RUSSIAN IRONCLADS.

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 449, 3 April 1875, Page 3

RUSSIAN IRONCLADS.

Mr B. J. Reed, in a letter to the « Times," con- 1 tradictaa statement' recently puMUhed in Russia, that the drawings of the Russian circular ironclads, known as Popoffka, were corrected and completed by him. Mr Reed states that during his first visit to St Petersburg he certainly had fall access to all the drawings and particulars of the Popoffka, which were named after their originator, Admiral Popoff, but he subjected them to no calculations, offered no corrections, and had nothing whatever to do with their completion. " I attended," he says, " the laying of the keel of the first ship, and had to stand with iry hat off for nearly half an hour in a snowstorm while two Greek priests besought all kinds of Divine blessings and advantages for her, and I certainly considered that the calculations whioh made this necessary might fairly be subject to question and improvement; but even to this element of Russian science I did not venture to take exception." Mr Reed remarks that Admiral PopofTii circular ships undoubtedly possess the great merit of floating powerful guns and armour of great thickness in an extremely economical manner ; and if it should be found that the requisite speed cannot be obtained with sufficient economy in such' vessels, they lend themselves to improvement in this respect readily *ud economically, as they could be jarnished with lergthened bows and stems without 'the necessity of any other material or, ex pensive alterations, and would then compare very favorably indeed with the ironclads of other countries. But whatever their merits ,or demerits, these ships are in no respect of his, design, .