Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1891-04-11

inc rifles OF thirteen to seventeen inch
calibcr. Her unarmored navy ahoat
contains twelve modern cruisers and
ten gunboats. launched since 1880, and
she has seven cruisers and several gun
boats building. Although two OF her
largest and most powerful battle ships
were launched Us far back as 1868,
they are far from being obsolete.
THE DuILIo
Is such vessel. At the time OF her
launching in 1876 she was the largest
war ship in the world, and when the
Dandolo, her twin, was put afloat in
1873, the two had no near rivals in any
navy. She has displacement of II, 131
tons, and she can carry 1000 tons OF
coal, which will enable her to steam
3, 7G0 knots at speed OF ten knots an
hour. Her maximum speed is fifteen
knots an hour. Her guns are four H.
T2-inch 10O-ton muzZle -loading rifles,
three 4.7-inch breech-loadlng rifles, and
fourteen machine guns. She has also
three fixed torpedo tubes for discharg-
ing Whitehead or other similar tor
pedos. She has twin screws an engines
of 800 horse power.
In the design OF the Duilio and
Dandolo the chief result in view was to
combine the thickest armor and the
most powerful guns ever put into a
ship. 1t was declared impossible that
such heavy armor as was desired should
be used all over the ship, hence the
midship belt on the water line extend
only far enough to protect the engines
and boilers forward and abaft OF the
citadel.
WHAT THE DUILIo CAN DO.
AS the Duilio could train her four
largest guns and two OF the 4.7-inch
guns on an object abeam she could
deliver at one charge about s, 065 pounds
OF metal at an enemy. A range OF at
least twelve miles could probably be
secured with the heaviest OF her guns
by giving sufficient elevation, thus
insuring her power to shell New York
city and Brooklyn from the open sea.
Such elevation could be given only by
beeling the ship over considerably, rs
the normal maximum elevation Is not
more than Is degrees.
The Lepanto, is also one OF q pair, the
Italia being her twin. The Lepanto has
q displacement OF 1850 tons. She is
built OF steel and carries water line
belt OF compound armor amidships six
teen inches thick and central citadel
of compound armor nineteen inches
thick. The arrangement of turret is
similar TO that in the Duillo, but the
fn,,n f,,oV t,NAdntVH 11-fnnh
breech- loading rifles, and she has also
eight 5.9-inch breech-loading rifles,
eighteen machine guns and four torpedo
tubes. Her maximum speed is 1898
knots an hour, and with 1850 tons OF
coal her cruising capacity at ten knots
an hour is S,900miles. She has engines
OF Is, 900 horse power and twin screws.
The weight OF metal deliverable at one
discharge on one beam or the other
would be 1000 pounds for each of the
four 17-inch guns and eighty pounds for
each of the Jour 5.0-inch guns that
would bear, making o total of $500
pounds.
OTHER WAR SHIPS.
Besides these battle ships Italy has
three ships OF generally similar design
to the Duilio, namely--the Andrea
Doria, the francesca Morosini and the
Ruggiero di LAURA; also the Re UNI
berto, somewhat similar to the Lepanto.
The Stella and the Sardegna, building
on the Re Umberto' designs, are not
yet finished.
OF older types Of armnred ships she
has the Affondatore, of 1876 tons; the
Ancona, the Castelfidardo, the Maria
Pia and the San MARITIME, Of about 4, 200
tons each; the Principe Amadeo and
Roma, OF 5,8l4 tons each: the Formula
bile and the Terrible, of 2,735 tons
each, and the Varese of 1900 tons.
Most OF these are about on par with
our old monitors, except that they
carry much better batteries than our
monitors do.
Italy has some OF the finest cruisers
in the world, notably the Piemonte and
the Giavanni Bausan.