FORCES AT OUR COMMAND IN CASE OF WAR.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IV, Issue 199, 4 November 1864, Page 2 (Supplement)

FORCES AT OUR COMMAND IN CASE OF WAR.

[From the Army and Navy Gazette , Juno 25.] While the great question of peace or war is hanging in the balance ; while our contemporaries are eagerly scanning every indication of the course tiie Cabinet of England may adopt, it may be well for us, fulfilling our own particular functions, to take an estimate of the strength of the forces, naval and military, which England can brino- into the field, should it be necessary for her to strike a blow to accomplish that which diplomacy has given up in despair. The naval force which we have at hand, and which could be sent to sea immediately, is as follows : —The Edgar, woodenship, 600 horse-power, 71 guns, 3,091 tons, 810 officers and men. The Warrior, iron-cased ship, 1,250 horse-power, 40 guns, 6,109 tons, 705 officers and men. Prince Consort, iron-cased wooden ship, 1,030 horse-power, 35 guns, 4,015 tons, 605 officers and men. Hector, iron-cased ship, .800 horse-power, 28 guns, 4,089 tons, 530 officers 'and men. Defence, iron-cased ship, 600 horse-power, 16 guns, 3,720 tons, 457 officers and men. Aurora* wooden frigate, 490 horse-power, 35 guns, 2,55-S tons, 515 officers and men. Galatea, wooden frigate, 26 guns, SqO horse-power, 3,227 tons, 515 officers and men. Wolverene, wooden corvette, 400 horse-power, 21 guns, 1,703 tons, 275 officers

and men. Research, iron-cased wooden ship, 200 horse-power, 4 guns, 1,253 tons, 135'officers and men. Enterprise, iron-cased wooden sloop, 160 horse-power, 4 guns, 993 tons, 121 officers and men. Geyser,'paddle-wheel [ wooden sloop, f2BO horse-power, 6’guns, 1,054 tons,'l7s officers and men. Assurance, wooden gun-vessel, 200], horsepower, 4 guns, 681 tons, 90 officers and men. Salarms, paddle-wheel] wooden [steam-vessel, ’250 hprse-power, 2 guns, 65 officers and men. Trinculo, wooden gunboat, (60 horse-power, 268 tons, 24 officers[and men. All these vessels could be plaeed’at once under the command of t he Admiral of the Channel Fleet, andj would be more than amply sufficientjto blockade nearly every port in the Forth or Baltic Sea;’but, as ships of a comparatively light displacement would be required for action in the narrow and tortuous channelsjof the Danish coasts, the Admirality have ordered to be commissioned the Cordelia,[wooden]sloop, 150 horse-power, 11 guns, 579 tons,’ 130; officers and men ; the Fawn, wooden[sloop, 100 horse-power, 17 guns, 751 tons, 175 officersj’andj men; the Eacer, 150 horse-power, 11 guns, 579 tons, 130 officers and men. To these may [be addedjthe Achilles, iron-cased ship, 1,250 [horse-power,?|;3o guns, 6,121 tons, 705 officers and men, which should be ready very shortly ."for sea. Then] we have the Royal Sovereign, iron-cased wooden cupola ship, 800 horse-power, 5 guns of the heaviest calibre, 3,963 tons, manned probably by 500 officers and men. The Royal Sovereign had her trial trip on Thursday, at Portsmouth, and was declared to be a great success. Unde Sherrard Osborn she will be a very formideble [antagonist to every thing she may have to attack. Our coastguard ships, which have Jail skeleton crews on board, could be provisioned and fullyjmanned in a short time, and would do excellently [wolljagainst anything not coated with iron. The Caledonia, iron cased wooden ship, I,ooo[ horse, 35 guns, 4,470 tons ; and the Ocean,[ also an iron-cased wooden ship, 1,000 horse power 35 'guns, 4,047 tons, should be ready for active service in a month, each manned by 605 officers and men. We shall not rnase further allusion to our,extonsive steam reserves. We have said enough to show that we have a powerful fleet wherewith;to carry* on [any operations which may be demanded of it. We must, however, note that to our coastguard ships we liavejattached fifteen gunboats, all mounting two heavy pieces of ordnance, and each with a steam power of 60 horses. These would prove as troublesome to an enemy as horseflies would be to 'a quadruped—there would be no shaking them offi The following is the strength of our land forces now in the United Kingdom :—Cavalry, 4th Dragoon Guards, sth Dragoon Guards, 6th Dragoon Guards, [lst Royal Dragoons, 2nd Dragoons, 3rd Hussars, 4th Hussars,Bth Hussars,9th Lancers, 10th Hussars, 11th Hussars, 12th Lancers, 13th Hussars, 14thIIussars, 15th Hussars, 16th Lancers, numbering about 650 officers and men each. The aggregate strength we believe, is about 10,700 men, Artillery ; Ten batteries of Horse Artillery, numbering about 1,900 of all ranks, and 51 batteries of field and garrison artillery (26 of the former, and 25 of the latter), amounting,™ the whole to about 11,800 men. Royal Engineers .-Two troops Royal Engineers Train, and about twenty companies, amounting in the whole to about 2,700 of all ranks. Infantry ; The following batalions of the Lino : —2ndbatalion Ist Royals, Istßatalion 2nd Queen’s, Ist Battalion 3rd Buifs, Ist Battalion sth Fusiliers, Ist Battalion 6th Regiment, Ist Battalion Bth Regiment, Ist Battalion 10th Regiment, Ist Battalion 11th Regiment, 2nd Battalion 12th Regiment, Ist Battalion 13th Light Infantry, Ist Battalion 14th Regiment, Ist Battalion 24th Regiment, 26th Regiment, 29th Regiment, 31st Regiment, 32nd Light Infantry, 37 th Regiment 41st Regiment, 45th Regiment, 49th Regiment, 53rd Regiment, 58th Regiment, 59th Regiment, Ist Battalion 60th Rifles, 2nd Battalion 60th Rifles, 61st Regiment, 64th Regiment, 69th Regiment, 73rd Regiment, 74th Regiment, 75th Regiment, 83rd Regiment, 84th Regiment, 85th Light Infantry, 86th Regiment, and 87th Fusiliers. With the Ist Battalion 21st Fusiliers, and the 39th and 62nd Regiments, returning from Barbadoes, Bermuda, and Canada[respectively, making a total of 39 battalions. Excluding the depots, the strength of each is little under 800—about 780 on an average—or a total force of 30,000 trained men. The aggregate strength of the regimental depots, including those of battalions abroad, is about 18,000. The Household Brigade consists of 1,300 cavalry and 6,000 infantry. °We may thus summarize the strength of the forces in the United Kingdom:—Cavalry, Household, 1,300 ; Lino, 10,700, Total, 12,000. Artillery—horse, 1,900 ; foot, 11,00; total, 13,700. Engineers, 2,700 ; Infantry—Foot Guards, 6,000 ; regiments of the Line, 30,000 depots, 18,000 ; total, 54,000. Grand total, 82,000. But, in estimating the number of troops we could send into the field, we must deduct the depots, which would only serve to fill the ranks of the service companies for a time. This would leave some 64,000 men forming the regiments ; but from this again we ought in fairness to strike off one-fourth, including those not available for service, and those who must be employed at home. The result appears to be that we have now in the United Kingdom some 48,000 well-drilled and well-seasoned troops, ready to go anywhere and do anything, if properly aided by the corps and the departments of supply. This would still leave us an immediate reserve of probably one-half that strength in the shape of recruits. Of the actual strength of the Militia assembled at the training which has just concluded, we cannot speak with certainty, but we believe the muster was larger than in 1863, when the number actually present on the inspec-tion-day was [102,000. The Volunteers, as we know, amount to about 160,000. We do not speak of what force might bo taken from India and the colonies in the event of a pressure in Europe rendering some new arrangements necessary'. But upon this we cannot argue, and the above facts are all that we have a right to put down, in fairly talking stock of our military strength.