Prepare War by G. W. A.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 8, 1863

"Prepare War."

By G. W. A.

THESE are the eventful days, when, as if in fulfillment of the prophetic word, nations are beating their "plowshares into swords," and their "pruninghooks into spears." The "mighty men are waking up," and those who figure as artists and inventors are by no means in the rear. The following description of a new war vessel gives an idea of the terrible craft which will soon sail on American waters. G. W. A.

THE IRON CLAD DICTATOR.

The launch of the iron clad Dictator at New York, which had been previously announced to take place on Saturday, did not come off, owing to the fact that the tide became too low during the process of striking away the blocks. A powerful hydraulic pusher of 425 tons power, and a swinging ram handled by fifty men were applied to the bows and launch-ways without producing the least effect. A strong Manilla hawser was next made fast to the stern, and run out to a couple of steam-tugs on the river, but the team of steamers could not budge the iron ship. A third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth were fastened to the tow-line, and they pulled and puffed, and strained and jerked, but all to no purpose. The launch was accordingly postponed till the next full day tide, when a second attempt was made with no better results. Under these circumstances it was again postponed until means are adopted to insure the floating of the vessel.

The iron-clad Dictator, based upon the principles of the first Monitor, is different so far as relates to capacity, speed, seaworthiness and impenetrability to any armored vessel ever built in our country. Her extreme length, over all, is 314 feet. The armor itself extends outside of the hull four feet on each side, and is prodigiously strong. The outside is covered with six one-inch plates of iron fastened in the most substantial manner, and inside of this are three feet of oak timber, and an armor lining formed of 4½ inch bars, extending all around. The armor itself therefore consists of 10¾ inches in thickness of iron, and three feet of timber, and between the metal and timber is interspersed a thick layer of felting. No gun yet fabricated can project a shot that will pierce this armor jacket.

Two engines, each having a cylinder of 100 inches in diameter and four feet stroke, will be employed to drive the screw, which is four bladed, 22½ feet in diameter and 34 feet pitch. Steam, which is the moving force, will be supplied from six large boilers capable of furnishing 5,000 horse power to the engines, and it is reasonably expected that the Dictator will have

a high speed. The boilers have 56 furnaces, and the vessel will require at the least 175 tons of coal per day of 24 hours' steaming at full speed. The vessel is to be provided with one revolving turret for carrying two of the most formidable guns with which it can be furnished, and it will be as imprenetrable to shot of the most powerful guns as the solid rock of Gibraltar. The inside diameter of the turret is 24 feet in the clear; a turret directly inclosing this will be formed of six thicknesses of inch plate, riveted together; and over and outside of this will be another turret, forming a sleeve, consisting of seven thicknesses of inch plates riveted together, and between these two circular shields solid hoops or bars, five inches in thickness, will be packed and fastened securely; the whole forming one great revolving iron tower eighteen inches in thickness, 27 feet in diameter, and weighing 200 tons. Every effort is being made to advance the finishing stroke as rapidly as possible, and the vessel will soon be reported to the Navy Department ready for service.

But America is not the only nation where these naval improvements are being effected. England, and France, and Russia, and some of the European powers of lesser note, are all preparing for war on a gigantic scale. Russia, hitherto not famous on the water, has lately issued a ukase for the construction of a whole iron-clad fleet. We clip the following from an exchange:

RUSSIAN IRON CLADS.

The Russian government has lately given orders for the building of two hundred iron-clad gunboats, on a new model, especially intended for the defense of Cronstadt. Their construction has been confined to six different dockyards. Thirty-five are to be built at the Octu yard, on the right bank of the Nerva, at St. Petersburg; twenty at the New Admiralty; forty at the Isle of Galleys, near the mouth of the Nerva; sixty at Cronstadt; twenty-five at Abo, and twenty at Bjornbord. Each boat is to carry only one gun of very large caliber, placed in the center of the deck. The Admiralty some time since offered a prize for the best method of protecting this gun, and a Lieutenant of the Russian navy has invented a system which is considered by the Russians far superior to anything that has been tried in England or America.