Our Warships.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 234, 24 December 1887, Page 7

Our Warships.

TriL simple between guns and armour, loading to e\cr-increaMng thicknesses oi the latter, has compelled na\al aiohitect-s either to 1 educe the area of protected surface, or el^e to increase the displacement enormously; the only other alternativebeing to adheie to the ancient thicknesses, and to endeavour to obtain greater residingpower by an improved quality of armoui. Consequently wo see in the newer designs unannovued end-? and thoroughly piotectcd central citadels, which arc sometimes called partial belK The Italians have even gone po far in their newest and heaviest ships a-- ro dispense altogether with side armoui at the water-line, and to depend hot!, for floating power and liability on the resistance aTorded by a, curved steel deck, rising from a few feeb below the water-lino at the Fides to a few tect above it at the centie, and also on the improbability of (he numerous water-tight cells which cover tlm deck being all liddled. Or if these aie liddled they expect bI.JU coik rilling, the coal and other stoic?, will noO only act as ai mour and stop the heavy shots, bub alto as displaces of water, and so assist in maintaining the stability and floating power. To a limited extent, this plan is copied in our Admiral class of ships, but it is open to seiiou.^ objections 1 . If we con.-'ider the ed'eet of a torpedo explosion against a ship's double bottom, we can imagine it to take place cither in the ccntie of a square bounded on two sides by the bracket frames, and on the other tw o b> the kelson.-, or else againpo the frames themselves. In the foimer cisc the result would be a severe bulge or a hole in the centre of the square with little or no damage to the inner skin, which in two or three feet away. If, however, the explo=ion takes place at the crossing of the frames and kelsons, which constitute averyiigid column cross shaped and with two angleirons rivelted into the cornei-s, it i* absolutely certain that the inner skin will be damaged, and it is probable that this short column will be shot into the ship, leaving a hole at> least eight inches square in the f irmer skin of the ship's side or bottom. Such results may safely be expected, and it is most desirable limb uny torpedo experiments used as the ba.«is for future constructive design should be so varied in character as to afford the very fullest possible information as to the points to which Aye have directed attention above.—" Engineering:."