NAVAL IMPROVEMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 332, 5 December 1864, Page 6

NAVAL IMPROVEMENTS.

[F'otn the Times."]

A hold and rove] scheme, involving a revolution ill the (oiistruction of vessels of -Bar, has lately been submitted to the >drniialty by ilr. A. M'Laine, a naval architect of Be fast. It- is probably one of many similar contributions to the pending contest between armour-plating and rilled ordnance, but it lias the merit of teirg simple, if not original, in conception, and capable, if found in principle, of adaptation to existing models. Its main feature is the abandonment of broadside guns and even of revolting turrets, and the substitution of fore-aiid-nit guns, "to fire only on the line of the " keel." Ihe advantage alleged to be gained by the adoption of this* ; espedient is twofold. In the first place, a ship thus armed and carried into action would present to the enemy her breadth only, instead of her length—that is, a float of some fifty feet instead of a fiont of tome two hundred and fifty. fche would become, as 11 r. M'Laine contends, "five times more difficult to " hit, und where hit" (owing to the difference in the angle of impact) " perhaps five times more difficult of penetration." In the second place, her aggressive power would he proportionally increased by the enormous weight that might he given to gul l mounted on the new principle. The practical limit to the calibre of broadside batteries ia the range of their " lateral training," but Mr. M'Laineproposes thathis gunsshouldhave no ti-ainingatall, in theordinarv sense. They would be incap.tble of firing except in one direction/and while tl a elevation of each, would still Le regulated b\- the ca| t tin of the gun, it would eventually be pointed by the steersman. 'I he effect of this system, if it should realize all the hopes of its inventor, would be to solve two great difficuties by one stroke— the difficulty of making efficient seagoing vessels with invulneiable sides, and the difficulty of making such vessels of such a form as to carry, not only £00pounders, but the Gtill more Titanic artillery "which engineers inloim us will toon be foiged. Uavii.g explained the ends -which Mr. M'Laine sets befoie lim.seif, we must now ccscrile the means by which he picmise sto acc-cn plif-li thim. A toinmancer may intend to figlit his tcssc-1, "end en," but his an.aponist may bi flle him as icmirtlTarragut s fleet bi.flled the'Tenneese.' A ship may be mounted with guns of fabulous calibre on the fore-and-aft prin cipie, bi.t wilheut elaborate mechanical arrangements she may be quite unable to use thein. 1 o meet the first object, Mr. M'Laine advocates the univers-al employntent < f twin-screns in thips of war, which would " enable them to be turned "on their ketls and kept in the strongest position "for defence." r l he only objection which he recognizes is the supposed iidtriority of the double screw in respect of speed, and this he undeitakee to overcome "by suitably designing the after end "of the vessel," and especially by keeping the screws deeply immersed. He does not, however, relv exclusively on the screvs for lapid turning, since he suggests the use of a centrifugal pump at the bow to act as a supplementary motor. To effect the second object- that of making gun« "of unlimited weight'' perfectly available for attack lie contemplates the suspension of them on fore-and-aft railways, supported on stanchions or diagonal framework, and so laid that the gun could not be capsized by a roll of seventy degrees eat h way. Fop this purpose the rails must be wide apart and incline inwards, while the wheels of the'gun-carriage must be deeply grooved, and the gun itself must liang low. The recoil could Le received on a hydraulic cvliuder, and the captain of the gun—who would be the acting captain ot the vessel, as he would have to control the steersman—viould be provided with a seat behind tilt- gun, and would oscillate with it forwards and backwards. 1 lie loading would te performed by machinery, and Mr. McLaine indulges the belief that two or four guns, at most, thus handled, " with their muzzles depressed over an invulnerable bow, would sink tje strongest ship alloat in one discharge. How they would be secured against the effects ot pitching during a naval action, travelling as they would along rails which would iavour that motion, he does not state ; but it must be admitted that, when not required lor service, they might be carricd amidships and theie lashed with great facility. It should be added that Mr. M'Laine has designed a vessel ot w»r on this thei.ry, the estimated speed of which is 15 knots an hour.

It is obvious that thy value of such a proposal a3 this turns wholly and solely on practical considerations. It purports, no doubt, to satisfy a grand desideratum by enabling' the shipbuilder to keqp pace with the demands ot the artillerist up to any conceivable point. Floating fortresses may always be constructed long enough and buoyant enough to carry any weight that the future Armstrongs and Whitworths can put upon them, and, if all other obstacles were effectually removed,they might always engage laud forks on iavourable terms, since they would have the * hoice of position. It may be granted, too, that it' a ship could concentrate her armament in her bow, and keep that lu'nv constantly turned towards an enemy whose broadside was exposed, she would make short work of the engagement; but then the very same thing might be said of a steam ram* The difiiculty is to force the game, in which, according to the rules, you must infallibly win. When Mr. M'Laine asserts that a vessel of this type, carrying eight 600-pounders, li would be oi more service to the country than a whole iieefc of ordinary broadside or turret-vessels carrying: smaller guns,'* we mubt take it as a figure oi speech. £s r ot to insist on the fact that a single ship cannot be on every ocean or guurdmg eveiy port at ■ the same time, no ship that wo arc able to imagine can be absolutely invulnerable. The Achilles of Horneiic btory wad us invulnerable as any ironclad <-an ever be made, yet even ii poet- would not have veuuned to Achilles us a match for the whole Trojan host. It w simply impossible for one vessel to keep her head to a number ot antagonists at the same time, aud, white she was pointing hei invulnerable prow to one. another would be tiring shells into her vulnerable sides. Suppose the steering apparatus ot Mr* .M/Xmiue's vessel were knocked out of gear by a sh*jt» what would be hdr position ? (Jertaiuly not as go j d as that of u> vessel simdany disabled, but-armed with broadside batteries lor her guns would be poinuatf th* wrong wij" if an attempt wrz"© mcda to bca/sii**'