THE MODERN WARSHP

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2276, 9 November 1889, Page 3

THE MODERN WARSHP

Ih his remarks at Sydney upon the fl c* now being constructed specially for the Australian station, Admiral Fairfax lately described them aa likely to be a considerable improvement upon the claea of shipß hitherto stationed m these waters. Of improvements made m men-of-war It may be said they have quite equalled those made m the mercantile marine. Great changes m shape, eize, and fighting power hare taken place since the daya of the old Victory, when m 1805 *-he wbb coDiidered one of the most formidable ve<«elß m the all Yiotorlou* British navy. The Victory's guns, then the best sfl j»t, were the merest toys m weight and power of penetration. At the battle of Trafalgar the heaviest of her 104 gam was only able to throw a 321 b shot, the whole of her cannon toge'her weighed but 224 tons, and at a double broadside she oou d oaly thtow projectiles we*galng In the »ggregate 22881 b, Contrast that with the Adboo m 1889, one of the f oor repreeentatlv es of the Admiral o^ass of battle ships The Anson Is aimed with fonr 67 -ton guns, each of wh<oh require* K2oib of powder to hurl its 12501 b weight of shot or shell. She also carries fix 5-ton gans and nineteen qaiok-firlog and machine gans. Without Including the storm of shot and shell which these latter Implements of destruction oan rain upon a foe, the Anson'a doable broadside means a weight of no less than 56001 b. or more ttun double that which the Victory's 104 guns oou.d pour forth when she led the vau at Trafalgar. But even the Anson does not carry the biggest guns In the navy. There Ii the Trafalgar, with her caonon each weighing 111 tons. Then Nelson won bis victories with guns which could at best thrown their 321 b round nbot for 2000 yd s; but the shlpM of to day will hurl messes of iron 18001 b m weight 25,000yd5, or 12$ nautical miles. These improvement) are rarely pretty considerable m naval architecture, an the man-of-war of the period may well be said to hard lost all claim to beauty, and to be but a combination of brate strength and meohwnlcul science.