Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-16
MILLIONS IN OLD HULKs.
What it Has Cost to Repair Naval Vessels
that are Now Useless

that are Now Useless.
The Naval Board Of Inspection and
Survey which was to have left New York
on Monday last for Boston to inspect and
survey the naval vessels and other gov
eminent property there and at other navy
yards. says the New York Herald. was
detained here to resurvey and appraise
the TicOnderOga, the repairs to which
vessel were abandoned, as they did not
come within the limit of cost Of twenty
per cent. of new vessel Of like size. In
its forthcoming report, the board Will
include some significant facts with regard
to the result of their inspection of vessels
at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which will
give more in detail the deplOrable condi-
ton of some Of the vessels still borne on
the navy register, and will confirm the
statements made by the Chief of the Blu
reau Of Construction and Repair.
For instance, the old frigate Colorado.
which has been in commission as a receiv-
ing ship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for
several years, is to be succeeded by the
old frigate Vermont. All materials that
can be made use of from the Colorado are
to be utilized in fitting out the Vermont,
Upon the completion of this work the
Colorado is to be stripped of all materials
that can hereafter be used in the reDairs
of other vessels and then she will be
placed in Ordinary" to be appraised and
sold. This course has been decided upon
because it was estimated that the cost for
repairs Of the Colorado would be $4,000
to make her seaworthy. The Colorado
was built in 1855 at an original cost for
hull and machinery Of 1888, $50. The re-
pairs upon her since have been $529, 295 by
the Bureau of Construction and Repair
$685. 96T by the Bureau of Steam Enpi
neering and $522,ST3 by the Bureau of
Equipment, making total Of $2,272, O95.
The trigate New York, which was de-
signed and put in frame by Naval Con-
structOr b. F. Delano in 1865 and has hade
SJSl, 40 expended upon her, is still on the
stocks, and, it is estimated, will require
100000 more to complete her. She is of
fine model and has a live oak frame that,
from its age and the care taken of it, Is in
an excellent state of preservation. She is
3l5 feet in length on the mean load line,
345 feet over all, AZ feet breadth of beam.
and 20 feet IL inches depth from the lower
edge of the rabbit Of the keel to lowest
port sill of gun deck. She was designed
to be ship rugged. Her armament could
be made equal to the weight of two 100
FOUNDERS, one 60-pOunder PARROT rifle and
sixteen 9-inch sm0OthbOre guns. A bat
terry could also be arranged to have di-
rect bow and stern fire from half turret
guns on the spar deck and recessed ports
on the gun deck. With modern engines
and boilers the vessel could be given a
fourteen knot speed. Materials for steel
boilers were purchased last yearand work
on them is well under way in the steam
engineering department at the Washing
ton Navy Yard. The displacement Of
this vessel, at draught of 1872 feet for
ward and u feet inches aft, is 4,527 tons.
When the question Of completing her is
decided the plans can be finished in a
short time; and if the materials for plank
ing, ceiling, decks and other woodwork,
excepting joiner materials, are impreg-
mated by the Thilmany process for pre-
serving ship timber, the Chief Naval Con-
structOr is of the opinion that she will be
useful for the next twenty years.
The Java, another fri5Nte, lies on the
stocks alongside the New York. but was
built of white oak which is so thoroughly
rotten that she is not worth completing.
The Colossus, which was begun during
the war and lies partially completed in
the shiphOuse, was intended as double
turreted monitor. AS the woodwork is
badly rOtted with ligneous acid from con-
tact with the iron frames it will probably
be sold for cordWOOd. She has iron diagO-
nal truss frames, which cost $l57 600.
These frames are all keyed together, and
it is recommended that they can be read
vessel, shipped to the Washington Navy
Yard and worked over into such sizes of
materials as may be required for use in
new vessels or the repairing Of old ones in
the future.
The Intrepid, an iron armored vessel of
/, 100 tons displacement, was built in the
Boston Navy Yard in 1872 at a cost of
$5S2, 72I. Since then ,632 has been ex-
pended upon her for repairs. The plans
for alterations Of this vessel were recently
approved by naval board, and prepara-
lions are now making to haul out the
vessel for the necessary alterations.
When completed it will give to the navy
squadron.
The frigate Tennessee. which is the
largest vessel in the navy, and has cost
more than any other, is doomed. The
Chief Naval Constructor reports that the
probable life of this vessel will not extend 4
beyond twelve months, when she viii be
past repairing under the present law,
which fOrbids the repair Of any wooden
vessel of the navy estim3ted uto eDSti mllS9gre
value of a new ship of like size and mate
rails. AS she originally cost 81, S56,015 81
S90S, 564 for the hull and $94S,O75 81 for
her machinery and outft), the cost for re-
pairs would be 1911, 215. In addition to
her original cost the expenditures for
repairs since she was finished in 1867 have
been $685., 574 "a by the Bureau of Con-
$3.50, 007 GO by the Bureau Of
Steam Engineering and 1923, 12S "a by the
Bureau of Equipment, making total Of