The National tribune., 1907-08-08

or evil. What flag Capt. John Marston
| could hava1metint by leaving the Con.
gress and Cumberland where he did, OF
picket. in The 1ihrrow roads where the.
could neither ran nor manuver, is be
yond understanding.
The rest of the fleet were sins alarly
unprepared. Capt. Fox testified thai
they We're keptathere at the request o.
the army. 10
The Steamship Roanoke. one of the
! best ships in the navy, which the com
! manding officer made his flagship, wa!
disabled by the breakdown of her ma
chinery. The Sailing frigate, St Law
renee. was also broken down, and has
| to be towed hither and yon, during
which manuvers she naturally ground
ed at every opportunity.
The only vessel on the station of any
J positive value was the fine steam friga tt
/ Minnesota, under the command of Capt
Van Rrunt. She was a sister-ship to the
Merrimac and the Roanoke. She alsC
had n fashion of getting aground al
most inopportune times.
All this condition of unreadinesS was
maintained. altho every day there came
news of the work on the Merrimac, and
| rumors of her intended descent to de-
stroy The Union fleet 1t was the old
story of the boy who yelled wolf so
often that no one paid any attention 20
him when the wolf was actually coming.
Congress and the IroncIads.
Congress had taken n deeper interest
in ironclads than had the Navy De-
par:ment. Probably this was at tho
instance of the more progressive Off
GERS of the navy and the inventors OF
the country. At the extra session in
July Committee on IroncladS had been
appointed. anG an act passed directing
the Secretary of the Navy to appoint a
board of three officers to examine such
plans as might be submitted. and if they
reported favorably the SeCretarg- was
directed to build one or more iron or
Steelclad vessels. for which he was Civ
en- the sum of $1.500.000.
The Board was composed of CommO-
dores Joseph Smith and II. Paulding
and Capt. c. II. Davis. Their report
was presented Sept 16. They did not
think highly of irOaclads generally. but
believed they might be useful for har-
Dor defense and auxiliaries to fOrtifica-
tons. Sanguine inventors had proposed
some I different models of vessels. but
the Board approved of three, and that
very guardedly. The first of these was
by Capt. John Ericsson, of New York.
The Board recommended that one Of
these be built experimentally for trial
in smooth water. 1t was to he a small
vessel, ia feet long by Al broad and
to cost S275,000. She must be COM
pleted IN lhn dava.
1'he second. to which the Board took
more strongly, was by Merrick & Sons.
Philadelphia, for a much larger vessel,
to cost S7nH.hhf and require nine months
to build. This subsequently became the
New Ironsides.
The third was by s. C. Bushnell &.
Co, the vessel which became the Ga
lena. She was to be lighter and swiftcr
than the others
oil nf ho
concentrations, and ordered the vessels
built.
The Monitor.
Capt. John Ericsson was a distin-
guished Swedish engineer. who had long
been :, citizen of the United States. Ha
had attained Worldwide fame by his
inventions of the forced draft for steam
engines, the screw propeller. the hot-air
engine and by this adaptation of the
steam engine to naval purposes, which
revolutiOniZed the nayies of the world
He was now to make another revolu-
ton greater, than he had dreamed of.
His device was so startling in its novel
ty that the conservative naval officers
were justified in looking at it askance,
tho it is infinitely to their credit that
they could see good in it. and gave it
even 50 mild a recommendation as they
did. 1t is all the more to their credit
that they did this in spite of Capt.
Ericsson being in bad odor with the
Navy Department. While he had many
brilliant successes to his credit. he had
also some dismal failures. and he was
held responsible by naval officers for
the shocking accident on the frigate
Princeton. He had exhibited his in
vention to Napoleon Ill. who rejected
it very decisively, as did the British
Admiralty.
The following is the official descrip-
ton Of the vessel given out at the time
she was delivered to the United States
for trial. March >, 1862:
OEicial Description.
The hull is formed by two distinct
parts, lower and upper, both of which
are fiat-bottomed: the lower one built
# threc-eighths inch iron, 12i feet Ions,
"a feet wide at the top and six and n
half feet deep. The sides incline a al
angle of about 81 degrees with n Vcr,i-
cal line, and terminate in sharp ends.
the bow projecting and coming to a
pnint ut an angle of so degrees. TIE
ippcr hun is la feet long, Al feet four
l"heS wide, with perpendicular Sihcs;
ive feet high. 1t juts over the lower
nul on each side three feet seven inches
Ial at each end - feet. The sides of
is portion are built of white oak two
and a half feet thick. covered with six
UrheS OF iron plates on the outside and
half inch plating Of iron within, the
beet of the latter being to arrest
sDlinters in ease of ball penetrat ting
the sides. The top is covered with a
bomb-proof fiat deck, unprotected by
any railing or bulwark. This deck con-
sistS of oak beams 10 inches square and
20 inches apart. covered with eight
inch plank. and this with two layers Of
iron, each an inch thick. The draft Of
water is 10 feet. leaving only IS inches
above the surface. The projecting ends
of the upper hull serve as cover for
the propeller and rudder in the stern
and the anchor in The bow. The former
|,re entirely out Of reach of shot. and
the latter is carried in the upper hull
from which it is readily lowered, and
into which il is hoisted again by men
working below, without any exposure
or sign of their movements on the out
side. The lower hull is so situated be-
meath the upper that it can only be
reached by ball after this has passed
thru at least % feet of water. and the
inclination of the sides would then pre-
vent its penetration, and the upper is
mpreSnable in its six inches of iron
backed with 80 inches of white oak and
the inner lining of "a half inch iron The
prominent object upon the deck in the
middle of the boat is the turret or cas-
tie, a cylinder of 20 feet diameter with
in and nine rfeetr high, built of eight
thicknesses Of 9ne-inch plates. bolted