THE MAN-OF-WAR OF TO-DAY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 298, 16 October 1873, Page 9

THE MAN-OF-WAR OF TO-DAY.

Britannia's latest-born " water-baby " the breast-work turret vessel Devastation — took her first public airing on 15th April, off the Isle of Wight. No fond maternal pride can make this youngest ship of our navy seem goodlooking — shapeless as a coal-hulk, and to the eye top-heavy as Noah's ark, the Devastation is a black mass of iron, which might well frighten Amphitrite and her nymphs into fits, With np mast, except a little bit of stick for signalling purposes, with enormous twin screws, massive turrets hiding four 35ton guns, and a huge conniusr-tower weighing itself 110 tons, she is like nothing that ever before carried the flag of England, and,, with her fashion of burying her forecastle under a sheet of green water, she looked more like a marine monster than a ship of war as she ' Steamed out of the channel to show her cfnalities. Yet in what she is we see the fighting ship of the present, and the result of the most anxious thought and lavish expenditure to give England the strongest man-o-warin the world. She is splendidly engined, and goes well in smooth water ; and with such power of machinery and the increaced righting

faculty given by the wing-passages, I there can be little doubt that she will prove herself a seaworthy vessel in the rovers off Cape Clear or in the Bay of Biscay. She has no top-hammer like the hapless Captain to pull her over, and by a diminution in her coal supply she rides no deeper, in spite of great structural additions to her weight, than was originally intended, while her freeboard has been made mnch higher than in the original plan. Thus there is no reason why she should not make good weather of anything she can encounter at this season, and her engines are so powerful, that even with the lessened supply of coal, she can steam as far and as long as was originally demanded. She steams thirteen knots, and may* touch fourteen, she carries twelve hundred tons of coal, and when she starts from port in fine weather she might be trusted to bear another three hundred tons. She could race off to Oape Trafalgar, sink a dozen vessels of almost any existing pattern, and be back again in Portland or Portsmouth with no more consideration for the wind which happened to be blowing than for the spots on the sun. To pierce her sides, an enemy must come close enough to her 35-ton guns to send his shot and shell through twelve inches of rolled iron. If, again, he seeks to "ram" her,she is equipped to play also at that game, and taking her actual bulk as she sits upon the seas — ten thousand tons if an ounce — one touch of her stem will be enough for the hardiest antagonist. She is fitted with all kinds of cunnin^ donkey engines and machinery of a complex sort,- protected in the most careful manner. She costs so much in material and equipments, and is so completely a product of expensive manufacturing gear and the highest metallurgic skill, that .only the wealthiest nations ban afford to imitate the type. The metal in her would make a railway, and the coals which s,he will burn would pay for a squadron of wood en ships. She steers wonderfully well, rights herself at fifty-five degrees, and carries one hundred and -'seventy rounds of her tremendous seven-hundred pound projectiles for each gun, making in all six hundred and eighty shots. This hugA floating mountain of iron is so controlled by clever engineering devices, that, whereas a line of battle ships in the old times demanded eleven hundred bands the Devastation is managed by three hundred men, of whom only two hundred are blue jackets. It remains, of course, to make experiments with her in actual bad weather, if -any can be found at this period of the year. She made her six hours' continuous steaming trial on the 1 5th, off the Isle of Wight, with mqst satisfactory results. Capt. Lord Cliford, commanding Her Majesty's ship Asia and the Steam Reserve at Portsmouth, superintended the trial ; Mr Barnaby, chief naval architect; Mr. Wright, engineer-in-chief >; Mr. Crossland, constructor ; and Mr. Steil, inspecting steam offi«or, were on board from the Admirality ; Mr. J. Oliver, chief inspector of machinery afloat ; Mr. W. B. Eobinson, master shipwright and chief engineer ; Mr. Proyne, assistant master shipwright ; Mr. W. Stiel, chief engineer, and other officers, were on boanl, engaged in duties connected with the trial, from the Ste iro Reserve and Factory Department of Portsmouth yard. Lord Henry Lennox, M.P., Sir. J. Oowell, Mr Froude, and | a large number of naval officers were also on board. The deyastation was under way from Spithead by nine a.m., and stood out under easy steam for the clear water south of the Isle of Wight. About 1,200 tons of coal were in the bunkers, and the draught of water by the sbip was 26 ft. forward and 26 ft. 6 in. aft, being nearly 2 in. mean excess of her designed load-line, and 2 in. less than on the occasion of her trial over the measured mile. The wind was very liarhfe from E.S.E., and the sea off the Wight was perfectly smooth , so that, to the great disappointement «of the many officers on board, there was no chance of seeing how the Devastation would move under full steam in broken water. The day's doings were therefore confined to the performance of the engines, which did their work in a roost unexceptionable manner. The object of the six hours' steaming was to work the engines at a power not much ex- ( ceeding the contract power — seven times* the nominal or 5,600 horse — and to take account of coal burnt.