RUSSIAN CIRCULAR IRONCLADS.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 524, 22 February 1876, Page 4

RUSSIAN CIRCULAR IRONCLADS.

Mr E. J. Reed, C. 8., M.P„ writing from the Black Sea on the 14th of October, gives the following interesting account of the behavior at sea of a Popoffka, the new circular ironclad, which has been adopted by Russia: —"On embarking at 8 p.m., with the intention of retracing our passage as far as Yalta, we found the barometer falling, with clouds gathering, the wind rapidly increasing, and a heavy sea running; and as our passage would occupy but a few hours, and I was very desirous of seeing the Novgorod in a seaway by daylight, our departure was deferred till the early morning, anchor being weighed by 6 o'clock. The wind had much moderated, but the south-west gale of the night, blowing across the whole width of the Black Sea from the Bosphorus, bad caused a heavy swell, combined with which were shorter and confused seas, so that the circumstances were extremely favorable for developing the sort of behaviour which a circular ship could exhibit in a seaway. As huge mountainous promontories projected far into the sea between us and Yalta, we have had to change course considerably, so that in the course of the morning we have had the sea in succession on the starboard bow, right ahead, on the port bow, and nearly abeam. Let it be observed further that we are in a very small ship for an ironclad. The displacement or total weight of our largest ironclads exceeds 10,000 tons ; the Sultan weighs nearly 9000 tons, the Devastation the same, the Iron Duke nearly 6000, the Glatton, coast defence vessel, nearly 5000, the four small vessels built by Mr Gladstone's Government, when the late war between France and Germany broke out, about 3500, and this Russian circular vessel Novgorod only 2500 tons. Another way of estimating her size is to consider that, being 100 feet only in diameter, her total length round is 314 ft, and this length of size and armor is obviously only sufficient to make the two sides of a ship of about 240 ft in length, and of usual breadth —-say 30ft broad. These dimensions are not only very much less than those of the smallest ironclad above-named, but less than those of the tiny gunboats Viper and Vixen, which were built in 1865 for a special purpose, and which no skill at my disposal could make suitable for general sea service. Yet this circu ar vessel carries armor and guns which together exceed in weight the total weight of the English gunboats—hull, armor-, gins, engines, masts, stores, titt everytbins else composing them,

She has, moreover, a freeboard of armored hull of only 18in, above which stand along the middle of the vessel from bow to stern strong deck houses about 7ft high, and above these rise, in the centre of the vessel, the fixed armored breastwork, within which stand the two large guns (twenty-eight tons each), and over which they fire. Near the stern is an elevated and commodious platform, on which wc have been able to remain quite dry throughout this morning, even among the heaviest waves. I should add that the armored deck rounds up considerably (4ft) from the side, which is about 18in a >ove water, so that (neglecting the deck houses) the deck resembles the segment of a large sphere, and makes the real surplus buoyancy much greater than might hastily be inferred from the fact that the side rises about 18in above the water. And now, your readers will ask, what happened to this extraordinary vessel in the waves which she encountered 1 Well, the answer is thatwhilepresenting an unexplainedsightinmany respects, and dealing with the sea as I never before saw it dealt with, she made her way through it with almost the same rate of progress as she makes in still water; she rose and fell bodily to an almost imperceptible extent, and both her pitching and her falling were so very small and easy that there was no period this morning—whether the sea was broad on the bow, right ahead, or almost abeam—when one could not stand, walk, or even write with perfect comfort. And in order to give due weight to these remarks, I must make a public confession, which is that I am one of those who suffer at sea, and I am even miserably sensitive to the effects of that miserable uncertainty as to which way she will move next which an ordinary ship often exhibits, that any little philosophy or science which I may possess ashore generally dies away within me when steady rolling (a weak paradoxical phrase) sets in; and, in a word, that your readers may safely trust me to judge for them as to the measure of this Jvessel's rolling and of its effects; and I am bound in honesty to aver that, prepared as I was to find her steady, her steadiness astonished and still astonishes me. The reader will be disposed to say,' But surely the heavy swell and the waves you speak of must have rolled in almost overwhelming masses over so low a deck, the edge of which was but 18in above the sea.' But this was far from being the case. Certainly more or less considerable quantities of water did sweep occasionally over the deck, and when the waves were at the greatest almost every wave did this to a greater or less extent; but even at the worst there was nothing like the precipitation of great solid bodies of water many feet in depth upon the deck, and none of those heavy blows of the sea against the deckhouses which most persons would think absolutely certain to be felt in such a seaway. The fact seems to be that whether the sea is rising under the side of the "ship (and the word ' side' may here stand for bow and stern as well in this respect), or whether the side be descending upon the sea, in either case the vessel drives out from under her a wave of her own making, and this wave, encountering the approaching one, opposes itself to it, and greatly reduces if it does not destroy its velocity. In many ca3es this wave, which the vessel drives from her, entirely stops the on-coming wave, and even forces it back from her, so that not a drop of it falls upon the deck except in the form of spray. At other times the on-coming wave in part prevails, and precipitates a portion of its water upon the deck, but even this portion is so reduced in bulk and in velocity that its effect is very much less than it would be if the wave had broken upon a rock or a shelving shore. Many people speak of the low-decked vessels as ' half-tide rocks,' but for the reason I have stated this circular ship at least does not justify the simile, but presents a totally different phenomenon from that which the sea-struck rock offers. Of course I do not pretend, or wish it for a moment to be understood that the sea which we encountered yesterday even approached the heaviest seas, or that the heaviest seas would not have given much greater motion to the Novgorod or tried her more severely. I am simply recording facts, and wish them to be taken exactly for what they are worth ; but I confidently draw from them the inference that a circular ship of low freeboard, such as the Novgorod, small as she is, is a very much better seaboat than most persons would expect to find her, and also that in her we have (apart from considerations of size, height of side, and other secondary matters), a type of vessel possessing very remarkable sea-going qualities." Mr Beed considers that the ironclad ship question has been materially changed by the existence of theNo>gorod and the Admiral Popoff. In support of this opinion, he says:— " Before these vessels were built, or one of them tried, it was easy, and perhaps natural, for the great bulk of naval architects and naval officers to slight the principle, and even to laugh at it. For my part, I have always spoken of these vessels with respect and favor, and after my recent experience at sea in the Novgorod, I shall speak of them with more respect and favor than ever. They have many very important advantages. Besides carrying heavy armour, they have this armour disposed in the best manner, without any of those compromises which other navies are resorting to, perhaps more than ever. These circular ships have no unarmoured ends, like some of the latest ironclads ; no unprotected broadsides, like others; no tapering belt, no armour getting thin and still thinner near the ends. Their armour is uniformly thick, and uniformly deep down, and uniformly high up everywhere, and therefore I maintain they are in this respect fighting ships par excellence. They Lave also better deck protection than any vessels that I know of, and they have it in such a form and at such a height as to give thoroughly efficient protection to all the vital parts and contents of the ship. The armament is in the best possible pla^e—namely, the centre of the ehip ; it may be of the most powerful kind; it has the greitest range, and not only is it carried upon a very steady platform, but carried where that platform has next to no rise or fall, and where such rolling and pitching motions as do exist are scarcely appreciable. Their huge guns may be carried on any preferred principle, whether it be in a turret or on a Monsrieff carriage, or on a plan which Sir J iseph Whitworth and I projected, that of miking ihe gun big enough to defy shot and shell. and with a breech big enough to hold the men who work it. Instead of a single set of engines and screw propeher, or of t •■ o, as in the Devastation, the Novgorod h <s six and the Admiral Popoff will have the 'ame, so that while having a rudder and obeying it. well, the circular ship is in no degree d dent upon it, but may still bq both steiraed aaa at&wa pwfecfcly wtfll with radfflfr goae

and several engines or screws disabled. Of their behaviour at sea these vessels have already given excellent promise, and for my part, I would prefer going to sea in a good circular ironclad of proper size to going there in an ordinary armour-plated ship. The two ships which T have seen have not been fitted as rams, torpedo arrangements being preferred, but there is nothing whatever to prevent them from being ; and their extreme handiness —which greatly surpasses, I am bound to say, even the handiest of my own vessels, which are themselves handier than any previous ones—especially adapts them for adopting this mode of attack with terrible effect. For resisting or sustaining the attack of a ram they are the best form of ship afloat, because, as the ram can only attack their circumference, the engines, boilers, magazines, and all large internal spaces may be kept well away from its reach. The question of draft of water is effectually solved by the circular ships, and solved in the very best manner. And, finally—though I might mention other advantages—these ships are thoroughly healthy and commodious for the very small number of men which they really require. Of the great economy and cheapness of such vessels I need not say a word, because they obviously possess the advantages of limiting the whole extent, and therefore the whole expense of the ship to the armored hull, instead of requiring long and costly ends to be built and equipped after the manner of ordinary armor- clads. In this, as in sj many other respects, these ships furnish a very striking example of the simplicity and directness with which the objects in view have been attained, In all other ironclads the fighting elements are more or less interfered with and sacrificed for the sake of preserving the usual features of ships ; but in these Popoffka offensive and defensive power has not been sacrificed to everything ; the desired draft of water also has been conformed to; and in all ways what I may call the value of the vessel as a fighting engine has been made the great and ruling object. This is what I so much admire in them ; and now we know that they are just as successful in a naval sense as if all kinds of sacrifices had been made in order to conform them to naval ideas and traditions."