New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-04-28
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE.

CHIEF ENGINEER KINGS REPORT UPON RECENT
CONSTRUCTION AND MECHANICAL APPLIANCES
ENGLAND THE LEADER AND MODEL OF ALL
EUROPEAN NAVAL POWERS. a
WASHINGTON, April 27.-Chief- Engineer j..
W King of the United States Navy. who has recently
made very exhaustive report upon recent construction
and mechanical appliances for ships OF war IN Europe
gives report much that is OF very great interest
All the navios OF Europe he says have been recently I'M
dcrgoing reconstruction and there has never been
time during peace when such large expenditures Tor
naval purposes made at present and such rad
cal changes effected in the construction OF ships
of war, in steam machinery IN machinery ior
working guns and for various other purposes on
board ship and in offensive torpedo warfare Inc
introduction the report mentions that England IL the
leader and moral to oil European naval Powers In ad
dtiou TO her magnfcently equipped public dockyards
the patronage the has suced to keep In
existence and to the supplemental resources
which relieve and old the national establishments In
time of peace and which In time Of war would he to
them Of priceless value It's owing to this patronage
and 10 foreign orders for ships OF war, in no small
measure that the Thames. the Mersey the Clyde and
the Tyne found unriyacd establishments, fully
equipped, with expanded and developed resources
requisite for modern war ship construction Nearly
every considerable naval Power except the United states
and France has employed English designers, English
builders, engineers. and gun manufacturers Chief
Engineer King continues:
II here that the KONG, wilhelm Kaiser Dentsch-
land, and other ships for Tue German navy were built
Turkey obtained from the clyde ana INC Thames laI 40
proportion OF her armOrcd fleet, including all the most
powerful vessels. Russia. hpaln, Holland. Denmark.
Greece, Portugal Brazil Chil Peru, and Japan all GENE
TO En- gand 10 have armCrcd ships OF constructed.
The Sheffield works not only sIppy arnOr-rlates Tor
slips but also plates aud materials for war vessels
bailt in continental countries The Eswck Works ana
WhitwOrh manufacture guns solely Tor foreign orders
Besides this all the nations above named are customers
OF English shipysTdS and enl1neering works 10 supply
vessels for the mercantile marine IN Iohun ma! W.
found naval attaches OF nearly All important nations OD
serving the progress and changes ia naval construction
In consequence OF these facts, and for the additional
reason that comparatively little OF value originating
with continental navy architects englneerT was found
the Continent. The larger portion OF MI Kings time
abroad was employed in Great Britain The naval au-
thOres of Austria his report says, in common with
those of other European countries, have paid dearly for
the Of building wooden armored ships The Kaiser
Max the Prinz Eugen and the Don Jaan daustria con
stitutrd the early ironclad fleet OF Austria The decay
OF the wooden hus, insufficient strength, and the ad
varccment made in defense well as Ohense OF the
modern fighting ships sometime s,nce rendered these
vessels useless As matter Of economy, how
ever decided to reconstruct Them with the view
OF utilizing far practicable the machinery and
materials They were accordingly taken to pieces and
the replacing Of wooden hns with hulls OF iron
proceeded WITH advantage being taken OF the superior
lghtncss OF the iron hull provide considerable in
crease of armor strength in vital places. The original
engines and most OF the fittings OF the wooden ships are
being used in the iron ones and this object being
rcd into effect II is said, with economy The latest de-
sign and the most important lighting ship Of the Austrian
navy will the arnored ship TegethOR, under CON
strucon Mt the works OF the StabbimenO Technco at
Trieste The Tegethofr will be a broadsde. central bat
terry snip in which the batteries project the sides Of
the vessel fret introduced in the upper batteries OF
the British AudacOus class Turkey show fleet OF
q fighting ships, with aggregate tonnage Of GoOcO