The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-12-13

Numbered but twenty that answered "Here !"
2 tN- ~ s5s- ---hS Ea
HolE Mox1roRs.-On last Saturday three more
Monitor gunboats we're launched, the Whitney
and Catskill at New York, and the Nantucket
at Boston. The Keokuk differs somewhat from
the others, in model and construction, being in.
tended for ram as well IS iron clad.
The following description will give an idea of
its new points: !, 49,, ar
First: The armor of her bulwarks and ito ar.
rangement.
Second: The mode of mailing her turret
Third: The speed Of the trip. 7ei .assas d.
g l. The bulwark, or outside armor, with which
the construction of Monitors has made Ameri-
cans familiar, consists of iron plates laid over
one another. Thus when We say battery has
At inches of iron armor on her sides, we mean
that one-inch plates, and one half-inch plate,
are laid over each other and fastened. But this
is not the case with the KeoEuk. Mr.. Whitney
has adopted new plan. Over groundwork
of halfinch rolled plates there are bars Of iron
four inches thick, alternating with strips Of yell
low pine, of about equal thickness Over all
these, then, there are two or three f-inch plates
of iron. So that, in reality, tie ezclustvely iron
mail on the outside is not quite two inches thick,
while the whole armor, the edge iron, wooden
lining and plates together make over six
Many deem this as good as six inches of plate
iron. IA
2. The turret is somewhat similarly made
The small batteries already in service, except
the Monitor have ia their turrets eleven l-inch
iron plates, all laid over each other, and consti.
tuting an exclusively iron wall eleven inches in
thickness. The Keokuk's turrets have the A.
inch iron, bars, inside or outside the & plates,
and although 4" the turret has six and half
inches of iron," as stated in our first account Of
the vessel, only two inches or less Of it is laid
on in plates, the rest being edge-turned bare,
which, az in the hull, frequently alternate with
strips of pine. So that the Exclusively iron armor
of the turret is only two inches, while the maze
taken together is deemed by many as strong as
if all the plates we're laid over each other.
8. The Keokuk was to be "ten knot vessel"
when she was originally designed, but more iron
having been put on her than was intended, it is
conceded that she will lose knot thereby, or
only make nine. The first Indispensable attri-
butte of . ram is strength, the second speed.
Hence the most impoftant-the last named.
popularity of this singular ship has been OVER
looked by all who have written about her. She
will be fast, and her strength is apparent to all
who look at her, A steam ram must be able to
catch the vessel she wishes to destroy, and to
strike her with as much velocity as possible. It
is to make the Keokuk this kind Of craft that Mr..
Whitney has so assiduously labored Were it
feasible to drive her twenty miles an hour, she
would be all the better ram for it, but she is not
meant SO much to be the perfect thing herself So
to illustrate in what manner perfection can be
attained Her engines are 500 horse power, and
If they drive her nine miles An hour, as the au-
thorities expect, it would be easy to build one
four times her size, with proportonate speed.
It is, therefore, as q ram, we'll guarded, more
than an impregnable iron-clad, that the Keokuk
challenges criticism. - 8a
The Keokuk lie l6o feet in length, SO feet beam
and Is feet inches in depth. Her capacity is
500 tuns. Her shape is almost that OF an egg,
the sides taperiDg toward the central deck SO as
to cause the glancing off of any shot which may
PORTFOLIOS. In each turret will be an ll-inch
Dahlgren gun. The guns are to revolve within
the turrets, which are to he stationary. The
turrets will be 20 feet in diameter at their base,
aud IA feet in diameter at the top, and will rise
above the armor 81 feet. She has ram forged
from solid wrought-iron, projecting five feet
from her bow, which constitutes part of her
keel, or, in fact, is part OF the backbone of the
vessel. She has water.tight compartments at
each end, by means of which she may be sunk
at pleasure during action. The smoke.s.sck
rises about six feet above the main deck, and is
located amidships, between the two turrets. She
viii be SO fitted as to be steered from the after
part of the forward turret, the pilo.house to be
amply mailed, and shaped like an egg.
She will have two propellers driven by two
double engines Of $50 horse power each, and the
speed for which she is calculated Is about 10
knots an hour. ,st,.,.t