Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1891-04-06
IrALY's IROSCLADs AND CRUISERS
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Many people have an erroneous
idea Of the Italian navy. While it
does not contain As many ships - the
navy Of England, or that Of France, it
has probably the most generally eff
Client vessels afloat, says the New York
Herald. Italy did not begin to build
her new vessels until the experiments
made by other nations had enabled
her to decide upon types that, even in
the light Of more modern naval con-
st'uction, are among the most formi.
dable in the world. She has, either
finished or we'll advanced, twenty. two
armored ships. OF these ten are
modern built, having = displacement
Of IL 600 tons or more each. They
have . speed Of more than ISL knots,
and carry the heaviest guns sfloat,
namely, Armstrong brsechloading
rifles Of IL to II inches calibre. Her
unarmored navy adoat contains twelve
modern cruisers and ten gunboa,s,
launched since 1880, aud she has
seven cruisers and seven gunboats
building.
Italy has not only been shrewd
enough to take advantage Of the best
designs Of other nations, but has even
been in advance of the other mari
time powers IN some Of her naval pro-
ductions. Thus, although two OF her
largest and most powerful battle ships
we're launched as far back Is 1876 IS,
they are far from being obsolete.
ONE OF HER BATTLE SHIPS.
The DuiIio is such . vessel. At
tho time Of her launching in 1876 she
was the largest war ship IN the world,
and when the Dandolo, her twin, was
put aaoat in 1873. the two had no
near rivals in any navy. The Duilio
has . displacement Of 11.188 tons,
and she can carry 1000 tons of coal,
which will enable her to steam $500
knots At . speed of ten knots an hour.
Her maximum speed is fifteen knots.
Her dimensions are: Length, $40
feet IL inches; beam ga feet 8 inches;
draft, rs feet Z inches. She is built
of iron and steel, and has wster.line
belt of armor am,dships 2l4 inches
thick, and armer on her turrets and
midship citadel Is inches thick. Her
guns are four ~ 72-inch lOO-ton
muzzie loading rifles, three 4.7-inch
breech>loading rifles, and fourteen
machine guns. She has also three
fixed torpedo tubes for dischareing
Whitehead or other similar torpedoes.
1t il int nded to replace the muzzle.
loading heavy guns with 17.inch
breech loading rifles OF l04.3 tons
weight each. She has twin sore VS.
and engines OF $500 horse. power.
In the design of the Duilio and
Dandolo, the chief design in view
was to combine the thickest armor
and the most powerful guns ever put
into q ship. 1t was clearly impossi.
BILE that such heavy armor as was de.
sired should be used all owe, the ship;
hence the midshlp belt on the water
line extends only far enough to pro.
tect the engines and boilers forward
and abaft Of the citadel.
THE ARMOR AND GUNS.
The citadel containing the two
turr Is carries the protection amid
ships up to the base of the turre,s,
and all the rest of the craft is unar.
mored. The turrets are on the oppo-
site sides OF the deck. the port one
being aft and the starboard one for.
ward. 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 amid.
ships.
The armor piercing projectile Of the
l7.72-inch gun. propelled by 55l
pounds of powder, weighs 1000
pounds and contains bursting charge
of 81 pounds of powder. The com.
mon shell has the same weight, bu,
contains . bursting charge of 70
pounds. The initial velocity of the
projectile is 100 fee. q second and
the muzzle energy is 10000 foot tons.
The 4.7-inch guns carry a project.
lie weighing 32.4 pounds, having a
muzzle velocity of l345 feet second.
The 17.72.inch projectile has the
power on leaving the gun to penetrate
% 5 inches of wrought iron and the
l7,inch projectile 1871 inches of
wrought iron.
TREMENDOUS BROADsIDE.
As the Duilio could train her four
largest guns and two of the finch
guns on an object abeam she could
deliver At one discharge about SO65
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 q sufi lent