CAPTAIN MACKINNONsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, If it is true that a vessel of only 2,700 tons, the Glutton, can be built to carry two twenty-five ton guns, with from twelve to fourteen inches of armour, to be available for the Mediterranean or wherever required, of what use would any of our four, five, or six thousand ton broadside ships be against her, with their eight and nine-inch armour, except to run away; why should the Glutton turret ship have 652 only nine, knots speed when the Hotspur ram, of less tonnage, was to have twelve knots; has Captain Coles been consulted or allowed to see the drawings of the turret ships proposed and those now building for our Colonies; and why should not the turret-ship Glutton be a ram as well as the Hotspur?
MR. CORRYsaid, in reply, that he might venture to avail himself of this opportunity to make an explanation with reference to the name of one of the vessels which, as it stood in the Question of the hon. and gallant Member, was not very-creditable to the good taste of the Admiralty in naval nomenclature. They might hope that if the ship in question should ever be engaged with an enemy she would prove a "Glutton" in the metaphorical sense of the word; but, in fact, her name was not the Glutton, but the Glatton, and she was so called after a vessel which, towards the end of the last century, succeeded in beating off a French squadron by which she had been attacked mainly in consequence of the large calibre of her guns. He could not very well answer the points of the hon. and gallant Member's Question without making a speech. He would, therefore, only observe that vessels intended for defensive purposes were built on principles which were wholly inapplicable to vessels intended as sea-going ships capable of keeping at sea in all weathers. He was quite certain the Controller of the Navy would be very grateful to the hon. and gallant Member if he could show him how sea-going ships of reasonable size, and combining all the necessary qualities, could be plated with 14 inches of iron. The drawings of the proposed turret ship were in a forward state, and would be referred to Captain Cowper Coles, so far as related to the turret itself, and the arrangements in connection with it.