238 REPORT — 1861. 



both politic and economical. But with other naval nations to compete with, and 

 with the inertia which inevitably, and often happily, attends a constitutional and 

 parliamentary system of government, we cannot aiibrd to play games of skill with 

 omnipotent emperors, but are bound to be ever ready to assert om- preeminence. 



I have a little information concerning the 'Solferino' and her sister French ships 

 which it may be useful to give you. Her length is 282 feet, breadth 54 feet, mean 

 draught of water 26 feet, displacement 0820 tons, thickness of armour plating 4f 

 inches, nominal horse-power of engines 1000. Her plating extends from stem to 

 stern over the lower gun-deck, and rises up amidships sufficiently high to cover 

 two decks. She is fiu-nished with an angular projection or prow below the water, 

 for forcing in the side of an enemy when employed as a ram. I regret my ina- 

 bility to add materially to these details of the largest French ships. 



Let me now consider briefly the pecuniary phase of this iron-cased ship question. 

 We may fairly assume that the average cost of such vessels will not be less than 

 £50 per ton, and that their engines will cost at least £60 per horse-power. Sup- 



Eosing these figures to be correct, then the hulls of the eighteen ships which we 

 ave been considering will cost us £4,681,600, and their engines £1,14;3,000 — toge- 

 ther nearly six millions pounds sterling. When masted, rigged, armed, and fully 

 equipped for sea, they will of coui-se represent a much larger sum — probably nearly 

 eight millions. These estimates -uall afford some faint conception of the nature of 

 that "reconstruction " of the Navy upon which we may now be said to have fairly 

 entered, in so far as the ships themselves are considered. 



But I must not conceal the fact that the introduction of these enormous iron- 

 cased ships has entailed upon us the construction of other colossal and most costly 

 works. We have now to provide immense docks for their reception ; for we at 

 present possess none suitable to receive them. Nor must these docks be of large 

 proportions only ; for in order to sustain ships burdened with thousands of tons of 

 armour, they must be furnished with more substantial foundations and walls than 

 any hitherto constructed, and be built of the best materials and with the soundest 

 and firmest workmanship. 



Many considerations combine to exalt the importance of this part of my subject. 

 In the first place, the tendency which iron ships have to get foid below water wiU 

 render it necessary to dock our new ships frequently, under ordinary circumstances, 

 and whether we go to war or not. In the second place, for aught we yet know, 

 these ships may be found to give signs of local weakness as soon as they are taken 

 on an ocean cruise, and to require such repairs and strengthenings as can only be 

 performed in dock. Again, being steamships, they will be continually liable to 

 accidents in connection with the engines or the propelling apparatus ; and with 

 many such accidents docking will become indispensable. And so I might proceed 

 to multiply examples of this kind. But there is one consideration which is para- 

 moimt, and which may therefore be stated at once : we dare not send these ships 

 against a French fleet unless we have docks for them to run to in the event of a 

 djsaster. We know not what may happen to these altogether novel structm-es 

 until they have been exposed to successive broadsides from a heavy naval batteiy ; 

 and it would be madness to send them out to encounter a powerful fleet of vessels 

 aa strong as themselves imless we are prepared to open docks to receive them in 

 case of necessity. 



I have said that we are at present without dock accommodation for these ships ; 

 and it may be desirable to illustrate the correctness of this statement in detail. 

 What we Vequii-e for them in each case is, first, deep water up to the entrance of 

 the dock ; secondly, a depth of not less than 27 or 28 feet of water over the sill of 

 the dock ; and thirdly, a length on the floor of the dock of 400 feet. Now, these 

 three conditions are not combined, I believe, in any dock in Great Britain — cer- 

 tainly not in any of Her Majesty's Dockyards. At Portsmouth we have just com- 

 pleted a pail' of docks which can be thrown into one, 612 feet long. But over the 

 bar of Portsmouth harboiu- there is a depth of 17 feet only at low water, 27 feet at 

 high water neaps, and 30 at high water springs. Consequently, these large iron- 

 cased ships, if they went to Portsmouth in a dangerous state, or in hot haste to get 

 to sea again, would nevertheless have to wait for the very top of the tide before 

 they could get eitlier in or out. But even if thei-e were no bar, the Portsmouth dock 

 would stiU be unavailable in such an emergency ; for the depth of water over the 



