The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1888-08-17
What We MAY lIavc to N1cet,

From the New Orleans Times Democrat.
About the time when our new cruis.
ers and gunboats first touch salt wa.
ter the British admiralty will have,
fully equipped and ready forservice, q
fleet OF twenty-five armor.clads, which
will represent the highest develop.
mcnt, so far, in English ship building.
Besides these, q considerable number
OF vessels OF less recent construction,
but excellent OF their kind, like the
Polyphemus, will, OF course, form part
OF the active fleet, while others which
are considered as falling short OF the
requirements OF the age will form q re.
serve force for the purpose of coast
and harbor defense.
vi the 25 new ships, the total cost
OF which exceeds SG5, 900, 900, several
arc already i'll commissions; others are
complete with tho exception OF their
armament; only u few nre still in the
earlier stages of construction.
Three types OF armor.cllll ships ap.
pear to have been definitely adopted
by the admiralty. At any rate thc25
new vessels may be divided under
three heads.
Nine of the twenty-five arc turret.
ships, with an average displacement
OF about 9.7OO tons. The largest of
these are the Nile and tho Trafalgar,
with ,0lOtons, 10, 500 horse. power,
and twelve guns. The smallest is tho
Hero, with $500 tons, 6,OOO horse
power. six guns. But the most formi,i-
able, probably, are the Renown, Sans
parcll and Victoria, which, falling but
little short OF the Nile and Trafalgar
Ill SIZE, have q horsepower OF 10000
and IL large number OF guns. two OF
which are the llO.ton size. Thespectl
designed for these three ships is seven.
teen knots. The small turret.ship
Hero carries l5-ton guns, and has a
speed OF only fifteen knots-ubout
equal, say, to that of tho Atlanta.
The second type OF armor-clads is
the barhettc,ship. Eight OF the new
vessels arc of this type. Their aver
age tonnage is about $3.50. The two
smallest are the Wlrspite and In
perirlsc. These have u displacement
oI 7,39O tons, carry ten guns, and are
prol'cllcd by engines OF 5000 horse
power. The crsix-tho admiral"
ships-are much larger. The Anson,
Eenbow and Campcrdown have the
greatest tonnage (lO,OO0) but the
Collingwootl, Howe and Rodney arc
the most powerful ships of tins class,
having 3.OO0tonslcss i'll displacement,
but being similarly armed and pos
sesSinyengines with 9,75Ohorsc power,
1000 more than the three first named
OF the admiral" ships.
The eight remaining vessels are
cruisers, and are all precisely the Same
in type. size, horse power and arma-
nent. They are plated with steel ar.
NOR, carrying l2guns, have a lisplace-
nient OF 5000 tons, and are propelled
ut a rate OF lS knots by engines OF
5000 horsepower.
In addition to these armor.cl,d YES
sells, Great Britain has in process OF
construction large number OF torpc-
do cruisers, torpedo boats, composite
gunboats, torpedo gunboats, compo.
site sloops and unarmorcd steam
cruisers-lltogether q formidable nr.
ray OF ships OF war.
Several OF the last.namcd, either
recently completed or approaching
completion, arc similar in size and
character to our own new cruisers; us,
for example, the Amphion and Are.
thusa 10 guns, $3.50 horse -powcr),
complete, and the Forth and Severn
(l2 guns, $3.50 tons, 5000 horse.
power), nearly complete.