New-York tribune., 1882-03-06
house. smoke pipe and air tower is about 1850

13l2 knots She will carry $40 tons of coal or D
DAYS supply at full speed. She will mount two 10
inch 25-ton guns in each turrct, each of
which is capable of penetrating 10
inches of solid iron at close range.
The weight of hull now stocks is about 1000
tons, of which 400 tons compose the deck armor
The draft of water of the Puritan when completed
will he Is feet 2 inches, and her displace-
| ment G,060 tons. The estimated cost to complete
her, exclusive Of armament, is about 81, 100000.
To complete the Terror, Amphtrite and Monadnock.
exclusive of armament. will cost about 81 100000
each and to complete the Miantonomoh which is
| finished except tuTrets, piloth0nse and armored
smoke pipe, will require. exclusive of armament,
about $250O0O. About 100000 each have been
expended on the Amphitritc, Terror and MOnad-
mock and $JG5 600 ON the Puritan.
| Last week u majority OF the House Naval Com
mitec together with several naval officers, visited
| the unfinished monitors at Wilmington, Chester and
Philadelphia, on tho invitation of the contractors
| A TRIBUNE correspondent accompanied the party
In each of the ship yards visited the greatest ac-
| tivity was found, indeed the shipbuildcrs have
| more than they can do At Chester seven or eight
| iron vessels are on the stocks. besides the one
launched yesterday and tic Puritan, which for the
last seven years has occupied one of the most lie
sirable berths in the yard. About ]. 500 men are
employed by Mr.. Roach. Six or seven vessels are
building in the yard of Cramp IL Sons, Philadel-
phia where the Terror also occupies one OF the best
herths similar condition of affairs was found III
the Wilmington yard In each of these yards there
is only one place where activity does not prevail
on and around the unfinished monitors. Mr.
Cramp. in conversation with the correspon-
dent of THE TRIBUNE, said: "The Ter
ror occupes the best ways in our
yard If she had not been on them during the last
five years we could hav, built twelve fifteen YES
sells more than we have. We have correspondence
| in orr Office to show that we have been compelled
to decline many proposals for work because we had
no place in which to do It, We can put up ship
ready for launching in about four months and we
have more work offered than we can do" The Har-
Ian and Hollngsworth Company. at Wilmington,
make similar statements. The Congressional Com
mittee made thorough inspection of affairs at all
the yards mentioned, as we'll as at the League
Island Navy Yard.
While the members expressed no formal opinion
as to what should be done there is reason to believe
that all of them have already come to the con-
cusion that action should promptly be decided
upon and taken by Congress. Three or four propo-
stions were suggested by different members of the
committee and 10 some extent discussed. One was
that the MiantonomOh. which is nearly completed,
should be finished armed and subjected to practical
tests TO find ont what she could do that the
Monadnock, at Vallejo Cal, should also be COM
pletcd and placed in commission so as to he available
for the defense of Pacific coast, and that the
OF her vessels should be far completed that they
could he launched and taken TO the League Island
Navy Yard, As bearing onithc latter part of this
proposition Chief Engineer Shreck, of the Navy,
informed TIE TRIBUNE correspondent that accord
ing TO a careful estimate made by hin at the re-
quest of the Naval Committee all the unfinished
Al for nFDTlnf nf46
that it will not be necessary again to dock them III
order to finish them, for the aggregate sum OF
1925 OOO exclusive of some small expenses or
launching etc, which might require $4,000 more.
If this should be done, and the vessels laid up In
fresh water lie thought they would last long time
without deterioration, and in case OF an emergency
could soon be made ready for service. NO
member of tho committee appears to be IN
favor of breaking the vessels up, as was
frequently suggested in Congress several years ago
Several members of the committee favor the COM
petOn as practicable OF all the vessels. Al
though the prices of material rate of wages etc.,
have advanced 20 per cent since the contracts were
suspended by Secretary Thompson five years ago. 1t
is understood that the contractors are willing to
comnlcte the monitors under the old contracts.
Trusting to the liberaty of Congress Ill the future
10 reimburse them for the additional outlay that
will be required on their part
While some Naval officers are opposed to the COM
pleton of the monitors at ALL very large majority
of them is in favor of it. Certain notifications OF
the original plans are, however regarded as neces-
sary For example, when the vessels were de-
signed It was proposed that their armament should
be composed of modern breech-loading rihed guns
and consequently the turrcts are too small to ac-
commodatc the most effective of such weapOns-l0-
inch rifles. The extreme length of gun of this cali
bre is about 20 feet of the Sinch gun 81 feet and of
q inch gun about 9 feet The turrets of the PuTi-
tan are 26l, feet in the clear those of the smaller
monitors u feet and there Is strong opinion that
these turrets cannot safely be made larger. Some
officers are of the opinion, however that rifed guns
should BE- used, if their muzzles pr0trIde from
the turrets, taking the ground that tbs danger of
having the muzzles of the guns shot of by an en-
emv is not great enough TO Oycrbalance the advan-
age of using rifles of the largest calibre 1t is also
generally accepted a fact that composite armor.
steel backed by iron should be adopted instead of
the iron nrmor originally proposed. and with which
the Miantonomoh is plated. On being asked by
TIE TRIBUNE correspondent if the necessary modi-
Gcations could be made, Chicl-Engineer Shreck
replied: Certainly, the vessels are in the very
condition when such changes need not interfere in
the least with their completion The hus could not
be improved, and nobody thinks the machinery. the
boilers and the engines ETC.. need any modification.
1t was fortunate that before the contracts
pended the vessels had reached such stage that they
have since suffered deterioration. The delay has
not been altogether without its advantages but il
seems to me that it should be allowed to continue
no longer. Something certainly ought TO be done"
majority OF the committee believes that there
ought TO be 10 further delay through the organza-
ton Of Boards of Survey, authorized to investigate
and report TO whether in their opinion the mon
itors should be finished. Chairman Harris said
That is a matter for Congress to decide. We want
n naval board TO determine one or two things and