Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-20

X.
Naval officers are just now engaged in guess
ing as to the results Of the recent trial Of the
new cruiser Baltimore. 1t is understood that
the Cramps are claiming that she developed an
indicated horse power of $780, or 500 over her
contract requirement This would give them
premium over and above the contract price
of S5O,0O0, from which must come the penal
ties incurred for overtime and the ex-
penses OF the trial The penalties will
not amount to much more than $4,000 and
the expenses of the trial will be some where in
the same neighborhood. 1t will be remembered
that this is the second official trial and that
there was some dispute at the Navy department
between the officials and the contractors as to
who should pay for the first test The bills for
ing somewhat swelled by an indefinite item
called
STEWARDS ACCOUNT"
This, rumor says, consisted very largely Of
the cost of certain pleasant liquids, which, on
that occasion, flowed quite freely. The condi-
tlors OF ships contracts usually include stip-
ulatlon that the government shall pay for the
successful trial. The contractors urged that
they would not let the vessel go for acceptance
on the basis of the first trial unless the Secre-
tary agreed to pay for that trial. They urged
that they were entitled to a new trial and
nnaliy persuaded the Secretary to approve the
MORE OIL AND LESS WINE.
They utilized. it is said, every possible cent
in the line of improving the service on the
trial, and there were about two hundred men
on board-stokers, oilers and helpers of all
kinds. There were twelve oilers in one engine
room alone. 1t is said that the stewards bill
was much smaller and that the trial, as far as
the offlcers went, was comparatively very dry
one. The result of spending money in the
comes apparent in the increase Of the ships
horse power.
The ship undoubtedly made a fine run, but
there are some things about the trial that are
not generally understood. In the first place
SHE FAILED BADLY
during the last hour of the run owing to the
heating of the main crank pin. 1t grew SO hot
that the engine room water supply was found
insufficient to cool it and an alarm had to be
turned IN. The big deck hose "a inches III
diameter, was brought down, and after playing
on the hot metal some minutes the joint finally
contracted enough to permit the engines to
run at full speed again.
THE AVERAGE SPEED OF THE SHIP
during the run is given by the trial board at
204 knots, as calculated from the indications
given by the patent log used. 1t is said that
the patent log is unreliable and that guess work
corrections have to be made on every run for
inaccuracies.
When Capt. Howison, the president of the
board, was telling the Secretary about the run
Of the Baltimore he mentioned the fact that
8 per cent had been added to the logs record
Tor correction. She logged something under
~ knots, and the correction made it run up to
204. The Secretary asked: "Why did you not
add per cent?
THE QUESTION OF HORSE POWER
Although the contractors claim that the ves-
sci made $500 horse power. officials at the de-
partment think that the figure will not exceed
8, 200. in which case the premiums and the PEN
aitles and trial expenses will just about balance
each other. leaving the contractors profit de-
pendent upon their contract margin. 1t will
be some time before the computations are COM
pleted and the actual figures known.