The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1883-07-19
CRUISERS FOR THE NAVY.
TALK WITH EN-CO1IlIANDER COR
RINGE ABOUT TIE NEW VESSELS.
Reasons for Giving them Greater Speed
than Fourteen Knots IN IOur-Whut
Foreign Vessels arc Doing.

Foreign Vessels arc Doing.
"Havc you seen the Navy Departments
advertisement for proposals for new crllis-
erS?" asked q reporter of oX-COmmanGer
GOrringe.
'I have copy of it in my pocket.
notice that the department calls for sew
cral vessels and the second paragraph of
the advertisement seems to require that
bidders shall be prepared to build both
hull and engines OF these ships, or en-
gincs only. Ii it means this it excludes
all but three Of the shirbuildcrs of this
country, for only three of our iron ship
yards are fitted to build both huls
and engines But am not discouraged
about this. I mean to put in my bids,
and may say 10 YOU that l have already
arranged with one of the most compc-
tent engine builders in this country to
build the engine if my bid be accepted
by the department"
GLOW are war ships built in Eng
land?"
"Ahout four-Grths of tho English war
vessels have their hullS lllil itn the gov
ernmcnt dockyarlS. Hull hmlding and
engine building. though closely allied,
are essentially different businesses. AT
| least two-thir,ls Athc English shipbuild-
crs do not builC engines. 1t has been
found in practice in England that if n
, shipyard has also engine works these are
apt to he only partly employed, and thus
n loss occurs. An engine builder, how
| ever, builds both land and marine engines.
and thus may keep LIS place mt work for
! several purposes. Il,Nce, English ship
builders more and mon' get their engines
lmilt for trcm outside U their own yards
and Ivy engine bniidrrS."
"Hnve You any opiEion about the pro-
| posed CruiScrS?"
81 do not think the department. calls
for a,l"quat" Src, Il to make them efficient
cruisers. The highest sea speed required
is, [ see, fourteen knots an hour, which
nowadays cannot be considered fast
enough to keep ont of thc way Of mod
crn ship of superior force. A cruiser
means n ship to cruise after an encmv's
mcrchantmcn. Now. to set n fDurtcrn-
knot cruiser to catch II ScVcntrCn-knOt
transatlantic steamer would he like set
ting pug to catch II greyhound 1t has
| been demonstrated cOncmSNcly that
high rates OF speed for ocean steamers
arc not only possible but will be had.
| Several of the transatlantic steamers
have averaged fifteen knots an hour for
II whole passage, and some of them
attain rs high rs seventeen knots an
| hour. No i'n%SCMHrr steamer is highly
thought of i'll thcaA days which will not
average mean sea spaced of fifteen knots.
A mau-of-war, to hr effective for us,
must he able to catclI such steamers,
The English have now u man-of-war-a
friGatc--whirh Stcams eighteen and q
quarter knots. She has done it, and
| they arc building more such ships.
| What would be the use of our cruisers
going i'll the highest mean sea speed of
fourteen knots AGAINST such ships rs
| The Sc or against the fast Transatlantic
/, steamers now i'll use which, in case of
war, would be turned into cruisers by
tho English government? In other re-
sprctS. so far as can Judge frcm the
| advertisement, the vessels appear to be
well designed. But, must say that in
the important matter OF speed they are
totally Inadequate"
"Is high srccd attainablo from Amer
lean ship-yards ?"
" 1T certainly is. No o.G will deny that
| that we can do as wrItu, t!lcy on the other
| side, and on the other Siao torpedo boats
| have recently been constructed which
! hav" arcmnc! for three consecutive hours
! at the ayCrag" rate Of TWENTY-FIVE knots
an homIA Six XyrHrS a%oi was on II French
| torpcdTbOat which averaged eighteen
! and two-trnths knots for throc couSrcu.
| tive hours. IT is II wcll-knOwn fact that
! the larger u vessel the easier it is to drive
! her at high rate Of speed, md it is safe
/ to say that if you can drive a 800 ton tor
| pcdo boat Twenty-Five knots an hour vou
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