THE DUKE OF SOMERSET ON IRON-CLAD SHIPS.
and a half inches thick, and by no means irresistible., Sir R. Armstrong's present guns, for example, crash through eight-inch iron, and would smash in these plates in a style which would make them as deadly to the defenders as,ordi- nary shells. We say present guns, because Sir R. Armstrong has just invented a new projectile, which he believes -will " pulverize" these plates, and to all appearance render iron- plating as useless as a covering of brown paper. The new invention is not ready, but the old one is sufficient for ex- isting needs, and these guns have been distributed to the fleet. Armed with one of these engines, a gun-boat becomes a deadly enemy even to a vessel like La Gloire, drilling her through and through while out of range, and, from her size, almost invisible. So tremendous, indeed, is the power of the new cannon, that it is doubtful whether all systems of plating have not been rendered valueless, whether any armour under which a vessel could float, would be an adequate defence. Chain armour certainly is not, as experiment has proved, and the schemes for employing india-rubber, hemp, and other yielding materials turn out mere delusions. Even, therefore, without iron vessels, the chances of success would not be wholly unequal, the means of attack which we have adopted being at least equal to the means of defence which we neglect.
It is just possible, however, that, although armour will not make ships impenetrable to certain descriptions of shot, it may diminish the amount of risk, and the smallest advan- tage is not to be despised. The Admiralty, therefore, have suspended the building of wooden vessels. The last two three-deckers were only launched in 1859 to get them out of the way, and the last two-decker was ordered in the same year. Instead of wooden vessels, they are building seven irolkiplated ships, and mare may be created almost immedi- ately by adding plates to the completed frames of wooden two-deckers. Orders to complete five such vessels, which will be quite as good as the French, have actually been issued. As to the "reconstruction" of the fleet, so often recommended, it is the most difficult of questions. It is already nearly certain that the entire ship, as well as its armour, should be of iron, and that the French have not yet discovered the true model for the new vessel. Then the proper thickness for iron is not yet ascer- tained. One-inch iron only breaks the shot into frag- ments as dangerous as thOse of a shell. Four-and-a-half inch iron, the English standard, is only half the thickness Sir R. Armstrong has already penetrated, and the Admiralty is trying six-inch plates, which, as vessels are intended to move through water, seems nearly as great a thickness as it is possible to secure. The Government, therefore, stands ready in any case to launch an iron-plated fleet of ships as good as the French, to increase that fleet indefinitely on the first alarm, and to make trial of any scheme which promises them a fleet superior to that which has created the existing alarms.
The last is the most satisfactory sign of all. It is not want of power which the public ascribe to the department, but want of energy and appreciation. Our dockyards, costly as they may be, can, when required, build fast and build well, while the private yards can accomplish tasks no conti- nental Government would attempt. The fleet of gunboats ordered for the Crimean war were built with a speed which seemed magical to our enemies, and though the work is now condemned, and the boats pronounced " rotten," they are doing efficient service in every quarter of the world. But all these resources must be wasted if the Admiralty is asleep, tied to an ancient system, or afraid of criticism by the House of Commons. Nobody questions the ability of the Duke of Somerset, though he is often attacked for reasons unconnected with capacity, or doubts that, if fairly alive to the danger to be faced, he can bring the navy up to its true position,—i.e. ability to encounter the com- bined navies of the world. It is the perception of the Admiralty, not its capacity which is questioned, and its scientific resource, not its store of materiel which is denied. No one in England desires to see an unhealthy rashness of innovation, particularly in dockyards where the first effort at change is sure to produce an outlay of hundreds of thou- sands. But a little more "Americanism," a little more of the sort of energy which employs a victory in the first place to try a calcium light, as General Butler did at Alexandria, is still to be desired. There is a wealth of ability in Eng- land among outsiders of which the departments might with advantage make more use. It was not an artillery officer who invented the Armstrong gun, and it will probably not be a seaman who will invent the impenetrable ship. With the intelligence of a maritime race set fairly to work by the readiness of the Admiralty to receive suggestions, it will be hard if we cannot surpass France in inventiveness of design as we already surpass her in the resources which are to make those designs available for action. The present First Lord professes perfect willingness to consider all schemes, and try all experiments in which the inventors have sufficient con- fidence to make some little exertion to exhibit them, and we believe the department is really awake to the value of out- side ideas. The problem proposed is to construct an armour which a ship can carry, and which shall resist any bolt, in- cluding Sir R. Armstrong's, and its successful solution will bring panic to an end. It may be insoluble ; but if it be, the victory will remain as of old to the best weapon of attack, and the nation in whose possession it is found. On one point only did the First Lord leave the impression of an indifference to facts. The construction of iron ships by Spain and Italy is no matter for contemptuous remark- They may never be employed against England, but they also may, and Venetia and Gibraltar are strong lures to dangle before the two nations of the South. It is the necessity of England to be able to meet not only France, but France, as Prince Napoleon lately said, " at the head of all the second- class marines."
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