Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-02-10
A MONSTER VESSEL.
HOW THE NAVY WILL BE REPRESENT
EDAT THE WORLDS FAIR.
Made Of Brick and Mortsr-Guns OF Ce-
ment-To show How Naval Yes
sci IL Managed.
Washington Star.


line battle-ships now being constructed
at Philadelphia and San Francisco after
the design of the Bureau OF Construction.
A aar reporter was informed by Captain
Meade. the naval member of the Govern
meut Board of Control. that the battle
shin of 1898 will be erected on piling on
the lake-tront in the northeast corner OF
jackson Park, and being surrounded by
water will have the appearance OF being
moored to a wharf. II is to have all the
fittings that belong to the actual ship,
such as guns, turrets, torpedo tubes. torpe-
do nets and booms, with boats. an
chors. chain cables, dayits, avn
ings, deck fittings, DC, together with
ali appliances for working the same. ON;
GERS. seamen. mechanics, and marines VIII
be detailed by the Navy Department du,,
mode of life on our naval vessels will be
completely shown, The detail of men will
not. however, be az great as the compile
ment of the actual ship. the object being
mainly to have expert janltors and show
men for the valuable public property. 1t
is expected, however, to give certain drills,
especially boat. torpedo, and gun-drills, as
in a vessel of war. The structure will
therefore serve the double. purpose OF
housing the naval exhibit and illustrating
the manner in which the men OF our navy
live.
The dimensions will be those of the &C
tual battle-ship: Length, 3i3 feet, and
width amid ships, sixty-nine feet three
inches, tapering to a point at the bow and
stern. From the water-line to the top OF
the main deck, twelve feet, on top and IN
the central position Of which is a super
structure eight feet high, with hammock
berthing resting on the same seven feet
high, and above these will be the bridge,
chart-house, and the boats.
HOW THE MONSTER WILL DE CONSTRUCTED.
Modern war vessels are built of steel and
the battle-ships are not exceptions 10 this
rule. The ships now building of this type
will cost about $3,000,000 apiece. 10 pro
perly represent one of these marine mon
sters. therefore, at a small cost an ingeni-
Gus method has been devised for the con-
struction of the structure at Chicago. but
the original design of the actual battle
ship is closely followed out.
The structure will, as stated before, rest
on piles as foundation. The berth deck,
or man exhibit floor, Will be composed OF
thick planks laid upon the foundation, on
top of which there is to be substantial
LAYER of brick concrete. The sides of the
hull are TO be made of brick, stepped to
Give contour, over which there will be a
filling of gravel concrete thickly coated
with cement. The ends. or stem and stern,
are 10 be shaped" with iron plates. On
the inside of the walls and over the con-
crete on the berth deck there will be a
coating of cement, thus making the exhl-
bition hall fre-proof and free from mois-
ture. 80,
The main and superstructure decks will
have crown of six inches IN slxty-nine
feet. The deck plank will be yellow pine
six inches wide and two lnches thlck, the
seams of which will be calked. The main
deck beams will be steel. and iron tube
pillars are to be used to further support
the beams. Cutters shaped with galyan-
lied iron are carried around the boundary
of the decks. from which numerous con-
ductors carry the water that may fall on
the deck down to scuppers close to.the water
line.
The turrets and redoubts for the eight
inch and thirteen-inch guns are to be
made up of cement on metal lathlng fast,
ened 10 a wood-framing and are to have all
the ingenious appliances Tor operating
them.
CEMENT GUNS.
A thirteenth-inch gun Is forty-four feet
long, and weighs, with its carriage (techni-
cally termed its mount W, 1l519 tons.
The transportation and placing of so much
weight upon structure such as Is described
being impracticable. the difficulty of
showing what the real battle ship carries
has been overcome by building the gun Of
cement over wooden tube, TO be ritied
and fitted with breech-plug complete, the
finish of the cement 10 be such as 70 give 1t
the appearance of On actual gun. The
elpbt-inch guns are to be made up in the
same manner as the thirteen-inch guns,
with two exceptions, which will be bona
tide steel guns and mounts, but all the six
inch guns, six-pounders, one-pounders,
Gatlings and torpedo-guns. with all their
mechanism, are 10 be furnished by the
Government direct from the naval gun
factories. The exterior of the entire struc-
ture will be painted III accordance with the
navy regulations so as TO give 1t the exact
appearance Of vessel Of war. II Is thought
that the resemblance will be so close as to
pass undetected except by skilled expert.
FOB VISITORS.
The entrance to the vessel will be from
the pier at the foot of Fifty-ninth street.
The entrance will be on the main deck,
thence down companion or hatchways 20
the berth deck, where q spacious room,
the whole length and width of the vessel,
is TO be filed with the naval exhibits. The
entrance at the pier will have a register
turnstile TO record the number of visitors.
The exit will be from another point of the
structure. The superstructure will show
the cabins. state-rooms, mess-roOms, gal
lev, and fittings, mesS-tables for crew, lock-
ers, &C., also the method in which officers
and enlisted men live according to the
rules of the navy. 1t will present, tits said,
convincing proof of the statement that
the sailors Of the United States navy are
the best paid, best fed, and the best treated
men of any navy in the world. On the SUI
perstructnre-decka and bridge will be shown
the manner in which the rapid-fire guns,
search-lights, boats, &C.. are handled. On
the berth-deck will be shown the various
fittings pertaining to the hull, machinery,
ordnance, &c, in short, the thou
sand and one things that go to
make up the outfit of a ship-of-
war. Each bureau will have on officer and
other representatives in control of its
special exhibit, and the photographic
Office, intelligence Office, and Naval Acad-
envy will be also represented. The tradi-
tional costumes of the sailors OF the navy
from ITS to 1S4s will be shown by ianitors
dressed in those costumes. These men
will be specially engaged for this purpose
and about six in number will have charge
of the rooms containing Revolutionary and
other relics of the old navy. On the star
board side of the ship will be shown the
torpedo-protection net, stretched the en-
tire length of the vessel. Steam launches
and cutters will ride at the booms and all
the outward appearance of q real ship OF
war be initiated.
OTHER NAVAL VESSELS.
IL is expected that the torpedo-boat
Cushing and torpedo-boat No. 2 will be
anchored near the pier. in company with
the Michigan, the only man-of-war allowed
on the lakes, under the terms of our treaty
with Great Britain. The Gushing, although
not armed and not subject to the terms OF
that treaty, may prove the subject of di-
plomatic correspondence when she passes
from the rlver st. Lawrence through the
canals TO enter the lakes, but il is thought
that Great Britain will not interposo any
serious objections to her presence, as that
Power has some eighteen armed vessels
that can pass through the Welland canal
at any moment ii desired.
WHO DESIGNED IT.
The design for the naval exhibit was
conceived by Captain II. W. Meade, the
naval director and member of the Govern.
ment Board of Control and Management
of the Worlds Columbian Exposition, but
the details of his plan have been worked
out by one Of the leading craftsmen of the