. The
engineers in question report that shields
md casemates of wrought iron, varying
n thickness-supported by granite mason-
y and by concrete and brickwork behind
were shattered to pieces by ffteen-inch
ron and steel shots, fired from distances
angling from one hundred and fifty to FIVE
hundred yards. After long series of
experiments, conducted with great pa.
icnce and in different ways. they express.
ho uOCiucu oPiuiou tuaG oucu 10 INC
enormous force of our fifteen-inch and
wenty-inch guns, and of the ffty-ton Ri
led steel guns made in Prussia, that the
ron shield or casematc is practically USE
ess. They recommend, indeed, that fur
her experiments with lead, in combina-
ion with iron, and also with concrete cast
ron, be authorized; but they hold out no
rope that such will be successful. After
Ill, they add, 1--WE must come back, for
eacoast and harbor defence, to earthworks
the simplest form of ortifcations-arm-
d with the heaviest and most powerful
rtillery." So modern mechanical science
las actually achieved nothing of conse-
Iuence in respect to warfare, Notwith-
landing the tremendous forces brought
nto use, and applied to warlike opera
ions, the relative powers of attack and
efence remain pretty much what they
Eere before. Iron ships are as vulnera-
lie against riied cannon as wooden ships
Tere to forty Founders. and instead of
tone Notifications, we fall back upon
arthworks.