SUPERIORITY OF BRITISH IRONCLADS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 635, 16 May 1878, Page 2

SUPERIORITY OF BRITISH IRONCLADS.

* The Pall Mall Gazette observes : " One of the elements of the superiority of English ironclads when compared with those of foreign navies consists in the greater number of watertight compartments into which the interior of the ship is divided. The greater the number of these compartments the less chance there naturally is of the vessel being sunk or totally disabled, either by the entrance of the enemy's projectiles into the region about the water-line, or by a blow from a ram, or by the explosion of a torpedo ; and in our more recently constructed ships, at all events, the partitions have boon greatly multiplied. Economical considerations have probably prevented other naval powers following our example ; for in no other men-of-war afloat is the hull divided into so many different compartments as is the case in English ships of the same size. For instance, in the Memdouhiye, the man-of-war built for the Turkish Government, but recently purchased by our own, and which is reputed to be one of the most powerful armourplated ships ever built for a foreign navy, there are, it is stated, sixty watertight compartments, while in the Alexandra, a vessel of nearly the same size, there are 115. These compartments are formed by longitudinal bulkheads—by dividing walls, that is to say, running fore and aft the ship; by transverse bulkheads, or divisions extending across the interior of the vessel ; and by making the decks or platforms watertight. Means are provided for rapidly closing the openings which are necessarily left in these bulkheads and decks for purposes of communication, so that, should water begin to enter any one compartment owing to the sides or bilge of the ship being damaged, it can be prevented from spreading. The increase of defensive strength given to ships by increasing the number of these compartments can hardly be overrated, and it is satisfactory to know that in this respect at least the superiority of our men-of-war to any with which they may have to contend is not to be questioned.