Show I 1 IRONCLADS ilON 7 upon the occa sion si IVA of evely petty successor ss af tile the non lion sc 4 ril t rebel craft known know n as ironie certain portions of the press have deemed it incumbent upon ohp thorn to deride our own vessels of this class and to soundly berate their eions and all in ill their boh 8 traction truc tion 0 or r ilan management adem e i nt we are arc ald t id thaE with the small md means hiis at thail command the rebels have buila ind and put in commission sonin some terrible ships which have achieved far greater reater results than our own vessels the truth oatlie i ya that tile rebel iron 7 t fy p plated fa t ed vessels are re of no value e ever except to furnish a pretext for the enemies of the government to deride and cripple its efforts effir ts to subdue tile the rebellion they are arc not for all time but for a da day y and a short one at that they are reported in telegrams ea grams as about to emerge from their fastenings to sink burn burn and destroy but when nar ives I 1 postponement po estpon ement occurs perhaps fe afia p after much they do venture to attack some half armed gunboat or transport and havin having 0 drowned some dozen men 9 or fired a shat through some tugs boiler which the exigencies 0 of the service have transformed into a gunboat we read bombastic rd reports p of f of bf T those familiar with the facts I 1 and willing Z to place them on record know full well that from the advent of the iYer merrimac down to th disappearance the o of the last one the albemarle their triumphs h have been as short lived as their existence the vessels which survived the shock of battle battler are moored peacefully in sluggish waters tile the southwestern south western rebel iron alcids Ark arkansas ansag louisiana mississippi and soiling rollins ram are no more allo h twine hoice oice are with wit bul faw QI also Q destroyed ikid andone one of the latest conceptions of the th e reb els the wor Carb carolina lina is s hoisted by jerown petard or in other words broken into by her oi own n weight three of these terrible confederate ships of war lie beyond tile the obstructions on oil the james river at fort darling in 8 y their tremendous offensive power is is reserved C for the lite defense of richmond for up lip to this time they have not offered the gage t age of battle as being run rub down an and d sunk by our Y v called by the rebels their ti time me will come as all tile the others have and we hore hope that we shall soon cease to read reports of tile the i immense ammense smoke etc ta these iron plated ships make when when corning r down to annihilate union gun gull boats scientific american |