28 MAY 1864, Page 2

The British Government has now seventeen iron-clads afloat and efficient—two

of the best of them would have been a fair match for the combined German fleet—and by the middle of next year will have twenty-seven. Of those afloat ten are first-rates of the Warrior class, though with many differences in construction, two second-rates, three third-rates, and two little iron-clads. Of the ten nearly finished six are first-rates, and when completed we shall have a fleet with which nothing existing can possibly compete.