Connecticut western news., 1888-07-18
THE CRUISER CHARLESTON. Secretary Whitney's Pioneer Cruiser
 Ready to Be Launched.

This week will be memorable one in naval circles as the first of the new cruisers laid down by the present Navy Department is about to take to the water. Two of Secretary Whit ney's vessels, it is true, have already been launched, but neither is classed as a cruiser. The Yorktown, built at Cramps yard, is gum boat of only 1,7O0 tons displacement or not much more than the Dolphin's, while the Ve- craft designed for harbor defence But the Charleston to be launched from the yard of the Union Iron Works San Francisco, the middle of this week, is full cruiser of 3, 73O tons hay ing double the horse power of the Yorktown, costing twice as much to build, carrying all the armament of the Yorktown, and in addition to it guns five times as heavy and vastly more powerful. The launch of the Charleston, therefore, will be an event of unusual import ance, independently of the peculiar interest attached to it as product of Government shipbuilding on the Pacific.
 The Charleston is a twin-screw cruiser, of steel throughout, having length between perpen- diculars of 300 feet, beam of 46, a draught forward of 171a feet and Q draught aft of 19la. She is double bottomed under engines and boilers. She has also curved or urtle-back steel deck from two to three inches thick running from stem to stern. and protecting everything below 1t, being foot above load-water line at the crown and then sIoping at it's edges to four feet below the water. Coal bunkers are so arranged as to furnish further protection.
 The compound engines arc in two separate compartments, and actuate thrtc-bladed twin screws. The indicated horse power under forced draught Is 300. and she is expected to make maximum of fully IS knots an hour. At 10 knots an hour her coal will last for S,60O miles, and at knots for l ,00O. She has no sail power, however, except storm sails, but has two military masts. Her regular coal ca pacity is 45J tons, but she can carry S0D, with an increase then of l 1a feet in her draught. Her hold is divided into many water-tight compartments by bulkheads, furnishing rooms for stores, ammunition, chains, and so Qn
 The main batrery consists of two high-power breech loading, 10-inch steel rifles, mounted on central pivots, besides six 6-inch rihed breech-loaders on central pivot carriages and spardeck sponsons in broadside. Steel screens, two inches thick, protect the 1O-inch guns, with their hydraulic revolving and loading gear, and there is the same thickness of steel on the coming tower The ammunition hoists, which lead directly from the shell rooms to the loading towers at the breech of the 1O-inch guns, are covered with three inches of steel. The 1O-inch guns can be fired fore and aft at point blank and their hydraulic power is the same that which works the ste ring gear, Were there nothing else to give interest to the Charleston, she would attract attention from the fact that she IS tc carry guns far larger than the largest placed upon any othe' of the unar morcd cruisers, even those which are of a much larger displacement. Her 10-inch guns are ill fact the same as those which will be carried on the ncaVy QOuDle turreG monitors now un- der completion. They will weigh 26 tons each and throw a projectile weighing 800 pounds with a charge of 25O pounds of powder at the high initial velocity of over 2,0O0 feet per sec ond.'
 The secondary battery of the Charleston will consist of rapid-tire Hotchkiss guns and Cat lings. and she will also have supply of au- tomobile torpedoos, to be launched from tubes mounted above water in broadside.
 The Charleston is built upon the lines of the famous Japanese war-ship Naniwa Kan, con- structed by Armstrong & Co.,, with machinery by the Hawthornes. The Naniwa Kan was
 an improvement on the Esmeraida, built by the same firm for Chi!i, and is said to have made, on her trial, nearly 19 knots Accord ingly, Secretary Whitney bought her plans,
 and these, with slight notifications were
 made the basis of the advertisement for Cruiser No. ?. as the Charle- ton was then called, | which fell to the Union Iron Works of San Francisco in the bidding Her keel was laid last year, and the contract price for hull and | engines was Sl ,O17,50'. She should have been
 completed on the 2Sth of June, according to | her contract, but, like all the other vessels, ! was delayed for reasons which have been fre- | quently explained, the contractors urging that | they could not under the Government tests of steel, receive 1t fast enough for their purpose. | It is point, at all events, in favor of the builders of the Charleston that she Is the first | of the large new vessels to be launched. From | the Iecord of the Naniwa Kan, whose lines and | motive power have been carefully followed, 1t | is believed that the new vessel will be 8 fine | success.