Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1866-01-03


The TIPREcAEoE.-We are indebted
to the superintendent of this war vessel
for description of her fighting qusli-
ties, both offensive and defensive. Capt.
Fnom hao been diligent in completing
the vessel, and his supervision, so far as
we are capable of forming an opinion
with regard to the matter, has resulted
in the completion of one of the most
formidable vessels ever built in this or
any otaer country By his urbanity he
won many friends while sojourning with
US, who look upon his departure with
regret: 4t $50 .-a
To the Editors Of the Journal: as
DEAR SIRs: At your request, furnish
the following description of the iron
steam battery Tippecsnoe, which has
been lying in the river at this place for
the past FIVE months The length of the
vessel is two hundred and twenty-eight
feet ten inches, by forty-seven feet nine
inches beam, and fourteen feet from keel
to top Of deck. She has one revolving
turret, mounting two guns of fifteen
inches calibre, and weighing about %
tons EACH The shot for these guns is
spherical and weighs 400 pounds, andis
projected by. so pounds of powder. The
tnrret, pilot house and smoke.stack are
each ten inches thick, being formed Of
ten plates of iron one inch thick. rivet-
| ed and bolted together in such manner
as to be almost solid mass. The deck
is composed of oak beams twelve by IF
teen inches, running 'thwart ships two
feet apart and covered with plank eight
inches thick, onwhich are two plates OF
iron one and q half inches thick. The
side armor is FIVE inches thick, extend
ing from the top of the deck below the
water line FIVE feet Under this armor
are iron stringers, ranning the entire
length OF the ship, four aud a, half by
six inches, and placed two inches apart,
the whole backed by thirty inches Of
solid oak, so that shot must pass
through .nnse and half inches Of iron
and thirty Of oak before il can
enter the hulk SO 1ss ss1.gs8 &C I
The, ship is provided with eleven
steam engines, viz: two propelling en-.
| CINE, one. vacuum engine, two blower
| engines, two turTeti engines, and four
pumping : engines. The propelline
engines are from Ericsson patent, and
the OFFENDERS are four feet diameter by
two feet stroke. These engines are low
pressure or condensing engines, and
the -condenging apparatus is detached
and independent, being worked by q
separate vacuum engine, by which Q
more constant and perfect vacuum is
maintained The condenser is Of plate
4 iron with brass heads, into which are
inserted five thousand and thirty brass
tubes, giving about five thousand square
feet of condensing surface. The two
blower engines are for ventilating the
ship and furnishing air to the furnaces.
The two turret engines are for revolving
the turret when in action The four
pumping engines are in different parts
of the ship and so arranged that they
may supply the boilers with water, or
pump from the bilge in case of leak.
There are four boilers, two large, be-
ing twenty-one feet long, thirteen feet
high, and fourteen feet nine inches deep,
and containing seven hundred and sixty
eight fues; and two auxiliary boilers of
the same height and length, but three
and half feet deep, and containing
one hundred and twenty-eight hues.
The large boilers have six furnaces
each, and the small ones one each. The
coal bunkers occupy the entire ship ex.
cept the passage way from the engine
room to the berth deck, for eighteen feet
in length, and will hold about eight thou.
sand bushels of coal The anchor
chains in action are entirely protected
from shot, and can be raised or dropped
from below without exposing men on
deck. -
The propeller which has a. pitch Of
twenty-one feet, and is fourteen feet in
diameter, is entirely protected from
shot, as we'll as the rudder, by the over
hanging arrior projecting from the hull
of the ship. Her speed wAl be about
nine knots an hour, and her displsce-
ment one thousand tons The immense
strength of her side armor and weight
of her hull, together with the sharpness
of her bow, will make her exceedingly
formidable as a ram. She contains
about three millions of pounds of iron
and brass, and will cost about seven
hundred thousand dollars.
To Mr.. Greenwood, the contractor for
this ship, is due the credit of being the
only single individual who has built one
of this class of vessels; all the others
Having been built by companies or asso-
ciated firms 4
Yours Respectfully.
N. G. THoM, Sup't