Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-05-02
MORNINGLEADER.
SATURDAY MORNING, MAY 2, 1868.
Of the men-of-War Building In
New York,
A visit to The government ship-yards in


Progress Of the War BuildIng in
New York.
A visit to the government ship-yards in
this vicinity enables one to form some idea
Of the magnitude Of our naval operations.
The tremendous iron frigates Puritan and
Dictator. the huge ran Dunderberg, the
irou-elads Miantonomah and Onondaga,
the wooden vessels MetacOmet, Mendoza,
Shamrock, Chenango, Mackinaw, Peoria,
Maumee, Nyack, and in Jersey the iron
clsds Manhattan, Mahopac, and Tecumseh,
are al in various stages Of progress. The
following brief account Of their oonstruc-
ton embraces all that is necessary to
know:
The Puritan and Dictator are the two
Ericsson ocean iron-clads, each being over
840feet long, and having the largest eylin-
ders attached to their engines ever built
for man-of-war, thus rendering it proba-
Bile that they will be the fastest vessels Of
their kind in the world. Both are now in
about the same state, the rigs Of the hulls
being sll up and a portion Of the inner
skin Of armor going IN. The cross inside
beams on the bottom are being put in their
places. Every bolt fastening the interior
armor to the frame Of the hull is put in
hot and hammered home in the same nan
ner. The present appearance Of the YES
sells Is little different from that Of the
skeleton Of an ordinary frstrate in frame,
except that the beams are iron instead Of
wood. The plates put on these vhssels are
preparing rapidly, so that they may pro-
baby be completed this time next year.
The enondaga, Mr.. George Quintard's
- - G.s-L.l 81 Ill ha
launched next week. She is almost eK-
cIusively iron, has her plates put on in
solid thicknesses, like the Roanoke, but
has no wooden baking under them. The
overhang, which seems 70 be an objection
able feature in the Monitor, is dispensed
with in this vessel. She has turrets like
the Ericsson batteries, and will be armed
on the same general plan. She is nearly
400 tons heavier than the latter, although
a stranger might mistake her for one Of
them as she looks now on the stocks.
The iron-clads Teeum Ell, Manhattan,
and Mahopac, building in Jersey, all be-
long to the first batch Of light draft YES
sells ordered, after the completion of the
nine Monitors. They are all well adj
vanced, nave armor covering them, and
will be completed by July. Each has one
turret, pierced for two guns, which may be
Of II or Is inch bore, as the department
decides. The Messrs. Secor are building
them. Mr.. George Birkbeck superintends
their construction. The CRmanche is also
building here, but any mention Of her in
detail is prohibited, for good reasons.
Capt. Perrine and the SecOrs are prepar-
ing to build still smaller vessels.
The great ram Dunderberg, building by
Mr.. Webb, has now her first wooden story
on and her ram shaped. She will be built
altogether Of wood, the mail, or armor,
going on over it. She will have turrets.
The ram is prolonged over thirty feet from
the hull proper, and rising upward from
the keel about half the distance from the
water line, is there rounded, presenting a
blunt end, in shape like the profile Of an
axe-edge. The bow, for a period Of fifty
feet from its extreme end, will be q solid
mass Of wood. The frames Of the hull
are no less han twelve inches thick. She
cannot be completed for at least two years
to come.
The Miantoanomah will be the first reg
larnavy-built iron-clad. She is now near
ly finished and embraces no new principle,
resembling the Ericsson batteries in all
her chief features. She is about 200 feet
long and over 1000 tuns burthen. Itis said
she will be hosted out of the shiphouse on
the first Of May World.