New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-07
WORK Ar THE NAVY YARD,
4 v1sIr FROM THE NEW SECRETARY.


EXPERIMENTS WITH GUN SPECULATION
ABOUT THE yANT1e-THE c1iNTEN:
NAL CELEBRATION.
with the exception Of William E. Chandler. per-
hans, the Navy Department has not hao an
executive so familiar with maritime AFFAIRS slnce
President Grant made Adolph f. Borle secretary
Of the Navy on March s. 1869, as General b. T.
T,acy The Federal Government has had men
holdinr high Office who were unfamiliar WIN
sha suyronnines Of their official departments ana
even with the White House, but when Secretary
Tracy visits the Navy Yard tomorrow 1or the
rst time in his official capacity, he viii not need
,,s ana IN show him where the shops are, where
Tho drv-6ocl is or where the ships generaiy ne'
Nor will he need any one to explain 70 MN One
a;r..sn, narts Of a vessel The Navy Yard IN
p,os,,vn has been visited by him before now,
80 an,,, ss a citizen of Brooklyn, to see ana
- s5oDs IN his friends the things there IL is
-. .,,a. be NAV be received by the officers ana
,,ar;nes in full uniform or that ne moS "e
honored with the regulation salute OF nlneUeen
ouns that Secretary Tracy will Viso the Nag
Wand tomorrow but that he may In.in@S
aeauaint himself with the condition OF 'ne ooY-
eminent property, and that ne may oD',n p
sonal knowledge as to how nearly reauy Luz
fna
xvor,r is going ahead on the new armorco CRUISER
syssna and the double-turreted MONITORS
sr;artcnomsh and Terror; the condition OF inc
- t,,r,eted monitor Nantucket the torpeoo
800 Intrepid and Alarm, and the old reoei'ine
49,, vermont: and what progress has been W"oe
Ter +be new dry-dock now in course Oh oOH-
struction =, a. & nractically
a., ,.r 500 and he will find that there mas Oeen
- doIiberate delay in getting her reaoy oe0"uoe
80 the apprehension felt that she may DC seiiS "
~ 1,bance she so recently came with yehow
go. -, heard If it is thought to be to the oen"
=. a. ser,,ice and necessary TO protect tne
..s.o-;.a,, interests at Hayti to send her TO th"O
.,o.t bsr officers will not orally protest. ZOE "neS
,,,o chat H. is for them 70 obey, not 10 conln'nO
=, - hofeved. however, that she will be KepO hete
a. to,,o nart in the centennial celebration. DO
too, with the new cruiser Boston. one 10 prov
t;callv ready for seq service, or could 10 ""~
readv 70 90 to sea in few days; bnt she alSo ii
he kept here for the great demonstration On Apit'
80 and May /. oio1
The Dispatch, which is in commission OH speTi%-
service on the Atlantic coast, has had
renairs made to her machinery ana mas been feno-
vated and repainted throughout She Will remain n
here until after the cent? nnlal, anu Oh Aprl %
viii be sent to Elizabethport TO oflng I,
tIar,rison and the Cabinet to New-York. The Cnl-
- Iii bo rea5v for sea as soon the last OF
ber s-ineh guns arrives here from Annapolis
r,ovino ground. which is expected within the
,,ox, two weeks Meanwhile little work is beng
sona unon her by the construction department.
Int notwithstanding the fact that the steerase
/, oeH.cra expected that Captain Robesons RECON-
mondations for additional quarters tor then az
commodation would he approved sfter ms reSSnn
from Washington they have as yee nearu .t o tS
ahout the matter and are still IN ooauo 10 "
whether additional quarters will be given TO them
on the orlop deck. ,, - uooor,nan
The compasses of the Chicago were recompe pen
sated while the vessel was lying at the docks ana
when a Iarge amount of ballast iron, whlcn hau
been put on board pre- vious TO her speed uIaI, w
in her II was found that the PoSilon sg he;Sra
fcr her standard pinnacle On the aIteI pIiuSe
yvnild not do as the compass was aHectcd oy Ihc
magnetic fluid of the dynamos. 1T mas peeh ue
cided 10 change the position further alI Oh
The work on the srmored cruiser
Maine makes progress slowly but Sufsy,
and so many Of her frames nave . oeen
.b curing n launch Ssr in smother eighteen
months are brighter. If the contractors had not
been dealt with so leniently last fa and winter In
the matter of delivery of material and II the GOV
srnment had REQUIRED the promptneSs which civil
lynne reouire the vessel wOnld have been 1urther
advanced toward completion ,,,
The double-turreted monitor Miantonoman,
raIrodretlon Of the vessel which crossed the ocean
and visited many Of the principal ports IN huIope
iust after the War is little further advanced IMAM
she was four years ago Iof2e ge 81 men ready TO
put in the new turrets. The keel Tor the present
vessel was laid in 1874, and while she win De,
when completed Of the same TYPE Sa9 as the ed
vessel the huh of the new ship IS OF iron, WIN
a double bottom. One of her l0inch guns lot
the turrets is now at the Annapolis proving sroGn
of powder ever discharged from any gun al any
one time in this country. The quantity OF powder
used was 2S6 pounds, and did not cause tne @aSC
injury to the gun or to the carriage IL IS SAID,
however, that the conclusion was terrlole, shaK-
ing the very earth about the gun, but as every
qne was at safe distance no person secelSs g amy
at the Washington Gun Foundry, but unui Ine
new machinery arrives there, sometime in May
the foundry will not be put on tnli tm e. w,.r
tonomah is not SO far advanced. Everything is
being made ready TO push work upon her when
$ nut on there ia much that will need to be done
upon the machinery.
The new dry dock is getting along favorably
and begins to resemble dock IL was eontrscsed
be finished within the stipulated time of two years
Il is TO be 500 feet in length.
The Destroyer, the last invention OF war.
weapon by Captain Ericsson, which IL was demon.
strafed could fire submarine torpedo from com:
pressed air gun or by the .E use y. OF
Yard Secretary Tracy win give attention to this
boat tomorrow.
Ia addition to the vessels now at the Navy
Yard, which are to take part in the Centennial
Resr-Adn,lral Gherardi Is now on his way north
With the Galens: the Atlanta has been ordered
here from Aspinwall; the new gunboat Yorktown
* ordered 20 be here at that time; the kearsarge
OF Aiabsma-sinldng fame. is on her way here from
the South Atlantic; and the Brooklyn. on her re-
turn from China, win no doubt be here. The
Austrian rnan-of-war Saida, which is making
cruise ABOUND the world, Is on her way here from
kew-Orleans. She is frigate Of 2.44o TONS and
win 20 from here to Boston
Notwithstanding reports to the contrary, there
have been no discharges for political reasons at
Che Navy Yard.
TIE BRYANT LITERARY SOCIETY.