THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
417 
artillery, whilst iron-clads are, at any rate, free from the latter eventuality; 
and again, iron-clads, such as those in our navy, could run the gauntlet of 
forts armed with any guns lighter than those of 10 or 12 tons, whilst we 
learnt at Sebastopol that a crew could be driven out of a wooden ship 
by cast-iron shells fired from 8" or 10" cast-iron guns. 
Lord Clarence Paget in moving this year’s navy estimates in the House 
of Commons, made the following statement regarding our iron-clad fleet :*■— 
“ Our armour-plated fleet may he classed as follows ?—We have seven ships of 
very great speed, but having a very great draught of water, and therefore they 
cannot be docked out of this country. This class consists of the “ Warrior/* 
“ Black Prince,” Achilles,” “ Minotaur,” “ Agincourt,” “ Northumberland,” and 
the “ Bellerophon.” The second class consists of seven vessels possessing less 
speed, but also drawing less water, and their names are the “ Lord Clyde,” “ Boyal 
Oak,” “ Prince Consort,” “ Ocean,” “ Caledonia,” " Royal Alfred,” and the “ Lord 
Warden.” The third class consists of the “Zealous,” “Hector,” “Valiant,” 
“Defence,” and the “Resistance,” of still less speed and draught. We have there¬ 
fore, a total of 19 armour-plated ships of the line. The next in order on the list 
are the frigates and corvettes—namely, the “ Favourite,” “ Research,” “ Enterprise,” 
“ Pallas,” “ Viper,” “ Vixen,” and the “ Waterwitch,” and then we come to four 
ships which will be invaluable for coast defences—namely, the “ Royal Sovereign,” 
“Prince Albert,” “ Scorpion,” and the “ Wyvern,” making altogether a total of 30 
armour-plated ships.” 
The WARRioR.f 
The “ Warrior” is an iron ship of 6109 tons and 1250 horse power, is 
380 ft. in length (between perpendiculars) and has 40 guns, her draught of 
water is 26 ft. She is only protected for a length of 208 ft. or 26 guns, 
thus leaving 80' forward, 90'aft, and 14 guns unprotected; the unprotected 
portion is §" iron. The cost of the hull and fittings was £286,285. 
* The iron-clad fleet of the United States Navy, number 62 vessels, carrying 189 guns, hut out 
of this number only five are sea going ships, viz. the casemated vessels “ Dunderberg,” and “ New 
Ironsides,” carrying 14 guns each; two turret vessels “ Dictator,” and “ Puritan,” and the 
“ Roanoke,” one of the old frigates which has been armoured; the three last named carry 12 guns. 
“ Report Secretary U.S. Navy,” December 1864. 
The iron-clad fleet of France consists of 29 vessels; out of this number 17 are sea-going ships, 
only two of which are iron. The French are the only nation possessing two-decked iron-clads. 
f In “ Ordnance and Armour,” an American book by Alexander L. Holley, I find it stated that 
a “ Warrior ” target was tested at St Petersburg on 17th October, 1863, the 4|" plates of the 
target having been supplied by Messrs John Brown & Co., of Sheffield. The gun used was a 9 inch, 
firing steel shells of 270 lbs. weight, with a burster of 8 lbs., the charge 60 lbs., range 700 ft. 
The shells were of two qualities, one from Krupp, the other from a Mr Povtieloff, in Finland. 
Three of Krupp’s were filled with sand, and broke up after passing through the plates, making each 
a hole 10^" x 9£", two were fired live, they made a slightly larger hole. Two of Mr Povtieloff’s 
shell penetrated the target without breaking up and a cast-iron shell, which was fired, went through 
the plate similarly to Krupp’s, and was crushed by the concussion. “ The conclusion arrived at 
was that the cast-iron shell was, as against armour plates, equal to Krupp’s steel shells in penetra¬ 
tive power, but not equal to Povtieloff’s, and that the penetrative power of Povtieloff’s compared 
with Krupp’s was as 6 to 3.” 
There is no instance in this country of a cast-iron shell having penetrated a 4|" plate on 
“Warrior ” backing. 
