The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-07-13
A Floating Citadel.

The most formidable vessel in the i'm
perial Russian navy is the "Peter the
Great" q colossal iron-clad, designed
after the Devastation type, but since
modified so as to more closely resemble
the more recent Dreadnaught. The
''Peter the Great like the circular
iron-clads which bear his name, was
built after the designs of Vice Admiral
Popoff and was finished in 1876. Her
sides, breastwork, walls and turrets are
very heavily armored, and she carries
A l2-inch Alton, brcech-loading, steel
rifled Oboukhof guns. She Is calculat-
ed TO steam at the rate of IA knots per
hour, and her trial trips in the Gulf of
Finland have in general been successful,
though on her first trip several defects
were found, which have since been rem
edied. Her total length over the ar
mored deck is $50 feet, and between
perpendiculars, 1921 feet 10 inches. Her
extreme breadth is 63 feet inches, and
without armor and armor backing, SO
feet. She draws 22 feet inches Of wa
ter forward and "a feet inches aft, and
has the immense total displacement of
1865 tons.
With the exception of the stem and
stern posts, which are ofgun metal, the
entire hull is of iron. The ship has a
double bottom, the space between the
skins being divided into water-tigbt
cells, so that an injury to any part by
means of torpedo or otherwise would
result in the filling of one, or possibly
two or more of them, and therefore al
low of a complete localization of the in
jury. Above the second skin the hull
is further divided for the same purpose
into compartments by 9 water-tight
bulk heads running transversely across
the ship. In addition to these there are
two bulkheads which traverse the hull
longitudinally, being situated symmet-
rically. one on each side of the keel.
These inclose the amidships space, in
which are situated the coal bunkers.
having fuel capacity of from l2 to Is
days. The outside skin is worked in
two thicknesses of inch each. The
ships bottom is sheathed with wood and
copper.
The armor betting, which is carried
entirely around the ship, extends, ex-
cept where 1t rises to form the breast
work, feet above and feet below the
load water-line. 1t is bolted on in two
belts formed of solid plates, the upper
belt being IA inches in thickness amid
ships and tapering off at the ends to 9
inches, and the lower one II inches in
thickness amidships, running down to
8 inches at stem and stern. This armor
is only intended to protect the vital
part of the hull. Hollow girders form
the armor backing, the spaces in and
between being as usual filled with teak.
These girders, it is claimed, are capable
of producing an additional resistance
equal to that of 2 inches of solid iron.
For the upper belt the armor backing is
10 inches in thickness, and behind the
lower 1t is II inches thick. Unlike the
Dreadnaught, this vessel has no ram
ming spur. The armored belt for a
length of lG0 feet amidships rises to a
height of 10 feet inches above the load
watcr-line, forming the sides of the
brcastwork which incloses the gun tur-
rets. The end walls of this breastwork
are scmicircular in form, and have the
same armor plating as the side walls,
but worked on in two thicknesses, in
order to more thoroughly protect the
turret bases and machinery. The ar
NOR covering of the deck of the ship
OUTSIDE or tllc Drcastys-a-l- and that over
the brcastwork is formed of double steel
plates Ia and 3-4 inches in thickness.
Inside of the citadel, at each end, are
placed the revolving gun turrets, the
height Of the battery being 13 feet above
the load line. The turrets are protected
by armor plating having the same thick
ness and backing as that of the breast
work walls outside. Their outside di-
ameter is 32 feet inches, and they, as
before stated, each inclose 12-inch Al
ton guns. The turret ports being very
small, the gun carriages are arranged
so as to allow of the heavy guns being
raised and lowered within the limits OF
l8 inches into three different positions
with respect to their carriages. This is
effected by hydraulic power-two force
pumps being used, a steam and hand
| one.
The ships engines are of l 400 nom-
inal horse power, working up to 10000
indicated, aud give rise to two large in
dependent loose -bladed screws. These
are each 18 feet inches in diameter
and have pitches varying from 10 to "a
feet. There are OH board 2 steam wind.
lasses and 2 steam crab winches.
There are 3 special steam pumps,
| WIFI total cdpaclty OF O,ZOS gallons
per minute. In addition to these, there
are s steam pumps attached to the main
engines, which have total capacity per
minute of IL 1924 gallons, and small
hand pumps, having total capacity OF
4Ss gallons per minute. This gives as
the total quantity of water which can
be. pumped out of the main pipe per
minute the immense volume of 1861
gallons.-[N. Y. Herald.