EARLY ENGLISH IRONCLADS. 



reader may form his own opinion as to the seaworthiness of the American monitor. My 

 belief is, that for a sea-fight, especially should one occur in a gale of wind, they are 

 practically as useless as a hay-barge, while for harbour defences they have proved them- 

 selves invaluable. Of all the splendid fleet of monitors possessed by America at the 

 close of the Federal and Confederate war, there are scarce any left to keep up the repu- 

 tation of the United States as a naval power. They were contract built, of green oak. 

 The Philadelphia and San Francisco navy yards afford ample proof that a decade has sufficed to 

 destroy what shot and shell found almost invulnerable. Such splendid specimens of naval 

 architecture as the Brooklyn and Ohio alone are left to keep up the appearance of America's 

 naval strength on foreign stations. But let us hope that her ' shoddy' monitors, like 

 her shoddy blankets or wooden nutmegs, have passed away with her convalescence from 

 intestine wounds, and that the next decade may witness the Stars and Stripes floating 

 powerfully and peacefully side by side with the Union Jack, omnipotent for good." 



Any such expression of feeling in regard to the safety of English ironclads, in spite 

 of the terrible loss of the Captain, and that of the Vanguard (only less serious inasmuch as 

 no lives were sacrificed), would not be echoed by any British sailor on board them. The 

 accommodations, barring the general darkness and sense of gloom inside, only partially 

 illumined by the fitful light of lamps, are generally good, and it is by no means certain 

 that when the electric light has attained that perfection at which its promoters are 

 aiming, there can be any complaint on that score at all. Still, until some grand success 

 has been attained by ironclads, it is very questionable whether they can be thoroughly 

 popular, except to courageous, scientific, and ambitious officers, of whom the service, the 

 writer is certain, does not stand in need. We have had a "Man of iron" ashore, and 

 we shall have him afloat when the occasion requires. 



The first types of ironclads introduced into the Royal Navy, as for example, the 

 Warrior and Black Prince, were nearly identical in general appearance to the war-ships 

 of the day. Now all British ironclads are built with sides approaching the upright or 

 vertical above water. At first they only attempted broadside fire; now bow and stern 

 guns are common. The Warrior, as the earliest example of an ironclad in the Royal 

 Navy, deserves special mention. She is doing duty to-day, and is by no means an effete 

 example, but an excellent and useful vessel. She is armoured at the middle only, in the 

 most exposed parts. In other words, her engines and leading guns are protected, while 

 the rest of her hull, though strong, is not armour-covered. Now, whatever weight of 

 armour this central, or " box-battery," as it has been termed, may have, there is always a 

 continuous belt of iron extending from stem to stern, and protecting the region of the 

 water-line and steering gear, the counter of the ship being carried below the water in 

 order to screen the rudder-head. This improvement is due to Sir Spencer Robinson. The 

 Warrior's armour was uniform in thickness; now it is strongest in the vital parts. The 

 Warrior had only a main-deck battery armour plated; recent ships have had a protected 

 upper-deck battery given them. The Warrior carried a large number of guns in an 

 outspread battery; all later ships, of whatever type, have had a concentrated battery of 

 much heavier guns. This early armoured ship is long ; nearly all later examples are much 

 shorter in proportion to their breadth. 



