Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-07-17
A DYNAMITE SHIP
UNCLE SANS LITTLE CRUISER,
THE vEsUvIUs.
Great Speed, Small Exposure and
Powerful Projectiles Make Her
Practically Invincible.

@AcSeS@hy AANAhClDAcs
Uncle Sans latest addition to his navy.
the dynamite cruiser Vesuvius, is alone
in the world, the first born of the era
when ships as well as men must fight
without armor. The days of bearing
! armor plates are numbered with her
birth. What was new yesterday in the
naval world is old to-day, but America,
few though her ships may be, is never
theless in advance of ell the fighting ma
tons of Europe in fighting material.
America stands alone as the possesser of
a dynamite ship.
The Vesuvius is more than match for
the greatest British leviathans, and there
is no British gunboat capable of pursu-
ing and shelling Uncle Sans little wasp
ish vessel. Heavy guns may belch forth
their projectiles, but, thousand chances
to one, not single shot will strike the
Vesuvius in whole days firing. So slim
is she that trying to demolish her appears
to be very much like a man endeavoring,
at long range, to hit dime on the edge.
In length she is 252 1-S feet, while her
beam is only 26 feet inches, and with
speed of twenty-five knots an hour, with
out being in any way heavily taxed, she
is model light infantry skirmisher of
the sea. No big ships can keep her out
OF range, other than by torpedo boats,
and not at all, indeed, provided she be
in the charge of dashing and skillful off
GERS. A whole fleet may endeavor to
rake her, but their efforts will be useless,
and once she can challenge the enemy
from a mile distance their surrender or
destruction must follow.
There is no erring in the work of the
Vesuvius, and no ship will want to meet
a second discharge of 900 pounds of dy-
namite from any one of her guns. Practi-
cally, this black painted, piratical look
ing little ship is floating gun-carriage,
which is, to all intents and purposes, in
destructible. The innocent looking
wooden decks are mere masks. Beneath
the shell work of planks is the protecting
steel. The curvature of the steel deck is
such that the projectiles from the en-
emy's guns are more likely to strike and
glance off harmlessly than to infIct in
jury. Even should this upper deck be
injured it would not materially affect the
fighting power of the ship, since the mid
die and lower decks are of similar mate
rial, and with middle and upper decks
torn away the men at the guns would
still be under sloping roofs of steel,
which even 81 or 100 ton guns might
batter in vain.
That these decks would be at all in
jured is, of course, highly improbable,
and in the hottest fight the captain
might sit and smoke his pipe and manip-
ulate his guns and ship, safely seated in
his steel fighting turret. With the ex-
ception of the captain not soul may stir
from below, no matter how the battle
RACES. In this turret is the steering gear
and the levers for discharging the guns.
Away to the front, in the bow Of the
ship, are these three formidable things,
not at all deadly looking, but rather ap-
pearing as lowered tunnels set in the
wrong place. They are at an angle of
sixteen degrees with the deck, and would
certainly never be suspected by the unin-
itiated of being the most destructive guns
in existence.
How do you load them 2 There they
are, fixed right in the deck, and there is,
apparently, no possible way of making
them ready for action other than through
the muzzle. Seek the middle deck, and
there are the guns coming right through,
and evidently fixed in this deck. And
still there is nothing to solve the mystery.
Still another descent, and then one finds
the guns, after running length of sixty
feet, terminating in the loading chamber
in labyrinth Of cranks and pipes and
wheels, as mysterious looking as well
may be, and having little meaning for
anybody other. than the inventors and
the experts who will bring them into
use.
To the rear Of the guns, in the engine
room, is the reservoir from which they
receive the compressed air used in dis
charging them. Through these many
little pipes and big ones the air is forced
till the guns are fully supplied. The por-
tions of the guns in this loading chamber
are detachable, and, by means of levers
easily handled, may be lowered to the
deck. On this level, in front of them,
are the magazines, or revolving chambers,
which contain the long dynamite shells.
From these chambers the shells are shot
into the sections of the guns, which are
then elevated to their original positions,
and all is in readiness for the operation
of. the man in the fighting turret on the
upper deck.
He, by using the levers at his hand,
admits the requisite quantity of com
pressed air, indicators in front of him
guiding him in his work. Again he
touches the levers and the terrible pro-
jectiles have sped on their mission of de-
struction. The quantity of air used
varies according to distance, and pres
sure OF 1000 pounds to the square inch
is considered sufficient to send the dyna-
mite the distance of mile. In the tests
made before the ship was taken into the
service, pressureas high as 8, 500 pounds
was successfully ventured upon.
The cylinders in the loading chamber
contain, as rule, thirty-six projectiles,
that is, twelve to each gun, and in action
they revolve and shoot the charges into
the guns with the rapidity and ease of
revolving cannon. The work of loading
and raising what may be termed the
,bfeeches of the guns IS matter of Sec
onds and five shots a minute is not con-
sidered at all an extraordinary perform
ance. The weight of dynamite shell,
such as shall be used by the Vesuvius, is,
all told, $50 pounds.