Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-10-04
IRONCLADS AS FIGHTERS.
Conclusions Drawn from Expert
enee Since the Monitors Time.


Vice Admiral Won Henk has publish
ed an article in a military periodical on
the value Of ironclads with reference to
the bOmbardment of Alexandria. AS
military history has as yet furnished but
few materials for forming final iudg-
ment as to the value of iron plating for
ships, the purposes aimed at in its intro
ductiOn. and the question whether these
purposes have really been attained. the
writer thinks it desirable to draw as
many lessons as possible from every
event in this field, and thus to increase
our experience.
He begins with the history of iron
plating The introduction OF shell guns,
soon after 1850, much diminished the
value Of Nelson's battle ships, with so
to 100 guns The necessity Of protect
ing ships Of war better against artillery
became still more urgent when the intro
duction of steam made their construction
more complicated, and thus increased
their vulnerabIliiY. In the Crimean war
the Russian shells did great execution
on ships. Opinions differed greatly,
however, especially in England, as to the
value of iTOnclads and the neces-
sity for their introduction, until
the fight of the COnfeder-
ate ship Merrimac with the wooden
ships Of the Union in Hampton Roads,
and her fight with the Monitor, placed
the great superiority Of irOnclads be-
yOnd a doubt. On the 9Th of March.
1862, the Merrimac attacked four wood
en- frigaGes and completely destroyed two
of them. Next day she Unexpectedly
met the irOnclad battery ship. MOni-
tor, mere dwarf in comparison, and
was compelled to retreat severely dam
aged The impression made by this
fight was enormous and it showed two
things-the necessity Of iron plating for
battle ships, and Of arming them with
guns Of large calibre and great piercing
power
The first opportunity Of estimating the
value OF iron plating in a conflict, ship
to ship, on the high seas, was afforded
by the battle Of LISA on the Goth of July,
1886. In that action the relations be
tween armOr and guns were about the
same as they are now. Seven Austrian
irOnclads were opposed to eleven Italian
The aTmOr Of the ships was pretty equal
in strength on both sides; the Italians
were stronger in artillery. The result is
well Known. Deducting $50 who per-
ished with the Re d'Italia and the Palas-
trO. the Italians lost ITO men out Eof
5000. The total loss on the Austrian.
side was 80 killed and 1874 wounded out
Of 1000, the loss on the unarmored ship
Kaiser being % killed and 50 wounded,
that is, twO-thlrds Of the whole. The
battle Of LISA was an eloquent advocate
for the incipient system Of irOn-plating
ships Of war.
In the war in South America in 1877,
two unarmed English ships had Difficult
tY in repulsing the attack of the Peru
Wan monitor Huascar, and had in the
end to let it 60 unmOlested or that new,
malignant, and deceitful weapon, the
fish torpedo, we have as yet no expe-
rience, for the published reports of the
RussO-Turkish war are go Enthusiastically
that one can found no opinion on them.
The result of observation up TO this date
may be condensed as follows First, IN
armOred ships cannot maintain fight of
any duration against the heavy guns of
ships and forts; secondly, irOn-plating is
still an effectual defense against tAe
heaviest guns, and consequently indis-
Densable for battle ships; thirdly, rams
and tOrpedoes are, indeed, formidable
weapons in sea fighting, but cannot 81.
persede artillery as the chief weapon,
and they promise more chance of success
in ironclads because Of their better pro-
lection against the enemy's artillery
than in unarmOred ships.