National Republican., 1884-04-15
THE MrANToNoMoH.
Description OF the Big Monitor that is
Nearing Completion In Brooklyn.

on their way from London on the steamer
Alert. 1t Is now about ten years since the
construction Of the hulls OF FIVE monitors, the
Miantonomoh the Terror, the Amphitrito, the
Puritan, and the Monadnock, ordered by con-
gress several years previously. IL was not
until the last session that appropriations
were secured for launching these huls pre-.
paratory to their receiving their machinery,
turrets, and guns. With one exception,
these vessels still lie scattered about, await
ing appropriations for their completion
for active service. The Miantonomoh,
built by John Roach, was ordered
equipped and armed, and is nearly ready
for service. This vessel represents in name
only the Miantonomoh of Ericsson which
was the first doube-turreted monitor to cross
the. ocean, and the date of whose construction
may be said to have marked the beginning of
modern naval warfare. Tho hull of the first
vessel was of wood. The present craft, which
subverts her, is heavily armored with metal
and equipped to meet tho demands of modern
warfare.
She is double turretcd, having turret for.
ward and aft each one Of which has ninety
two and half tons Of steel armor. She has
total metal weight of 3,715 tons. He form
is so oval, SO much like pumpkin seed, that
when one sees her it seems impossible to con-
ceive that she has q length of 261 feet. Her
beam Of SO feet ia so broad in comparison with
uer lenBt1 US 10 Suggest Srcat surlaCe ulsplhy
for an enemy's guns, and to necessarily give
her total depth of only little over Ia feet.
In these respects she differs dangerously from
the long, narrow, and trim vessels of other
navies which depend as much ON their speed
as their armament for safety.
The original turrets Of primitive monitors
used to swing ON central spindle In this
case moro English type of turret has been
substituted, which is one-half below the main
deck. Tho gun carriage, a portion of the
gun itself, and all the working machinery,
are also below dock, and consequently re-
ceive abundant armored protection. The
| turrets rest on twenty cones or tracks which
revolve on n steel track fitted to the berth
deck in circle. They are revolved by a
gear wheel next the base, into which pinion
plays, driven by an engine on the berth deck.
| The Ericsson turret was plated with laminated
| armor Of twelve plates of one inch thickness
each. There was not enough resistance, and
old turrets in the navy yard show the fatality
of such armors in their rough usage by
| powerful guns. The present turrets are pro-
tected by compound armor plates Of little
more than one foot thickness. The Ericsson
plates overlapped each other, but five of these
plates are grooved together to form q solid
mass, There Ia o depth of armor of ak feet
and two inches, which has its maximum
thickness on tho port or exposed side. The
| older turrets were undivided, so that shell
exploding within killed all the occupants and
silenced both guns. The present turrets are
| divided into two equal apartments by cen.
trail bulkhead, in zach of which is ten-inGh
breech-loading rifle is placed. ,,-
There is shelf in each one which acts
like an elevator, carrying ammunition from
the magazine to tho breech. Thus if one gun
is silenced, the turret still has another fol
operation. The guns are elevated or de
pressed for sight by hydraulic tube seven
teen feet long and twelve inches in diameter
which extends from the hold through the cen
ter of tho turret to the pilot house floor. The
pilot house is located on top of the turret
rather interesting position for a man who
directs the aiming of the guns and the
direction of the monitor. However, il il
we'll protected. A compound armor with
mean diameter of six feet surrounds it. Il
would naturally attract the main fire of tn,
enemy, but, standing at On angle Of 800, BALL
easily glance off.
In working the guns of a turret the mer
are most exposed to the debris from shells
To obviate this triumph of modern warfare
has been attempted. The armor of the turre
is re-enforced by wood backing of yellow
pine of nine inches thickness. This in turr
is supported by forty vertical irons of twenty
pounds to the foot. These are re-enforced by
vertical iron angles of eight pounds to tn,
foot, which are worked on the outside of tn,
shell plating, composed of two thicknesses o
one-half inch plate. Iron angles re-enforo,
the shell plates by extending around tn,
turret on tho inside. The bolts for fastenin,
the armor plate pass through all of thes
thicknesses and are held by nuts on til,
inside of the she'll plate. 1t would seem i'm
possible for any modern gun to disturb thu
gunners at work within such protection We
the incentive of inventive force is to acquire
q gun which shall totally destroy such
turret.
The cunning of invention has operated t.
| hnIl 10, II. - =
whatever part of the monitors they ma,
strike. In this there seems to be the mali
potency of protection. Tho pilot hous
stands at an angle. A glacis plate weighin
$1,000 pounds surround tho turret on deck.
ball striking it anywhere rebounds with
boomerang tendency into the water Th
flooring of the deck is somewhat oval an,
every object on it is so trim, so angled an
circular, that little resistance meets ball am
it glAnces away. The monitor has also eel
lular, or double bottom, so that II one is dc
stroyed, she still has duplicate for continues
service.
Congress has before it an item of appropria
tion for the armament OF the remaining fou
monitors. These ships are of value for harbo
defense At sea the torpedo boat has replaced
them for meeting the modern steel cruiser
OF these, mono more effective than Ericsson
Destroyer which lies in the navy yard, ha
been devised. When its submarine torpedo
exploded mountain of water uplifted, sucl
as has never beon raised by any other inyen
tion.
Tho termination OF naval warfare seem
perceptibe in the coming of little submarin
craft whose plans are receiving attention Il
the navy yard. The patents for its remark
able construction are issued. The vessel will
have the power to rise and sink at will b,
shipping water and oxpelling it. 1t will
travel on tho surface or boneath, attach tor
pedoes to the bottom Of ship, retire to sar
distance, and transmit the electric spark
This is tho craft which is soon to float in tn,
harbors, or to be swung on the davits of
man-of-war, like steam launch. A sailing
vessel equipped with nothing but one of thes
can defy any navy now in existence. Thu
Jules Nerne's imaginative sketches receiy