Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1885-06-25
THE DOLPHIN.
Secretary whitney Wants 10 Know
NJ He Must Take Her.

WASHINGTON, June 1S.-The report Of
the Dolphin board of examination will
be sent TO the encouragement this after
noon by order of Secretary Whitney,
with a request for his opinion
as to whether the department
Is obliged to accept the vessel regardless
of specified defects which the board re-
port they have found in her, including
alleged structural weakness and lack OF
stipulated power.
The report of the Dolphin board of ex-
is given more fully below:
After citing their instructions. and
abiding to tho difficulties of frfNeally
inspecting completed vessel thn bert
commission, Captain Belknap,s Can
mander Evans and Constructing Engineer
Winter, reports that the chief require
ment for the Dolphin is speed under any
and all circumstances us a naval dispatch
boat and she must be 'seaship of Is
knots an hour" To have the required
speed she must be boat of great strength
and stiffness. Her three trials were
made under most favorable conditions,
and yet her speed was not in excess of 10
knots per hour, and upon smooth winter
she ought to have made 17t knots in
order to equal 10 at sen. The vibrations
of the vessel were marked and extraordi-
nary for smooth water work, and the
power of her engines and machinery, and
they indicate inadequate strength and
stiffness. The unusual heating of the
crank pin, resulting from bad trim of the
ship or changes in her ballast, showed
some structural weakness, and whether
due to fault of plan or bad execution, Oh
both, cannot be definitely stated.
The commission is of the opinion that
the plan is faulty, but there is evidence
also of bad execution, because there is a
degree of weakness that cannot properly
be entirely attributed to the defective
plan. One point of the contract, in re.
lation to the closing of the fire room
matches, has not been attended to; her re
quired mean horsepower of 1890 was not
reached on her first trial trip, for it was
only zoos; on the second trial the crank
| pan became heated before o test could
| be made; on the third trial hel
| engines indicated for six hours a mean
collective horsepower of 2,253, and Oh
| the fourth test the boilers making steam
| under natural draft alone, the horse power
developed by the engines and pumps was
i l,6iS. The contractor and his men put
her to her utmost speed and power, witt
the best coal, expert engineers, streams o.
water playing on the journals to keel
them cool, the water smooth and nothing
to antagonize the progress of the ship.
The commission boldly condemns tn,
general workmanship and declares il no
up to the specifications; that the vesse
has been tinkered at and defects remedieI
/ altar hat.,rf H.,tpl,nI 90 thnt pha hoe hoo,
considerably improved by the contractor
She has been stilfened in the forepeak b,
vertical plate brace, her decks caulket
fore and aft, her mizzennast made secure
the skin of the vessel reprinted and man.
conveniences have been added. This i
as far as the commission can go until tn
Dolphin is put TO the test Of long Sc
voy age, where she will meet such weather
wind and tides rs will be surely met wit
in her service as naval dispatch boat.
I