The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1889-10-05

From the New York Times.
In the accounts given in pamphlets,
magazines, or newspapers of the ships-of-
war of the present day many technical
terms are used, and it is not iufrequently
difficult for a layman 10 form a clear idea
of what such ships are like. Thus true
landman can have 40 idea Of what is meant
by saying that the Texas will be "an ar
mored ship Of $500 tons displacement
and 5000 indicated horse power, or that
the Boston, one Of our latest vessels, is a
partially protected cruiser 1t may, there
fore, be not inappropriate to give brief
account Of some OF the different types of
modern war-ships which this country is
building or owns or which are in foreign
navies
An armored ship Is one which is pro-
teeted either along its entire water-line or
along part of it with plates Of iron or
steel Of FROM Is To - or more inches in
thickness.
To say that a ship is of $500 tons dis
placement means that when she floats the
amount Of water displaced by her hull
weighs $500 tons \ ship, however, is
far from thus displacing a-quantity of
water equal 10 her total volume If she
did so she would no longer float except on
level with the surface Of the water. Six
thousand three hundred tons displacement
means that the body Of the ship, roughly
stated, Is about 300 feet long, 90 feet wide,
aud 30 feet high-that is, il means mas
sivc structure Of iron and steel and wood
which occupies as much space as row of
fifteen city houses three stories high, TWEEN
ty feet wide, and three large rooms deep.
This mass is propelled by engines equal
in power to hundred large-sized locomo-
tiyes. IL can be moved at the rate of
eighteen miles an hour, and while it can be
handled in turning To right aud left (or, to
use nautical terms, to starboard or port
with the greatest ease still, should it be
necessary TO stop the ship while going at
full speed, she would travel a mile even
though her engines were reversed.
4 ship like the Texas, which is TO be
bu,lt at Norfolk, and which can be taken
as a typical all-round fighting ironclad, is
built entirely Of iron and steel. The ribs
Of the vessel are steel, her keel is of the
same metal. so, too, the beams of the deck
and the masts. There is a steel deck
{called protective deck running from
stem to stern at about the water-line, and
arched ike a turtles back 1t covers the
engines, boilers, magazines, shell-rooms,
Sc.. aud Is several inches thick.
On the sides of the ship are huge masses
of steel plates II inches thick and 81 feet
high, back of which are 6 inches of wood
and thin plating of iron. OF the armor
of the Texas in smooth water feet would
be above the water-liue and AZ feet below
il. IL is 100 feet long-that is only about
one third Of the vessel is armored. The
rest of the hull or body of the Texas is
unarmored, but on her upper deck (techni-
cally known as the spar-deck) are two cir
cular turrets, the walls of which are con-
posed of twelye-inch steel plates. These
turrets are about twenty-five feet in diam
eter aud somewhat higher than tall man.
The turrets are placed on either side and
near the centre Of the ship, the smokestack
rising between them. Below the turrets
are what are called "redoubts that is,
large oyal-shaped armored chambers, in
which is the machinery for turning the
turret. hosting the shot, and manipulating
the guns. In each turret is one heavy
rifed gun.
During the late war the Union had
many vessels with armor eleven inches
thick. This armor, which was carried on
the turret of the old monitors, was made
up of eleven one-inch wrought-iron plates
Modern armor is usually a solid plate
| rarely two plates one behind the other)
made of metal of quality often as fine a'
that used for penknife.
In 1865 the largest United States gur
aAoat threw shot l5 inches in diameter
weighing 450 pounds, and driven by 3
charge of 80 pounds of powder. Ever
such a shot at the distance of 300 yard,
would not have penetrated the turret of al
old-fashioned monitor A modern gun o
/ a bore of ID inches throws a shot fee
long and 10 inches in diameter, weighin.
nearly ton and requiring a charge in tn,
Gun of about 900 pounds of powder. [
can do what the Swamp Angel could barrel,
accomplish, and throw shell eight mile
without difficulty. At range of a mil
that shot would punch a round hole in al
old-fashioned monitor turret, and would II
all probability leave but slightly ragge'
edge.
Such gun weighs about 80 tons an,
is 40 feet in length. The old l5-incI
smooth-bore guns were about IA feet lon
and weighed about 2l tons. The old gun
fired round shot, the new guns fire
long, pointed shell. These guns are loade
at the breech; the old guns were muzzle
loading cannon, exactly as were those q
the Armada or of the English at Cressy.
The modern gun-carriages are as differ
ent from those carried by our old ships a
are the guns They are of steel and iror
and made up of mass of bearings, crank'
! cog-wheels, and levers, which look bewild