MECHANICS AND USEFUL AETS. 93 



claret stood for an hour upon its narrow base on the dinner-table in 

 the cabin, when it was put away. 



I do not consider the lowness of the monitors in the water a source 

 of unsafeness. They start to sea with sufficient buoyancy, and, by 

 the consumption of coal and provisions, they hourly grow lighter. 

 Anything lighter than water will float upon it ; and however deeply 

 buried, while lighter than water, it must come to the surface ; but 

 effectual means must be used to keep the vessel tight, for any con- 

 siderable accumulation of water in the hull will sink her, which is 

 true also of ships generally. The casemated vessels, such as the 

 ironsides, if not safer than the monitors, arc more comfortable, 

 and therefore probably more healthy ; with greater facilities for carry- 

 in"' canvas than the monitor class seems to admit of. 



t 1 " 



To sum up my conclusions, I think that the monitor class and the 

 ironsides class are different weapons, each having its peculiar advan- 

 tages, both needed to an iron-clad navy, both needed in war; but 

 that, when the monitor class measures its strength against the iron- 

 sides class, then, with vessels of equal size, the monitor class will 

 overpower the ironsides class ; and, indeed, a single monitor will 

 capture many casemated vessels of no greater individual size or 

 speed ; and as vessels find their natural antagonists in forts, it must 

 be considered that upon the whole the monitor principle contains the 

 most successful elements for plating vessels for war purposes. 



Admiral Porter, also, in a report made to the Department, Jan- 

 uary, 1865, on the conduct of the iron-dads in the bombardment of 

 Fort Fisher, speaks in the highest terms of the sea-worthiness of the 

 monitor vessels. During a gale of great violence encountered by the 

 squadron, some of the smaller monitors, at times almost disappeared 

 from view, but the vessels were in no danger at any time. Of the Mo- 

 nadnock (monitor), Admiral Porter writes : " She could ride out a gale 

 at anchor in the Atlantic Ocean, and she is certainly a most perfect 

 success so far as the hull and machinery are concerned, and is only 

 defective in some minor details, which in the building of these vessels 

 require the superintendence of a thorough seaman and a practical and 

 ingenious man. The Monadnock is capable of crossing the ocean 

 alone, when her compasses are once adjusted properly, and could de- 

 stroy any vessel in the French or British navy. She could certainly 

 clear any harbor on our coast of blockaders in case we were at war 

 with a foreign power. There are four vessels in the American navy 

 of the class of the Monadnock, all ranking as second-rate iron-clads. 

 They are built on the monitor plan, but have two turrets, in each of 

 which will probably be placed a 15-inch gun and a 200-pounder. 

 Their register is 1,564 tons, their length 259 feet over all, 52 feet 10 

 inches beam, and depth of hold 14 feet nine inches. The turrets are 

 21 feet in diameter. Their propellers are 11 feet six inches in diame- 

 ter, and have a pitch of 24 feet. Each vessel has two screws, one on 

 either side of the stern-post. Their draught of water, fully laden is 

 12 feet. 



"These vessels have laid five days under a fire from Fort Fisher, 

 anchored less than 800 yards off', and, though fired at a great 

 deal, they were seldom hit, and received no injury, except to boats 

 and light matter about the decks, which were pretty well cut to 



