The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-04-02
1rALx's lRos-clADs AND CRUISERS.

ITALY'S lRON-CLADS AND CRUISERS.
No Man-of-war Ahoat More Formidabls
or Carrying Heavier Gums.
Many people have an erroneous idea
of the Italian navy. While it does not
contain as many ships as the navy of
England or that of France, it has proba-
bly, the most generally efficient vessels
afioat, say the New York Herald. Italy
did not begin to build her new vessels
until the experiments made by other ma
tions had enabled her to decide upon
types that, even in the light of more
modern naval constructions, are among
the most formidable in the world. She
has. either finished or well advanced,
twenty-five armored ships. Of these,
ten are modern build, havinga displace-
meEls Of II 900 tons or more each. They
have speed OF more than 151a knots,
and carry the heaviest guns afoat,
namely, Armstrong breechloading rifles
of Is to IL calibre. Her unarmored navy
af1oat contains twelve modern cruiseIs
and ten gunboats, launched since 1880,
and has seven cruisers and seven gun
boats building.
Italy has not only been shrewd enough
to take advantage of the best designs of
other nations, but has been even in ad-
vance of the other maritime powers in
some of her naval productions. Thus,
although two of her largest and most
powerful battle ships were launched as
far back as 1S76-78, they are far from
being obsolete.
ONE OF HER BATTLE SHIPS.
The Duilio is such vessel. At the
time of her lynching in 1876 she was the
largest warship in the world, and when
the Dandolo, her twin, was put afloat in
fho fxx-n had v-1xr lo
navy. The Duilio has displacement of
IL. .lSS tons, and she can carry 1000 tons
of coal, which will enable her to steam
$3.50 knots at speed of ten knots an
hour. Her maximum speed is fifteen
knots. Her dimensions are: Length,
$40 feet II inches; beam, "a feet 9inches
draft, 26 feet inches, She is built of
iron and steel, and carries water-line
belt of armor amidships 211s inches
ship citadel Is inches thick. Her guns
are four 17-72-inch 100-ton muzzle load
ing rifles, three 4-7-inch breech-loading
rifles, and fourteen machine guns. She
has also three fixed torpedo tubes for
discharging Whitehead or other similar
torpedoes. 1t is intended to replace the
muzzle-loading heavy guns with 17-inch
breech-loading rifles of 104.3 tons weight
each. She has twin screws and engines
of 1900 horse power.
In the design of the Duilio and Dandolo
the chief result in view was to combine
the thickest armor and the most power
full guns ever put into a ship. 1t was
clearly impossible that such heavy armor
as was desired should be used all over
the ship; hence the midship belt on the
water-line extends only far enough to
protect the engines and boilers forward
and abaft of the citadel.
THE ARMoR AND GUNS.
The citadel containing the two turrets
carries the protection amidships up to
the base of the turrets, and all the rest
of the craft is unarmored. The turrets
are on opposite sides of the deck, the
port one being aft and the starboard one
being forward, thus giving the latter a
fire straight ahead and around most of
the circle, while the port one has
similar fire right aft. The heaviest
guns are placed in pairs in the turrets.
She has one military mast or tower
amidships.
The armor piercing projectile of 17.72-
inch gun, propelled by 551 pounds of
powder, weighs 1000 pounds and con-
of powder. The common shell has the
same weight, but contains bursting
charge of IS pounds. The initial
velocity of the projectile is 100 feet a
second and the muzzle energy is 10000
foot-tons.
gEIt the l7-inch breech- loading rifles the
firing charge is 900 pounds of powder;
the initial volicity is 1892 feet, and the
muzzle energy is 90 900 foot-tons.
The 4.7-inch guns carry a projectile
weighing 32.4 pounds, having muzzle
velocity of 1915 feet a second.
SS5zThe 17-72 inch projectile has the
power on leaving the gun to penetrate
2S.5 inches of wrought iron and the II
inch projectile 33.7 inches of wrought
iron.