The Hawaiian gazette., 1880-08-04

The armament is mainly comprised of 40
FOUNDER Vavassevr breech-loading guns and
Armstrong and French type lOO-pounder muz-
zle- leaders. The small l2-pounders are brass
guns, cast at the Marking arsenal. These YES
sells all carry Remington small arms, and are
manned entirely by Chinese, under native COM
manders and engineers, no foreigners being en-
ployed whatsoever. Their average speed is ten
knots, Nos. 5, 8, 7, and steaming with i'm
proved engines, making fourteen knots. As
rule, they are all brig rugged, except the cor
vette No. 5, which has the full rig of ship.
Nos. to 25 are built of wood, teak being used
entirely in their construction. Nos 20 and ~
have iron frames, with teak panking
The ships have their various stations at the
treaty ports, and are under the supervision of
the Port-Admiral of the place where located.
There is, however, Overwhelmingly but he
is entirely subordinate to the officials of the
dockyard. A system of signals, by means of
which communication between the ships can be
maintained, has been arranged. At the present
time, the largest part of the feet is commanded
by young men, who were trained upon sailing
bark. the Kien1Cei, commanded by Captain
Tracy, of the English navy, and who afterward
proceeded upon a cruising voyage to Singapore,
Manila, and Japan, in the steam corvette Yang
Woo, under the guidance of English naval in
structors. These young men are nearly all ma
tives of either the Kwantung or Fohkien prov
inces. They have attained a remarkable pro-
fciency in navigation and gunnery, and their
efforts to organize the Chinese navy have been
attended with great results. THE writer can
vouch for several of these embryo Chinese Nell
sons, inasmuch as he has made several pas
sages in the gunboats under their command.
Prior to assuming captains duties, they all
pass through trials as first and second lieuten-
ants. The vessels we're originally command
ed by Chinese, who bore excellent regulations
as coast pilots, steering the ships from point
to point on the coast, but never losing sight of
land. These gentlemen are being gradually
supplanted by the trained men, much to their
disgust.
Upon the whole, the ships of the Foochow
division may be considered as the most effect
i've, both in point of drill and in fighting capac-
ity, with the exception of the new "Greek al
phabet" gun vessels. This type OF war ship
has excited universal comments in the naval cir
Giles of every country. They were all built by
Messrs G. Mitchell & Co., and the engines by
Messrs. Thompson, Of Newcastle-on-T Tyne,
England, from the designs of Mr.. Rendel, of
the eminent firm of Sir W. j. Armstrong & Co.
The alpha and Beta are each of 800 tons
burden, and carry a 265a-ton Armstrong gun,
capable of penetrating l2-inch armor plate.
These two gunboats arrived in China in March,
1877, and are now stationed in Formosa, at the
port of Taiwan-foo. The Gamma and Della
carry each ll-inch 3S-ton gun, firing pro-
jectile of 500 pounds, with charges of 1870
pounds Of prisrnatic powder, and can penetrate
l9-inch armor. Their dimensions are as fol-
lows: lis feet long 80 feet beam; mean
draught, feet with 3-foot freeboard Their
displacement is 400 tons. The engines are
twin-screw of 27U horsepower, and are capa.
bic of steaming knots per hour. They are
schooner-rigged, with tripod mssts, and can
carry sufficient coal to work at full speed, using
ii hundred weight per hour, for seven days of
twenty-four hours. The Epsilon, Eta, THEA,
and Zstd models are further advance upon
the original type. They measure l27 feet long,
20 feet beam, with draught of feet inches,
and their displacement is 40 tons. The pro-
polling power consists oftwin-screw horizontal
engines, capable of driving them 10 knots, and,
BY reason of their possessing bow-rudders and
line lines, they can also steam 8 knots back
ward. The bunker capacity is 10 tons, and the
consumption of coal hundred weight per
hour. They are schooner rugged, with tripod
masts. Although the Epsilon series carry only
35-ton guns, owing to the advance made by
Messrs. Armstrong in the power of ordnance
relative to weight, the new 35-ton is equal in
power to the 3ston gun, with 250-pound bat
tering charge. The 35-ton guns proectile has
a velocity of I,o25 feet, equal to 400 foot-tons
energy per inch of circumference. With 255-
pound charge the new 35-ton gun has one-fifth
more penetrating power than the old 3s-ton,
the figures showing 356 foot-fons per inch as
compared to 300. The high initial velocity of
the 35-ton gun causes the trajectory of its pro-
jectile to be very fat, and thus gives the gun
much better chance of hitting any object, and
also increases the range. With the exception
of the Italian war ship Duiho, with her 100
ton Armstrong guns, and the British turretship
Devastation, with her s0-ton Woolwich guns,
the Chinese government possess the most
powerful guns aAoat. The main feature Of all
these gunboats is the great gun which is placed
on line with the keel in the bow, and is mount
ed and worked entirely by hydraulicm machinery.
Five men work it efficiently. There are no
chains. cog wheels, or gearing even gun
carriage. The gun lies on the deck between
two great beams, with two pistons aiding upon
them, which take hold of the trunnions, and |
there is nothing more to be seen. The captain