The Admiralty have decided this year to try the experiment
of building vessels plated with 41-inch iron, but of a small tonnage. The Research, of 1,250 tons, coated from end to end with Warrior plates, has proved a great success, draws only 14 feet of water, steams 10 knots, and fought successfully against a gale which drove a wooden sloop of similar size into harbour. Ten iron- -clads have been ordered, the largest of which will be of 4,246 tons, and the smallest only 990. One of these, the Bellerophon, to be finished in twelve months, is to be plated with 10 inches of teak and .6 inches of iron, and to be fitted with ten 300-pounder and two -00-pounder guns. Another steamer, the Pallas, is being built for speed, and intended to carry 16 days' coal at 14 miles an hour.