The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1886-10-06
NEW AMERICAN NAVY.
Eirhteen Modern Fighting Ships to
be Constructed.
The United States Soon to Rank as q
Second Rate Naval Power-Sh'ps
in Process of Construction-The
Present Available Fighting Force
of Our Navy.

in Process of Construction-Ihe
Present Available Fighting Force
of Our Navy.
WASHINGTON, September 2S.-Chief
Constructor Wilson states IN regard
to that portion Of the new navy OF
the United States, whose construction
has been authorized by Congress. that
il will number eighteen ships OF all
classes, to cost 100000. and that
the last ship should be ahoas 1our
wears hence. No device known to
secure their efficacy as fighting ma
chimes will be omitted. Their arma-
ment will be of the modern bigh'
powered guns, the largest contem'
plated being the twelve-inch breeen-
loading rifles, carrying 8 missile
which weighs more than eight hun
dred pounds and requiring more than
four hundred pounds of powder for
each discharge. The theoretical
range of such weapons is about
twelve miles. Seven OF these ships
are to be armored, the heaviest prob
ably carrying sixteen inches OF steele
a. protection. There will be "pro-
tected cruisers"-that is, vessels
whose thick lower decks OF steele dip
their edges below the water line and
serve as q protection to the ma
chinery, magazines and other vital
parts of the vessel. The others will
be four steel cruisers, two gunboats,
one first class torpedo boat, and one
dynamite gun cruiser.
OF the steel cruisers, the Dolphin,
l.5O0 tons, is completed and receiv-
ing her armament; the Atlanta, 5000
tons, is upon her trial trip and her
armament is being tested, while the
Boston, 5000 tons, and the Chicago,
1880 tons, are we'll advanced in con-
strucsion. Five OF the armored ves-
sells are of the double turret monitor
class, each designed TO carry four
heavy high-powered guns, throwing
300 pound shells with possible
range Of ten miles. Congress has
now supplied the means for finishing
these ships, and The work is pro-
gressing rapidly. TIE Miantonomalh
!. ! .-a! asaa tons, will be ready for sersiea
this yea: ufHsh o-tons
has her engines in place and nearly
ready for her arnor, while the Ter
ror, Amphitrite and Monadnock-
1915 tons each-are now receiving
their machinery.
The other two armored ships have
not yet entered upon their first stage
of existence, their construction hav
ing only been authorized by Congress
last session. They are to be of 6.Oo(
tons displacement, to have double
bottoms, engines designed to drive
them at speed of at least sixteer
knots an hour and complete torpedo
outfits and ornaments of the mos
effective kind, and are to cost no.
more than $2,500,000 each. Tht
dynamite gun cruiser will be a nov
city, comparable probably to nothing
now in existence. The Secretary o
the Navy is authorized to make
contract with its inventors for 1T
construction, and the department vii
have little or nothing to do with th'
work beyond passing judgment upor
it. The conditions contemplate tn
construction of vessel l30 feet long
proportionately very narrow and o
very light draft, with ezceedingl.
powerful engines, guaranteed to b.
capable of producing a speed o
twenty knots. The plans OF thi
craft look to the placing of the ma
chinery and other ordinary appliances
of the ship toward the bow ant
stern, leaving the region amidship
for the magazines and pneumatic
guns, the latter being fixed in posi-
ton and having high elevation
The dynamite missiles will be thrown
like BOMBS from an ordinary mortar
With all these vessels aAoat tn
United States as naval power viii
outrank Brazil, Chill, the Argentine
Republic, China, Japan, Greece
Norway, Portugal and Sweden, ane
will be abreast OF Turkey, Spain
Holland and Denmark. She will stil
be outranked by England, France
Germany, Austria, Italy and Russia.
Chief Constructor Wilson estimates
the active life OF the wooden wa
ships of our present navy as follows
The Tennessee (the only one classee
as first rate), six months; the Tren
ton, Omaha and Vandalia, SECOND
rates, and the Mohicsn, third rate
ten years; Lancaster and Brooklyn
second rates, and the Adams, Al
lance, Essex, Enterprise, Nipsic
Tsllapoosa and Yantic, third rates
six years; the Hartford, Richmond
and Pensacola, second rates, and tn
Juuiata, Ossippee, Quinnebaue
cuotsro Galana Marion. Irouuoi