Morning journal and courier., 1880-03-23
How to Rebuild Oar Navy,

l [E. B. Derby in Harper's Magazine for April.J | By surpassing speed our ships could break
 and force blockades, rapidly cross the sea,
 overtake or capture the ships of the adversa-
 ry, and choose their own position in battle. | The strength and buoyanoy of steel, and it's | present cheapness, adapt 1t to our purposes
 it must be the material for our new navy. | Steel is superseding iron. In the rivalry be-
 tween guns and plates of iron, the gun has | been the victor, and guns weighing thirty | eight tons, throwing shells weighing nearly | half ton have already been set afioat, and | some of them in gunboats.
 Instead of embarking $2, 800, ,OOO in one
 venture in a gigantic ironclad, England is now constructing vessels of one-hfth that cost, and armiDg them with heavy cannon. The steel clad Iris is such vessel She | combines fine model with steel walls, and the compound engine, which saves forty per cent. in the coal consumed she thus with
 great economy combines speed with a heavy
 armament, and sufficient space for men, stores and fuel. Let us, after choosing such
 model as the Iris, build our first steelclad upon the lines and in the moulds of the Iris and, if possible, make our contracts with those who built her. We should thus obtain ship 300 feet in length between perpendiculars, 46 feet wide, combining a speed of seventeen
 miles an hour with draught of but twenty
 feet. Let this be the basis for our steel-clads.
 But how is such ship to be armored without importing her speed? And how she be qualified to meet the iron clads of Europe? The Iris carries 700 tors nf-coGl but sAe is
 rgged as bark, is fast under canvas, and
 economies fuel by the use of compound en-
 zine; and to give her armor, we may dispense
 with POO tons of fuel, as she will rely prin- cipally on her sails, except when pursuing or
 e!udiug her enemy, or when going into
 ton. Thus saving 200 tons of dead-weight
 We may apply to her bow and her stern 200
 tons Of steel armor of four inches in thickness, extending back from her bow and forward from her stern fifty to sixty feet, and cover ing the curved portion of her stem and stern.
 Thus may we protect her both forward and aft
 by belt of steel armor four feet above and
 four feet below her load-ine. The Iris is
 armed with ten cannon of six tons each, and
 the weight of these for each broadside is
 thirty tons Let us dispense with six of
 them, and substitute for these one gun of thirty eight tons on platform the
 mored bow, and another of eighteen tons near the nrmored stern. As these guns are 10 revolve, we thus double the weight of a broad side, aud greatly increase it's effect, and when she attacks or retires she will present a sharp bow, or run to the foe covered with steel,
 which by its strength and curvature will de- fleet the shells of it's largest adversary at the distance 1t may choose for it's encounter. Let us add to this ship beak of steel which, when driven at speed of seventeen miles per hour, will sink any adversary. To this ar nameut we may add two light Calling guns to keep of boats or boarders. We may thus increase the armament of the frigate without adding more than twenty tons to the dead weight, and this may be saved either in whole or in part in the weight of crew stores and water by reducing the number Of her guns, as her large guns may be worked by hydraulic power. But it may well be asked how are her sides to be armored. England, by adopting the turret system, or by building fortress in the centre of her iron-clads has secured the machinery, but has left both bow and stern exposed to the enemy; and in the naval en- gageulent at Lissa one vessel thus undefended at the bow was sent to the bottom by the shell of her adversary. Gan we add armor to the ship without affecting her speed? Let us profit by an experiment. recently made in England, by which it has been determined that a coal bunker filled with coal few feet in width is impervious to the largest shell in use. Let such bunker be constructed on each side of the ship, eight feet wide, and four feet above and four feet below the load line of the ship, extending from the armor of the bow to the arnnor of the stern let it cross the ship at the point where 1t reaches the ar nor; let 1t be made of half-inch plates of steel, and divided into two compartments and let one of these compartments be kept full as safeguard and reserve for any encounter. We have thus armored the ship, doubled her armament and preserved her speed. The Iris has cost $450, ,000 and 1t is safe to estimate that ths changes we propose would not in crease her cost to more than $500, ,000. With $5, GOO, GOO year for four years to come, we might build twenty such steel-clad frigates, twenty more of two-thirds their siZe or ,, 900 tons each, and twenty gunboats like those sent from England to China. Let us add to them twenty torpedo vessels like those of Eugland and France, making twenty miles an hour, and we shall have made good begin ming for our new navy, and have made a reasonable provision for the exigencies of the future.