236 REPORT — 1861. 



these six new ships, that their thick plating will not extend quite to the head at 

 the upper part, but will stop at its junction with a transverse plated bulk bow 

 some little distance from the stem ; and this bulkhead will rise to a sufficient 

 height to protect the spar deck from being raked by shot. 



It has not yet been decided whether these new iron ships are to have their 

 plating backed up with teak timber, as in the previous ships ; or whether plating 

 61 inches in thickness, without a wood backing, is to be applied to them. The de- 

 termination of this point is to be dependent, I believe, upon the results of th& 

 forthcoming experiments with the large targets to which I have previously 

 adverted, and partly upon the recommendations of the Iron Plate Committee to 

 which our President belongs, and which is presided over by the distinguished 

 officer now present, Captain Sir John Dalr)'mple Hay, R.N. All that has been 

 decided is, that whether the armour be of iron alone or of iron and wood combined, 

 its weight is to be equivalent to that of iron 6i inches thick. The designs of the 

 ship have been prepared subject to this arrangement, and provision has been made 

 in the contracts for the adoption of whichever form of armour may be deemed best 

 when the time comes for applying it. 



All the iron-cased ships wbich I have thus far described are built, or to be built, 

 of iron throughout, except in so far as the timber backing of the plates, the planking 

 of the decks, and certain internal fittings may be concerned. I now come to notice 

 a verj' diffijrent class of vessel, in which the hull is to be formed mainlv of timber, 

 the annour plating being brought upon the ordinary outside planking. The 'Royal 

 Alfred,' 'Royal Oak,' 'Caledonia,' 'Ocean' and 'Triumph' are to be of this class. Their 

 dimensions are to be — length 273 feet, breadth 58 feet 5 inches, depth in hold 19 

 feet 10 inches, mean di-aught of water 25 feet 9 inches, and height of port 7 feet. 

 They are to be of 4045 tons burthen, and to have a displacement of 6839 tons. They 

 are to be fitted with engines of 1000 horse-power. They are being framed with 

 timbers originally designed for wooden line-of-battle ships, but are to be 18 feet 

 longer than those ships were to be. They will form a class of vessels intermediate 

 between the 'Hector' and the 'Warrior' classes, but, unlike both of them, will be 

 plated with armour from end to end. They will be without knees of the head, 

 and with upright sterns, and will therefore look very nearly as ugly as ' La Gloire,' 

 although in other respects much superior vessels, being 21 feet 6 inches longer, 

 3 feet 5 inches broader, and of less draught of water. They wUl also be quite equal 

 to her in speed. 



It will occur to some now present, that in adopting this class of ship we have, after 

 three years' delay, approximated somewhat to the 'Gloire' model at last. And un- 

 doubtedly we have done so in the present emergency, in order to compete with the 

 movements which France is now making. At the same time we have not gone to 

 work quite so clumsily as our neighbours. Instead of retaining the old line-of-battle 

 ship proportions, we have gone somewhat beyond them ; and have lifted all the 

 decks, in order to raise our guns higher above the water. We have consequently 

 secured a height of port or battery nearly 18 inches greater than 'La Gloire's' — an 

 advantage which wUl prove valuable imder all ordinary circumstances, and incalcul- 

 ably beneficial in rough weather. 



The whole of the new iron-cased ships, including the five plated timber ships 

 and the six 400- feet iron ships, will, there is every reason to believe, match 'La 

 Gloire' in speed, supposing the engines put in them to be of the respective powers 

 already mentioned — a condition which it is necessary to state, since there is, I 

 regi-et to say, a probabilitj' of smaller engines being placed in some of them. But 

 not one of all these new ships, the 'Achilles ' only excepted, will have a speed equal 

 to the 'Warrior's.' Perhaps we ought not to complain if our fleets are as fast as the 

 French ; but I, for one, certainly do regret that there should be any falling off in 

 this prime quality of our iron-cased vessels. Iron and coal will give us fast vessels ; 

 and we have these in abundance. The truly admirable engmes which Messrs. 

 Penn have placed in the 'Warrior' show that we can command any amount of 

 engine-power that we require, without incurring risk of any kind ; and it wovdd 

 indeed oe a blind policy to deprive ourselves of that speed which is pronoxmced 

 invaluable by every naval officer and man of science who writes or speaks upon 

 this subject. 



I have thus far said nothing cpnceming the armaments of the new classes of 



