Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1880-02-26
IRON.CLADS OF ITALY.
Shall America Construct Similar War
Vessels?

tesSclss
From the New York Tlmso.
In the Dullio, whose speed trial on Sat
urday was gratifying success, Italy may
claim to have the most formidable fight
ing vessel in the world. Begun at Cas-
tellamare in 1872, set aaoat in 1876,
steamed to Spezzia in 1873, and now COM
plete, the Duilio, though constructed on a
prodlgious scale as to size, equipment,
arlnor and armament, has singularly full
filed, at every stage, the predictions Of
her designers and builders, her draught,
speed and battery power closely tallying
in practice with the calculated results.
Her sister ship, the Dandolo, a year or
more behind her in progress Of construc-
ton and prospective completion, will no
doubt repeat her success, so that whatever
is said Of the Du.lio as war ship must be
doubled in every detail III considering the
new fighting strength put at the disposal
of the Italian Navy. Built of iron and
steel, the Duilio has double bottom for
over two'thirds of her length, divided
into many water.tight compartments, any
of which can be quickly filed or drained.
She is 3}9 feet inches long, 64 feet Z
inches broad, has a draught aft of about
26 feet, and displacement at deep load
line of l0,6j0 tons. The weight of her
hull alone is about 3,400 tons; on this is
girt y inches of steel armor, continued
more than five feet below the water-lne,
the armor weighing upward of2 800 tons.
Two revolving turrets contain each two
Armstrong l00-ton guns, rs they are call
ed, their actual weight being Il little
greater; the total weight Of the four guns
with their machinery and ammunition, is
nearly 1000 tons. From the bow projects
heavy ram 8 feet long. immersed IA feet
below the Ioad-line; hidden in the stern,
ready to be driven out at once against an
enemy's ship, is Il ThorncycrOft torpedo.
boat, about 70 feet long and claiming a
speed Of q knots; the Dullio also has
machinery for discharging Whitehead tor
podocs. lis big mastless ship is driven
by twin screws. The engines, which are
those of John Penn & Sons, have 1900
Indicated horsepower; the DandOlO's en-.
gines are Maudslay's, and develop the
same power. The maximum speed OF
each was estimated at ii knots; the cable
mentions the speed attained by the Duilio
as IA miles, with six-seyenths power.
Such is the wonderful battleship that
Italy exhibits to the worlds applause.
The effect Of the Duilio and the Dandolo
stcaming with hostile intent into some
harbor on our cost whose channels are
deep enough TO allow their entrance-say
Portland or BOston-may be imagined. |
They would be accompanied by creepers
and other appliances for cutting or ex-
plOding defensive tOrpedoes They would
themselves carry torpedo boats and torpe-
does for offensive operations, Their eight
lOO-ton guns throw bolts, each one of
which weighs 1000 pounds; they have
thrown proof shots weighing 1900 pounds,
but for practical purposes the lighter mis-
silc will be found heavy enough. Their
prOjectiles can be hurled Il distance OF
nine miles; so that these huge ships could
establish themselves out OF range Of the
heaviest guns in the harbors spoken Of,
and destroy the cities beyond. But they
need not he out OF range, since no gun eX-
listing in this country can penetrate their
armOr at ordinary range. Not satisfied
with these twin thunderbolts Of war,
Italy is engaged on two monsters surpass-
ing the DuiliO and Dandolo. The Italia,
building at Castelamarc. and the Lepan-
to, at LpghOrn, are sister ships,
400 feet long, "A broad, 80 in
draught aft, with Il displacement Of
l3,4S0 tons, and are to he driven by en-
gines Of $1,000 horse power. A speed OF
sixteen knots is expected from them, and,
as dOuble-turreted vessels, while they will
carry four guns each, if there snould lie
any calibre greater than the lO0.ton in
existence at the time Of their completion,
the heaviest will be used by these stupen-
dOus vessels One Of tneir features will
be great number Of water'tight compart-
ments above the double bottom, as well |
as forward, aft. and below it,
What is the moral for us? That we |
must begin TO build DuliOs and Dandolos, |
ltalias and LepantosP Not at ALL 1t yet |
remains to be seen whether, in her auda- |
cious naval ambition, Italy has not gone
beyond the line Of safety and use in con-
structing these monsters 1t has yet to be
seen what the effect will be OF firing these |
prodigious guns both on the Duilio herself
and on her crew. but above all, the cost
of building and equipping such vessel,
and then Of maintaining it, is out of the
question for our country, Exclusive Of
armament and outfit, the Duilio cost a
little more than three million dollars.
Fully equipped, as to-day, she has cost
four millions. Her consumption Of coal
is cnormous-her bunkers are fitted to
carry l,2S0 tons-while every gun fired
costs 5000 for the powder and the pro-
iectile. With the money expended on one
Duilio, fleet of fast, lght-armored, heay-
ily-armed cruisers, less costly to main
tain and far more useful, could be built.
Should we 90 to the Italian dock yards for |
hints, we should find them rather in the
swift corvettes Italy is providing, designed
to give extraordinary speed, and abandon
ing the hopeless strain at impregnability,
In these, and in her tremendous ordnance,
useful for harbor defense, and in her at
tention to torpedo vessels, we might better
discover examples to follow, or rather re-
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