Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-08-29
ENGLAND'S NEW WAR-SHlP.
Successful Launching OF an interesting
Ship-Features that Are OF Par
ticular Note.

ticular Note.
A special steamer left the Speakers Stars
in London recently for Blackwell. for the
purpose of conveying nlmber OF guests
10 witness the launching of the first class
protected British cruiser Blenheim. As the
Steamer passed down the river it was OBJ
served. saws a writer in the London Times.
that "at many a waterside establishment
flags had been hoisted in honor OF the
event of the day, and finally, when the
backward of the Thames Company was
reached, the huge hull of the new vessel
dominating the whole scene. was the centre
Of interest. There was half an hour or
more in which to examine the new war
shin before the ceremony of launching
came. and the time was none too long.
1.-The lines of the Blenheim were univer-
sally admired. She is 375 feet long between
perpendiculars. 65 feet broad amidships,
SO feet deep: her draught of water Is 20
feet inches. and her displacement 5000
tons. She is in many respects similar TO
the Warrior, the first armor-clad seagolng
vessel ever built, which was launched from
the backward of the same company thirty
wears AGO. The Warrior had the same
drauqht, was feet longer, but feet mar
rover. and her displacement was 8, 1927 tons,
and the designers claim that the extra
width given to the Blenheim, although 1t
would have been unsuitable to the War
rior, which was built for sailing purposes
as well as for steaming, has enabled them
TO give finer lines to the ends OF the new
vessel. Experience has shown such lines
to be necessary in a vessel built for great
speed, and the Blenheim is to be, before
all things, d vessel of high speed IN her
character of protected and protecting crul-
ser.
1.-THE triple-expansion engines of the
Blenheim, by Messrs. Humphreys, Tenant
& Co., are TO be 10000 indicated horse
mower, as against 5000 Indicated horse
mower in the case of the Warrior; her
trial speed is to be 90 knots as against the
IA knots of the earlier vessel, and her ave-
rage speed 1914 knots III smooth water.
1t will thus be seen, on. compari.
son instituted between the first OF
iron-clad sea-going vessels ana the
most powerful and the, most speedy
OF modern cruisers, that the lines
chosen in 1890 indicate something Gp-
proaching return to those which were
selected in 1860, and that the chief differ
epce between the old and the new is 10 be
found in an increase of beam, which, to-
gether with the facts that the hull is lighter
in the new vessel than in the Old by rea-
son partly of the large use OF steel IN her
composition, gives capacity for carrying
engines of fourfold greater power and for
an abundant coal supply. For such en-
gines and for such coal-storing capacity
there is absolute necessity in the case of
a vessel which is intended to be the fast
est cruiser afioat.
MIR. Whites design was based upon the
desire to make the new vessel superior TO
all rivals not only in speed and coal-carry-
ing capacity, but also In horizontal armor
protection. Hence the armor, weighing
some eleven hundred and ninety tons, is
principally concentrated upon the pro-
tective deck. The hull is constructed of
steel upon the usual cellular system.
The hold-space is subdivided minute
ly by water-tight bulkheads and decks.
There is cellular double bottom.
| The inner protective deck. which has
| for those looking into the interior from
| above the appearance Of second vessel
incased in that which IL visible from with
out, consisting of q roof OF curved steel
covering the hold from stem to stern, the
caves OF the root. so to speak. being six and
| one-balf feet below, while the top rises
| one and one-half feet above the water line.
This sharply curving deck IL six inches
thick over the machinery and engines, and
three inches thick elsewhere. The vitals
of the ship-the propelling apparatus,
steering-gear, magazine, and shell rooms
Will III DC OCnC0t1 Tvs PiOtottAOH. Aht
Blenheim carries no vertical side armor
indeed. the principle Of vertical side-armor
seems to have been discredited. since il is
| not to be found in the majority of cruisers
recently built or as yet unfinished.
"A slight change in the plan for the
armament OF the vessel appears TO have
been made within the last week or so. In
the invitation addressed BY the company
TO their guests 1t was thus described: Two
22-ton and ten 6-inch breech-loading guns,
sixteen 3-pounder quick-fring guns, one
1-inch and seven 0.l5-inch Nordenfeldt
guns, and four N-inch Whitehead torpedo
tubes. Information was supplied on Sat
urday TO the effect that the heavy guns
were to be ALTON instead Of Eaton guns,
carried on the upper deck - bow and
stern chssers, with large horizontal arcs OF
command; that the eipch guns would be
6ton guns, intended ultimately 10 be
quick hrers. OF which the weight, with
ammunition, would b. equivalent 70 TWEEN.
" dx.inch sssvioe .euaS of The pattern