New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-14
WORK AT THE NAVY YARD.
NEW CRUISERS FITTING OUT FOR SEA.
TO MAKE TESTS OF THEIR MERITs-sCHEME TO
USE OLD MONTTORS-AN ADDITION

TO MAKE TESTS OF THEIR MERITs-sCHEME TO
USE OLD MoNIToRs-AN ADDITION
TO THE PLANT.
One subject to which attention is being paid
mt the Navy Yard IS the fitting of tn"
hegv cruisers for sea. Orders have BEEN
received to have the new cruisers now in
the yard ready for sea by the last Of this month
These vessels will then, in succession, go to Mar
ragansett Bay TO undergo trials of speed and tests
| IN tactical manocuvrcs One object of this is to
see how the vessels " hold OUT whether, after
they have been lying in the Navy Yard for some
time since their first trials and after having done
active service as some have done, these vessels
develop the speed and show the results for which
they were intended. The Boston will probably
be the first vessel to go TO NarraGansctt Bay for
this purpose and then will follow the Atlanta the
| Chicago and the Yorktown, in turn.
The steel cruiser Boston is now in the dry-docl1.
Her bottom is to be scraped and painted, ana Il
little packing to her engines is to be done. She
will probably come out of the dry-dOck, into when
she went on Friday, about the last Of this week
The Navy dispatch boat Despatch will then be
put into the dock to have one blade of her pro-
peller Strengthened She will then come ont of
the dock and will probably go to Washington.
THE YORKTOWN WAITING FOR COAL.
The new steel gunboat Yorktown has not yet
received her COAL but it is expected that she
will be coaled in the early part of this week.
Last Monday coal was lying alongside of her,
and il was expected that it would be put on board
during the week, but as her coal-bunlzers leaked
il became necessary to calk and paint them. This
has been done, and when the coal arrives it will
DO put on board. The vessel will then be ready
to go to sea for her tral-not of her guns only,
| hint a1So fo tpSto f
| The orders to Commander Chadwick give him dis
| eliminating power to extend the cruise until
October J. but he will probably not do that, since
| the secondary battery OF the vessel has not been
mounted. The uotchkiss Company, however, has
| given notice that the rapid-frng guns will not
, be ready before September. In the sea trial it
is the purpose put the vessel into heavy weather,
| if possible in order to determine how well she
can manoeuyre under all circumstances, and to
determine any weakness of structure or fittings,
and also to have further test Of her metacentre
and of her stability by broadsidc firing of her
| guns.
| The data Of the recent series OF
mctacentric tests of the Yorktown have
been worked out ready for making a re-
port 10 the Navy Department 1t war
| the first experiment OF this kind ever held on
the new class OF ships, and the results were more
satisfactory than was anticipated. The conclusion
reached placed the height of her metacentric point
above the centre Of gravity 1904 feet. and sus-
| tans the assertion of Naval Constructor HOoner
that she has little metacentre height. This also
| speaks well for the stability of the vessel The
Yorktown has received an excellent library. 1T
comprises 500 volumes of standard worlIs-his-
torical literary, works, professional text
books. reference books on international law. etc.
| PAINTING THE CHICAGO.
| The hull of the Chicago now presents an APP
| pearance somewhat like that OF the Atlanta few
weeks ago That is her black hull is daubed in
| patches with red lead. This is done preparatory
to painting her white. This work is to be begun
tomorrow. and in short time the giant warship
Chicago, too, will bear the distinct Naval color
IL has been found that the steel boats, especially
| in hot climates have, when painted black, been
| unnecessarily not.
| When il was announced few days ago that
Secretary Tracy had ordered one OF the gun car
| riageS of the Chicago 10 be sent TO the Annapolis
| Proving Grounds for competitive test with new
| pneumatic carriage, there was an lhdulgthce OF
| some gratuitOuS and unfavOrable criticism that
there should be this expense of shipment when
there were 50 many other gun carriages, any one
| of which, the critics suggested, might he used.
| The fact is that the one sent is the best eight
! inch handgear gun carriage in the Navy, having a
hydraulic recoi check. 1t is TO be erected on the
| same platform on which the pneumatic
gun carriage was tested, for the pur-
pose OF having the same tests APP
| Piled to it, The contract with the Pneu-
matte Gun Carriage Company is that its carriage
shall be equal in every respect to the best
eight-inch gun carriage in the service" II the
| pneumatic carriage is approved 1t is proposed to
| make use of it for utilizing the old monitors,
which Secretary Whitney in his last report, pro-
| posed to condemn as obsolete.
TO USE THE OLD MONITORS:
| The plan is to remove the turrets ard put
| two large guns each upon disappearing carriage,
| in the hull. These guns % be sighted and
| aimed by the aid Of mirrors, and all the opera
| tons of leading and working the gun will be
| done below the water line When the gun is ready
to be fired il is TO be hOlsed by pneumatic power
| fired and brought back by its own recoil TO tho
| original position the entire process requiring
| about three seconds of time and the guns can
be revolved so that there may be n fire from all
| points. Owing to the low freeboard of the
monitor the only target at which an enemy may
| fire. excepting the smo<e-ppe and pllot-hOuse,
| is the gum and as it rises only TO be fired and
| then sinks back again, the gun will be visible
| for about three seconds only. IL is maintained
that with this system OF gun carriages the thirteen
singc-turreted monitors can be transformed INTO
thirteen first-class novel submarine batteries.
The dispatch boat Dol phin, which has been max.
ing "A cruise around the world, WAS at LeghOrn
few days ago, and it is expected that she will
arrive here in two months.
The guns and mOrtars, OF which there about
l. 500 lying on the Ordnance Dock are TO be
painted Prominent among these are the 20.inch
guns the largest smoOth-bore guns ever east.
These are three in number, the Moloch, Lucifer
and Satan
4 NEW BANK TO OPEN ITS DOORS TOMORROW.
The new bank, TO be known a. the seventeenth
Ward Bank which has been organized during the last
"a ~