IRON-PLATED SHIPS AND ARTILLERY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1007, 5 July 1862, Page 4

IRON-PLATED SHIPS AND ARTILLERY.

Within the last few weeks we have added two iron-cased frigates to the strength of our effective navy, and it is probable that we now possess the four most powerful men-of-war afloat. Although these are all that are actually fit for sea, our iron fleet is already divided into six classes. The first of these comprises the Agincourt, the Minotaur, and the Northumberland, all now in progress, and to be completed in the year 1864. These ships are improvements upon the Warrior model; that is to say, they are Warriors enlarged sufficiently to admit of complete instead of partial plating—a very important point indeed. The second class consists of the Warrior, which has already been to sea; the Black Prince, whose trial trip came off successfully but a few days ago; and the Achilles, now in course of construction at Chatham. Then we have the Hector and the Valiant, of about two-thirds the dimensions of the Warrior class, and next the Defence and Resistance, of about half that tonnage. The two latter vessels form, with the Warrior and Black Prince, the strength of our iron fleet available at the present moment. The fifth class represents the converted vessels, or the wooden men-of-war selected for the reception of iron plates, one of which will be ready in four months' time; and, finally, there is a cupola-ship on Captain Coles's pattern, a specimen of which is to be launched on ! the 10th of February, 1863.

The 'Times' recently published an interesting report of the actual capabilities of the Defence, as tested by al2 days' voyage in trying weather. It was found that, though the steering qualities of the vessel were but indifferent, she was, upon the whole, a good seagoing ship, fit for service in any part of the world. She is also described as a most effective , steam ram, and we are assured that she could accomplish with ease what the Merrimac crippled hrself in attempting, and sink a ship like the Monitor at a blow. She cannot, however, make above 11. knots an hour, and she is not plated all round. The consequence appears to be that an iron ship of this class might possibly be taken at a disadvantage even by a wooden frigate. Many of our frigates, and even our line-of-battle ships, can make more than 11 knots, and could, therefore, not only escape i the Defence by flight, but could engage her if they thought the opportunity favorable, and attack her at her vulnerable points. It is said, moreover, that in stormy weather the Defence could not open her ports to fight her guns, so that she might be left at the mercy of an old-fashioned antagonist.

At present not one of our frigates carries a gun which would be effective against a ship of her own strength. They could, according to our calculations, destroy the Merrimac or the Monitor, but the ordnance with which they are armed would be powerless against frigates like themselves. To acquire effective powers of attack they must accordingly carry some such piece as the new Armstrong gun, which can shatter to pieces the strongest shiparmour yet devised, even to the extent, as was shown by the experiments noticed in our last, of crushing 15 inches of solid wrought iron. As very few of such cannon could be mounted on a floating battery, we seem to be coming to the model of the cupola ship, in which guns of almost any size can be worked at a great , height from the water, while the vessel itself is absolutely protected. When the first cupola ship was designed it was intended she should carry 12 110-pounder Armstrong guns; but the late experiments at Shoeburyness will probably, it is thought, have the effect of inducing the Admiralty to make an alteration in her intended armament. If the 110-pounders and the smashing smooth-bored favourite service 68-pounders have failed, at a' range of 200 yards, to go through a coating similar to that with which the Warrior is clothed, and the 300-pounder will effect a penetration, it is suggested that it would be better to have five, or even fewer shields, armed with this formidable gun, than to have a number with a less efficient artillery. A step of importance in the existing state of our naval affairs has just been taken by the Board of Admiralty. At the present moment our entire fleet of small vessels of war is built of wood, and is unprotected by armour plating. Every corvette, sloop, and gunboat in the service is liable, therefore, to sudden and complete destruction by the shell fire of an enemy. Recently, however, a stop has been put to the construction of further vessels of this kind in the royal dockyards. In France for some years past, anil in America during the last year, small iron-plated craft have been designed and built; but in all cases these have been fit to operate upon home coasts and harbours only, and have been wholly incapable of performing general sea service. The difficulty was to produce sea-going plated ships of moderate dimensions. A method of construction has now been devised, which is said to afford great security, with a comparatively , small amount of plating, and which has met with the.full approval of our Admiralty. The new design has been made by Mr. E. 0. Reed, formerly of the School of Naval Construction, Portsmouth, now Secretary to the Institution of Naval Architects, under the general supervision of Admiral Robinson, the controller of the navy. The design has been placed unreservedly at the disposal of the Admiralty, who have issued an order for its immediate adoption, and have appointed Mr. Reed to superintend the construction of the vessels in her Majesty's dockyards.

The stone fortifications at Breakwater Head, in the Isle of Portland have been stopped, and it is expected that the Verne works in that island will not be proceeded with. " The enterprise and energy of our great manufacturers," says the 'Army and Navy Gazette,'" are it would appear, never to" be taxed in vain. The experiments at Shoeburyness on iron plates have served to show that alternately guns and plates are in the ascendant. Yesterday Sir William Armstrong went through any thickness of iron that could be reared againgt l)im ; and to-day the rollers of iron plates have successfully opposed a material that has resisted all his attempts to perforate it, and so it has gone on. But the 300-pounder has set people engaged in the iron trade thinking, aud in anticipation of this monster gun being brought into j use, Mr. John Brown, of the Atlas Steel Works, Sheffield, on the sth of April rolled a plate 24 feet long, 4 feet 5 irtches wide, and inches thick. This plate has been planed and has proved perfectly sound. Mr. Brown publicly states that he is most anxious that the Admiralty should decide upon firing.at a plate of this character, and pledges himself on behalf of his firm, that if their lordships will only build ships large enough to carry his plates he will produce any quantity capable of resisting all the artillery that can be brought to bear , against ; them. In justice to Mr. Brown, we should say that ; ho challenges any establishment, whether at home or ; abroad, to produce better armour plates, and that as regards Russia, to which country particular allusion was lately made, we are now informed it is almost a matter of certainty that it has never yet rolled a plate fit for warlike purposes, and that the one which, on good authority, we stated had borne a severe test, was probably a:sample plate sent from this country to be experimented upon."