A NOVEL GUNBOAT.

Southland Times, Issue 982, 8 July 1868, Page 3

A NOVEL GUNBOAT.

(Prom the Melbourne "Argus," June JJ/.) ; i A gunboat of a remarkable description has been built for the Admiralty, upon the plans prepared by Mr George Rendel, of the flrm of Sir William Armstrong and Co., and which has made a satisfactory trial trip off the mouth of the Tyne, under the inspection of the Admiralty j authorities. An engraving and description of this vessel, which has been named the "Staunch," appears in the "Illustrated London News " of the llth April last, and it will be seen from the subjoined particulars that a small fleet of such gunboats would be peculiarly serviceable in the waters of Port Phillip. The Staunch is 79ft. in length, and 25ft. on the beam. With all her armament on board, her draught of water does not exceed 6ft., and her displacement is 104 tons. Two pairs of condensing engines, with a combined power of twenty-five horse, drive twin screws, by the aid of which she can steam a mean speed of seven and a half knots. Insignificant as are her dimensions, and trifling as is her draught of water, she carries a rifled gun of the heaviest calibre — a twelve and a half ton nine-inch Armstrong, which is easily handled by six men, and is fired through a plated bulwark over the bow. The platform upon which this gun stands is so constructed as to admit of its being lowered by machinery into the hold of tho vessel in rough weather, and of being expeditiously raised again by the same means, each process not occupying more than three or four minutes. The celerity and ease with which this is effected, and the expedition and precision with which the gun can be run in and out, or trained right and left, without involving the employment of much manual labor, consaxute" some of the most striking merits of this "floating gun-carriage." She can turn rapidly in her own length, and itis stated that " with both engines going full ahead, she made by the helm a complete circle of seventy-five yards diameter in bwo minutes and a quarter." As, with the exception of the plated screen at her bow, she is wholly unarmoured, as her dimensions are so diminutive, and her equipment so simple, a vessel of this kind can be built with great rapidity, and at a comparatively trifling cost. In fact, it is stated, on the authority of the eminent firm from whose dockyard, at Eastwick, the Staunch was launched, that sixty gunboats of this description could be constructed at the price of a single armourclad frigate ; and half-a-dozeh of them operating in waters with which their steersmen were well acquainted, would be just as formidable for purposes of attack as for those of defence. • We learn from private sourc ®^^^ c^ theopmi^f^fi^^ of the Staunch would be particu* , larly well adapted, in combination with I land defences, for the protection of har-

bora like Port Phillip } aad that the Wav Office has applied for and obtained two . models from Mt Eendel for transmission ' to these colonies, in order to exhibit more , clearly the nature and utility of the invention. As we are informed, the gun of [ the Staunch, when fired with extra ? charges of 56£lb of powder and 2851 b shot, can penetrate any iron clad now afloat at any range within which there would be the barest chance of her being hit; while, notwithstanding the weight ofthe ammunition employed, the change of position in the gun, occasioned by its recoil, does not affect the trim of the vessel to any appreciable extent. "With so small a draught of water, and with such facilities as they would offer for rapid and dexterous manoeuvring, half a dozen gunboats of this kind would be capable of doing enormous mischief to the most powerful vessel afloat, without offering any tangible or steady aim for an enemy's guns. Under certain circumstances, as, for example, if a hostile steam frigate, or man-of-war, were feeling her way up a narrow channel, with plenty of shallow water within long range, she would be almost at the mercy of her diminutive assailants, each armed with a terrible nine-inch Armstrong, each shifting its point of attack at every discharge or its " crusmng orainance, ana eaca contributing to distract the attention and dissipate the answering fire ofthe enemy's vessel. During the trial trip of the Staunch at the mouth of the Tyne, " the gun, with its carriage and slide, and the platform carrying them— weighing in all twentytwo tons — was raised and lowered in a rough sea with the boat rolling eleven degrees each way, in from six to eight minutes." One of the advantages of. thia extremely simple method of converting a ponderous deck-load into cargo, is that it enables the gunboat to travel from harbor to harbor with comparative safety; and the sea-going qualities of these vessels are such that the builders would be prepared, as we understand, to gurantee their delivery in Australia ; omitting the armament, which would be necessarily transported by other means. Looking at the economy and efficiency of gun-boats like the Staunch, at the small number of hands which are required to man them, at the ease with which they can be handled, at the weight of metal they can deliver, at the admirable character of the mechanical arrangements which have been devised for working the gun, and at the adaptability of such small craft for offensive and defensive operations in harbors like those of Port Phillip and Port Jackson, we believe it will be found that a weapon has been invented for our use, combining simplicity with inexpensiveness, and furnishing an acceptable auxiliary to all other means of defence.