The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1878-05-29
THE DREADNOUGHT.
DESCRIPTION OF a NEW BRITISH
IRoNCLAD.
THE HEAVIEST ARMED AND ARMoRED
SHIP IN THE WHOLE
WORLD.

ther end OF Portsmouth dockyarc
mark the whereabouts, of the Dread
nought turret vessel, the most pow.
erful addition that is to be made tc
the British navy during the present
year. There is busy crew of six
hundred men on board at this mo.
ment, but instead of blue Jackets,
they are grimy filters and carpenters
ss preparing the vessel, in all haste, for
sea. AS the Thunderer, now lying
under shadow almost of the green
- eesIof Osborne point as guardshin
g-4inL ofdinafy- to her ,uiajestys.-is at
present the most heavily armed and
armored ship in, the world, so the
, . Dfeadnought. will be three months
hence. Her big thirty eight t o II
guns are on board, and her engines
of eight thousand horsepower
have been tried and approved; all
that is to be done is the fitting Up oof
the decks for the reception Of officers
and men, and the completion of some
- minor points connected with her ar
mament. Engineers, gunner, boat
swain and carpenter are all appoint
ed, and Captain Moss, the officer now
in command, will remain on board as
staff commander when the ship is
commissioned. a7it%
oh The Dreadnought may well be
termed an improved Thunderer.
ss4Hes armor Is tbickef and there is
more, of it, in some parts of the yes.
sel7-the turrets, for instance--the
armor Is upward of fifteen inches
thick, while there is no exposed por-
idtion of Athe hulFt defended withAless
than eight inches of iron. The four
guns of the Dreadnopght, again, have
"a q somewhat heavier eaibre than
those of the Thunderer, and the shot
and shell 100 pounds heavier; while
the greatest improvement of all is
to be found in the extra deck with
which the Dreadnought is provided,
and which permits both officers and
men to see something of the daylight
: in their cabins. Z AS it is, a. most
elaborate system OF ventilation is
necessary to remove the foul air and
"a send fresh supplies through the ship,
and it is fortunate indeed that the
crews of these vessels are limited to
x2one half Tie nahberGcanfied by. our
large broadside battle-ships, for the
9marhinerg shetgw is soinp'Ra,te and
hextehsiss that 10 the unptbfsssional
7a visitor it is hard to see where lodg
ings for $50 men ,areato be afoantls
i, The two turrets, as. also the pair of
t.a monster guns in Ieac% of them, are
%" moved by machinery of many differ.
ent kinds, and as all this Is below, in
nathe, middle Of, tho ship, liittis,easy U
Imagine the vast anbuat of meehaa
ism INTO to be , found in The dark. tween
fs1aie 80 ol 1893 ~
lml Tile turrets fore and aft are SINH
lar, They are, entered from below;
30 some roony steps lead into the iite.,
ROE. and you fina YOURSELF in q low
circular tower, the centre !of,whieh is
.i7takeh up by two big guns placed par
allei to one, another, with a little
passage between The whole. strue-
ture rcvolves like a,roundaboht,G and
thus the guns 'peeping out Of their
small ports can be made ,to; gfre in
q any direction A lookout.is prosil-
ed In each tnrret, but there is, he
sides, an armored tower of consider.
able height, whence the captain can
command a view on all sides. In
action the, whole of the crewris he
low, and notsa soul apon deck, which
may thus be swept with shot and
shell with impunity. The hurricane
deck, a superstructure raised in the,
al -. Y ~. :
centre Of the vessel. and also. the up
per deck, where the berths of the Of |
2 lficers' and men are, and which, as we
have said, does not exist on the
Thunderer, are comparatively unar
mored, and therefore could be shot
away without difficulty; but as they
are independent of the fighting Ca
pacity eff Che ship, any injury to
them would be matter of indifer-
ence to the crew, WIN would be safe
ly housed under ,three-inch flooring
hof iron., The whole of the centre of
4 fthe vessel is, on the contrary, heayi-
ily armored, for here are the ships
engines-her very life-since as she
moves duly by steam, and turns her
turrets and loads her guns by ma
Fe ehlnery, any accident to this portion
& OF her hull would mean disaster.-