The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1890-12-05
THs MIsrREss oF rHE sEA.
A Cruiser whose speed ana Strength
Wtii stand Second 70 None.

The swifiest. most destructive. and
most formidable naval vessel In the
world is now being PLANNED bv the
bureau OF steam engineering at Wash
ington. says the n. Y. Times. When
completed II viii not only be n triumph
OF American ship-building. but IL will
have embodied ali ihosc essentials of
phlsion, oilensiveness aud defensiye-
ness which have long been recognized
by the nayies of the world as eombin-
ing the factors necessary TO maximum
efficiency in naval architecture. This
vessel Is the Z 3OO-ton, ,three-scrpty conn
merce destroyer.
Her chief Junction being the Sweep
lag from the seas Of an enemv's com
merce, she Is primarily designed for
speed. To do her work well She must
be able TO overhaul in an ocean race
the swiftest passenger steamships be-
tween New York aud Queenstown. III
the plans on which she is designed are
faithfully carried out she must not only
make the present transatlantic record
of days, 19 hours. and minutes, but
she must break IL down to days aud
a fraction of an hour.
All this is 10 be done by eombina-
ton of perfected machinery such IA
has never before been designed. She
Is full of intricate nleehanism from
stem TO stern. There are ten boilers.
Six of these are d0uble-ended. l5f
feet Ia diameter las p Ia feet long.
Two others are IL 2-3 feet IN diameter
by Is IA feet long. and the remaining
two. which are singie-en,led are 10 feet
IA diameter by 8 feet long These
boilers are made 0i steel aud they car
~ pressure of I6O pounds. Eight Of
the largest boilers are built in air and
water-ti.ht compartments, into which
there Is forced n draught of 216. 500
cubic feet of air per minute when run
ming at full speed
HE efficiency Of the mechanism OF
the cummerce-destroye is best shown
by comparison with certain features
OF the Philadelphia. which Is now "A re-
preventative OF the finest type of ship
III the United States navy. The total
CRATE surface of the PHILADELPHIA. for
instance. is G2f square feet; that of the
commerce-destroyer Is |. 2S5 square
feet. The total heating surface of
the Philadelphia IS 20. 457 square feet:
that OF the eommerce-destroye Is ~.
39l.4 square feet. Thus IL is seen that
the new ship will be n grand steu
toward the rebuilding of the navy that
was once mistress OF the seas The
engines are three in number. consist
ing of vertical .riple-expansion cylin-
ders each (which develops 7. 900 horse
power and drives separate screw.
They have all the same stroke. 42
inches. and the diameters of the high.
intermediate, aud low-pressure criin- |
ders are 42.59 and 90 inches. respective |
ly. Under full pressure each of the
three screws should turn at the rate of |
rs revolutions per minnte. On the |
City of Paris 30 revolutions was the |
maximum in her record breaking trim. |
The shafts are made of forged steel. |
l6.5 inches in diameter. Lightness |
being the great essential to speed steel |
Is used wherever IL is possible. The |
three-screw idea originated with Chief /
Melville with a view to avoid
ing II possible the heavy shaftiug W which /
would have been necessary had only /
two screws been used. In the latter /
case 10000 horse power would have /
been transmitted by a single shaft. |
while In the three-screw arrangement I
only Q. 500 horse power passes through |
each shaft As shown in the CITY of /
Paris accident the strain on the heavy /
is tremendous. aud the conse-
quences of a breakdown are dread
ful. One other reason why Mr.. Mel
vile evolved the three-shaft scheme
was the fact that the ship had to be en-
tirely American made. and there are
grave doubts rs to the ability of |
american manufacturers to guarantees
so enormous 4 forcing.