THE IRONCLAD DANDOLO.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1214, 5 June 1885, Page 3

THE IRONCLAD DANDOLO.

The British Govern merit have ob- : tained, hy the nurchase from the ; - Italians of the double-turret ship 1 Dandolo, something which will serve * as a.stop to the outciy about the weak- < ne-is'of the navy. The length of the ! Dandolo is 399 ft, the breadth 65ft, and. the displacement 10,600 tons. The armor of the Dandolo is of the neperdieled thickness of Ift XOin throughout of plates, rolled by Charles Cammed and Co ,' Limited, of Shef field. As. unsurpassed as the scale of her iron pliti ig is the armiment of the 'Dandolo, which consists of four 100-ton Armstrong muzzle-loading guns, two in each turret, 33ft long, firing a projectile 2,5001b (more than a. ton) in weight, with'a powder charge of 3501b. These guns were tried at Spezzia in .1877, before the launching of the vessel herself, in the presence of most of the gunnery experts in Europe.'' The gun was mounted on a floating platform, and charged with English Government l£in grain powder. The results, as to initial ve ocity, penetra« tive powe’ - , and strain on the gun were most- satisfactory, and there is no doubt that the British Navy now possesses at least one raan-oi war which is able to sink any “unfriendly ” vessel’ afloat before such'vessel could tire a shot with even a chance of grazing her. The hull of Dandolo is altogether of iron and steel. It consists of a central ironclad compart meat 167 ft in length and 5-1 ft, in breadth, which "descends to stt under the water line ; encloses the machinery and- boifors, the powder magazines, and.a portion of the mechanism usual in working the turrets arid the guns. At the bow and stern of this central compartment is the deck passage, which lies* out 4ft below the waterline, is d, funded by t is horizontal armor so that neitherm projectile nor water can enter it The part of. the hull above - the. ironclad deck is constructed in a ■ peculiar way in view of the accidents of a fight. A second central ironclad , compartment is bnilt over the first, in . such a way as to enclose the basis of , the two trnrets,. and the uppermost portions of the mechanism required i for looking, trailing, and running out s the guns; A hove this second central f apartment rise the turrets, which each > contain two 100-ton guns. The , centres of the two tut rets lie Bft to .starboard and larboard, of true centre . dine, or longitudinal plane of theJiull. t The turrets.are thus-cn echelon, which , .rendersit impossib'e to discharge three - guns at the Sams'time fore and aft,’iu ;• a direction,parallel to: the line-of- the 3., Besides- ; her ... titanic anmamenfy

the Dandolo has a powerful ram ; the Italians, ever since the terrible success ”o? thelrfleetiurammihg the'Aus'tmo vessels at Lissa iniß66, placing great* faith in thin-mode of '4tfacE ' At the stern, in a tunnel closed’ by a" grated door,c this marine mqnste.r carries a swift torpedo Boat, which can be launched for thfrom its- resting-place to carny on torpedo warfare. As means of propulsion the Dandolo has two screws, ’ driven by engines of 7,500 horse power, and is calculated to'make'* fourteen knots 1 per hour. The ship will carry 1,200 tons of coal, sufficient Tor a run of 1,000 miles at full speed or for 4,000 miles at low speed. With reference to the results of the experi jraent, as shown in the performances of the sister ship, the Duilib, since 1876;' it is noticeable that, although, the Italian Government proposed to c m struct the Italia and the Lepan o on a still larger "scaled with ' 36iii plates, they reduced the size of the new boats after all.