New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-02-16
TESTING NEW VESSELS.

Secretary Whitney'S first gunboat, the York
town. has been subjected TO an official test
with results that are apparently satisfactory.
The designed horse power was $500, but the
contractor was only required by contract to
guarantee 5000 horsepower and speed OF
I6 knots. The reports Of her performance on
her trial trip indicate that she has exceeded
the contract requirements in horsepower, and
it il confidently predicted that her speed Will
exceed what has been guaranteed. We hope
that the official reports will confirm IN every
particular the favorable estimates formed by
the correspondents and interested spectators,
but prefer TO suspend Judgment until the re-
suits have been worked out mathematically by
the Government engineers and the facts are
authoritatively known. The first accounts Of
trial trip are invariably written in the in
teIest Of the contractors, who are naturally
anxious to put their ship in the best possible
light. Such testimony is to be received with
reserve.
Without desiring to disparage the dynamite
cruiser Vesryius in any respect, we dcprecatc
the eXtIavagant praise bestowed upon this novel
experiment in naval architecture. She has
been described in Congress as superior in speed
10 the DcStructor twln-Screw torpedo vessel
built on the Clyde for the Russian Government.
This is not true The NeSuviuS made tritle
over , 1 IL knots on her squirting" trial trip.
The DeStructor on her first trial ran 81 .68
knots in three hours or an average OF 22.o6
knots; and on her second trial 6o.Oi knots or
at the rate Of 22.6S knots per hour. Alter
her acceptance she made "A twenty -four hours
run in a rough sea with strong wind, and
exceeded 90 knots an hour. The NeSuvluS
may be us fast a ship. but the fact has not been
demonstrated Indeed, she has not yet been
subjected to the precise tests required by the
contract. These were a run over twenty
mile course: or two runs, one each way, over
ten mile course; or four runs over one
mile course, two each way, the valves
being set at the beginning OF the trial, and
not touched until the completion of the four
runs. These conditions have not been adj
hered to in the official trial Of the vessel. This
point is worthy of note, since Secretary Whit
ney has magnifed the importance OF rigid
construction of naval contracts
The twenty-mle and ten-mile courses hay
ing pcen discarded. the Department substi-
tuted two and a half miles for the single mile
and reduced the number Of turns from four to
| two. There was no difference in the distance
run since the contract virtually called for what
was emiyalent with the turns TO five mile
straightayvav course: but the variations were
in the contractors favor. Steam was bottled
up and the run made in one direction. Then
an interval was allowed, during which the
steam pressure was allowed to rise to 10
pounds in boilers designed for 100 pounds, and
the vessel was spoeded on the return run
This was a very different test from that re-
quired by the contract, in which no interval
was allowed for increasing the pressure arti-
/ ficially at the halfway stage. The Depart
ment, in dispensing with the continuous trial
with valves untouched from beginning to end
! favored the contractors.
That the horsepower Of the Nesuvius ex-
ceeded that which was guaranteed there is no
shadow Of doubt: but there is reason TO be
| leye that her speed has been oyerratcd in con-
sequence of the "Spurting'' nature of her trial.
Moreover the selected indicator cards from
which the horsepower was computed were
| taken by the contractors and the engineering
DEPARTMENT was not represented in an official
capacity There was an engineer inspector on
board but merely as a spectator. 1t was GER
tanly remarkable that engineers were not on
duty as inspectors, and furnished with a
simultaneous series of Indicator cards which
would have enabled them to work out the re-
suits independently Of the contractors series.
In vessels built for speed the machinery ought
TO be inspected on trial trip by experts Of
the engineering bureau of the Department.
We are glad to notice that engineers were on