upon by the rebels as a very tough customer for a vessel or vessels not protected as she is, she remained inactive, anchored off Norfolk, until her present engagement. The next engagement will be terrific, as orders have been given to capture or sink her, at whatever cost.

The Merrimac was commanded by Franklin Buchanan, formerly of the Union navy.

SKETCH OF FRANKLIN BUCHANAN, COMMANDER OF THE MERRIMAC.

This rebel officer was formerly in the service of the United States, and while in the navy filled the post of Captain, and afterwards was Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard, continuing in that position up to the period of his resignation. Some time after he expressed a desire to withdraw his resignation, but was not permitted to do so. He is a native of Maryland, and entered the federal service on the 28th of January, 1815, and had seen some forty-five years service in the federal navy, twentyone years of which were at sea. On joining the rebels he was appointed to the command of the Merrimac. His brother was an officer on board the Congress, and was in the action of Saturday last.

In addition to the Merrimac, the rebels are now completing two other mail-clad vessels, at the Gosport Navy Yard. One of these is the sunken Delaware, which shared the fate of the Merrimac at the commencement of this rebellion - a very large vessel, which, if ever launched, will be a great acquisition to the secession navy. The history of the other is not known, but it is doubtless some old hulk which has been brought from the watery sepulchre to new and diabolic life. At Richmond, also, two iron-clad vessels are being built, and the utmost activity in this direction characterizes the rebels since their partial success with the Merrimac.

SIX NEW MONITORS TO BE BUILT.

The Secretary of the Navy has determined upon the immediate construction of six floating batteries, exactly or nearly like the Monitor, and the preliminary arrangements to that end have been made with Captain Ericsson. The batteries are to be built with all possible despatch. No better illustration can be given of the remarkable inventive genius of Captain Ericsson than the fact, that after the severe and complete test to which his battery has been subjected, only one improvement, and that a trifling one, can be pointed out. It is the substitution of a cylindrical, instead of a square form in the little pilot house. In the engagement at Hampton Roads, the only injury sustained by the Monitor was the slight springing of one of the "logs" in this square pilot house. Had the shape of the house been round, like that of the turret, it is supposed that the balls would have glanced from the former harmlessly, as from the latter. This change will, therefore, be made in the Monitor, if it has not been already made, and will be introduced into models of the four new batteries. Another alteration of doubtful expediency has been suggested, viz., the transfer of the pilot house from its place, about a rod from the turret, to the top of the turret, giving to that "Yankee cheese box" the appearance of a telescope with one joint drawn out. The only obvious advantage in this change is the elevation of the lookout to a higher range of vision.

Improving the experience gained by the first fight, the Monitor has been strengthened in important parts, and it is believed will go into the next fight perfectly impervious to the heaviest missiles that can be sent against her. The appearance of her pilothouse is altogether altered, and now presents no salient point against which a ball can strike. Such an accident as occurred to Captain Worden will now be rendered impossible.

These alterations and improvements are made under the direction of Mr. Stimers, the government engineer, who superintended the building of the Monitor, and directed her machinery and the revolving of her tower during the fight. His whole energies are enlisted in the success of the battery, and in desiring another opportunity to prove its power against the Merrimac.

The navy officers who have tested the Monitor are willing to go to sea in her; and Mr. Ericsson is so confident of the sea-going abilities of his description of vessels that he is now preparing specifications for an iron-clad ship-of-war more than 300 feet in length.

Assistant Secretary Fox has quite a collection of relics, which afford practical hints upon gunnery and iron-clad ships. Among them are specimens of plates from the armor of Commodore Foote's gunboats, which were damaged in the attack on Fort Donelson. One of the plates, three quarters of an inch thick, was struck, apparently at an angle of forty-five degrees, and the ball glanced off, making an indentation corresponding to one third the thickness of the ball, and about fifteen inches long. The plate was partially fractured, but the iron was tough enough to ward off the missile. The most interesting object in the collection is a portion of the shell fired from the Merrimac into the cower of the Monitor. The head of the shell was imbedded in the iron armor of the Monitor, the remainder having been scattered by the explosion. Secretary Fox says it is useless to make any more guns of the caliber now used, but that some 15-inch columbiads, that will smash through any thing that floats, must be provided for naval warfare.

OUR NEW IRON-CLAD NAVY.

Senator Hale, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, has reported a bill providing for the construction of a steam ram of five or six thousand tons burden, at the cost of a million of dollars, and also appropriating $13,000,000 for the construction of iron-clad gunboats; $783,000 for the completion of Stevens's battery, and $500,000 for extending the facilities of the Washington Navy Yard, so as to roll and forge plates for the armored ships.

There is one grand, practical result from the present war which could not have been attained for the republic under any other cir cumstances, and that is an iron-clad, invincible navy, the greatest in the world. Hitherto such vessels had been little more than a theory an experiment in the course of development. The first practical test is in American waters, and by American vessels, constructed by the genius of American mechanics. Their immense success will startle all Europe, add vastly to their public burdens, for it involves not only the construction of new navies, but an entirely different system of fortifications.

It is a grand point to have the start in these engines of destruction, and America will have gained that point over every power of Europe. In the event of a war between two maritime powers, that nation which has the most and best iron-clad vessels first at sea will be able to maintain the superiority to the end. No coast fortifications now built can keep such vessels out of an enemy's harbors. Seaboard cities, with their navy yards and ships on the stocks, will be at the mercy of iron-clad frigates. How do the powers of Europe and the United States relatively stand in regard to such vessels? The following table will show what has been done and is now in progress in Europe:

Of the English, acording to the recent statement of Lord Paget, six are to be of the same model as the Monitor, having a turret and two guns. The Warrior and Black Prince, already completed, are each upwards of 5000 tons burden. In addition to her other guns, the Warrior carries one which throws a projectile of 450 pounds weight. This vessel is shown, by her trial trip to Lisbon, in smooth water, to be in some respects a failure. The iron-clad ram, the Defence, appears to be more seaworthy, but a clumsy structure, though it is stated she made eleven knots an hour. Her burden is 3660 tons. The French iron-plated frigate Gloire is the first ever built, and a few others have been finished by order of Napoleon, which are regarded as an improvement on her; but what is done in this respect is kept as secret as possible.

The United States have the following already built, contracted for, and proposed :

The Naugatuck, built by Stevens

Iron-clad gunboats ordered by Congress

Iron-clad frigates recommended by Senate Naval Committee

The iron ram do.

1

1

.20

.20

1

New York State will probably add one or two more; thus making a naval force of fifty iron-clad gunboats-greatly exceeding the combined iron-plated vessels of all Europe, and able to whip the navies of the world. In the foregoing list we have not mcluded our iron-plated gunboats on the inland waters of the West. As yet we have only one-the Monitor-ready for action. The Galena and the formidable boat at the Philadelphia Navy Yard will also soon be ready, and it will not take very long to clothe with iron armor the new sloop-of-war Adirondack, now at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Naugatuck — a present to the

government by Mr. Stevens-is not completed. She is a small but stanch iron gunboat-a miniature of Mr. Stevens's leviathan floating battery. Her speed is ten knots an hour. She can carry coal for twelve days, and her armament is a single one hundred-pounder l'arrott gun -the most formidable rifled cannon in the world. Like the Monitor, she can be sunk at will nearly to the top of her deck. The Stevens large battery can throw a greater weight of metal than any thing afloat, and she can outsail any war vessel in the world. It will only take two or three

months to finish her.

When to these is added the swift ram of far greater weight and power than the English Defence, and the forty gunboats and frigates, all Iron-clad, no navy in the world can resist such a force. Not a moment ought to be lost in preparing them for action. Thexperience of each vessel engaged in actual battle will be sufficicot for the improvement of those not yet finished. Soon shall w nave an armada which will sweep the seas and be able to lay ruins all the sea coast fortresses known to modern science.

NEW PLAN FOR IRON-CLAD SHIPS.

Mr. William N. Van Wagenen, of Newark, has a model of an entirely new plan of a shot-proof hull, and iron fort on deck, for an armored gunboat. This plan is fitted, not only for a gunboat, but also for a marine ram. Mr. Van Wagenen proposes an ironclad boat, entirely shot-proof, thoroughly stanch and seaworthy, with a stationary iron fort, within which shall revolve on a turntable three or four of the heaviest cannon made. The peculiarity of the form of the hull is, that it presents absolutely no mark for the enemy. The side consists, in fact, of two disks joined together at the outer edge, which is sharp, and in practice would be of solid oak, ten feet through, armed on the outside with a band of eight-inch iron. The deck slants upward at an angle of about ten degrees, is sufficiently protected by two-inch and inch iron plates, and it is impossible to fire a shot straight at it.

Every thing which hits must glance off. The bow and stern are of solid oak for twenty to twenty-five feet, and as the ship has no cutwater, the sharp, angular prow makes an excellent ram. The water-line of the vessel is a little below the sharp edge, and the bottom is therefore armored for one or two feet down. The stern projects far beyond the rudder and propeller, and gives important protection to these vital parts, which are altogether submerged and out of the reach of shot.

The tower or fort Mr. Van Wagenen purposes to fasten to the deck, believing it much safer to make the guns revolve within, and present themselves accurately to numerous portholes made in the tower. This he proposes to make of fifteen layers of inch boiler plates, laid over each other in a very ingenious way.

He proposes the following dimensions for a sea-going and perfectly sea-worthy iron-clad boat, which will show the novel proportions he brings into use. The hull to be two hundred feet long, sixty-five feet extreme beam, tapering to a sharp point at bow and stern. The lines are alike, stem and stern. Ship builders will see some novel advantages in her form. The ribs and deck beams are nearly alike in shape, and scarcely any crooked timber need be used in the construction. The tower is to be forty feet in