Show TESTS OF IRONCLADS Ituilt Upon Theory an tl Experiments TlicTruc Test is Actual War St Louis GlobeDemocrat Though the Engliah navy is vastly superior in every way to the Russian a war between those nations would be watched with eager interest by naval authorities all over the world because it would fix the value of the modern ironclad iron-clad in warfare There have been many revolutions in shipbuilding in the present century and even in the present genera tion The English vessels like the Mino taur Achilles and Black Prince whose 434 inches of plate made them the terrors of the sea early in our civil war are but thin sheets to the tremendous floating fortresses that now defend Europe upon the ocean Some of these like the In flexible which did such dreadful work at Alexandria have armor from 1 y to 2 feet thick over teak of equal thickness and carry 81ton guns Most of the European nations have build these monsters I mon-sters within the last 15 years and ares are-s adding to them Yet though some I 01 tnese vessels cost 4000000 the I modern navy is built upon a theory it is only experimental and its test is yet to come There has never with one pxcep tion been an important battle between ironclads in European waters and that was won by skill in man uvrinO while the engagement between the Chilean and Peruvian ironclads a few years ago also failed to throw light upon various doubt ful points To this uncertainty no doubt is due a good share of the pessimistic talk which has been indulged in by English naval men and politicians The same criticisms have been made in France and Germany of their own vessels Each nation has cold fits of fearing that its navy will be found inefficient in time of war because none of them know just what constitutes strength We hear much about horizontal and vertical plates about belted shins and unarm ored ends but scarcely any two authorities author-ities agree One representative of the Admiralty declares that a vessel like the Admiral Duperre belted with armor would inevitably capsize in a moderate sea if the woodwork above the armor was shot away another says the same thing would happen to a citadel ship if her unarmored ends were shot I away while a third declares that neither would I I capsize and others deny that the un I armored portions could be wholly de stro3ed under any circumstances Mixed up in these problems are the questions of guns and projectiles It is I believed that no armor has Yet been made which the Krupp and Armstrong guns will not penetrate Cer I tainly all that tested in the remarkable trials of Spezzia Italy last August was shattered by the Krupp steel projectile Most of the navies are therefore adopt ing steel projectiles but there are experimenters ex-perimenters ivTin atill nntnni H H v LUl superior penetrating power of chilled iron while others favor a combination of the twoa steel shot with chilled iron point |