New-York tribune., 1891-12-23
FOREIGN NAVAL NOTES.

a contract for the construction Of the battleship
Jau-eguberry. with displacement Of 1905 tons,
has been awarded by the French Admiralty She VIII
have two IL Inch and two'1 63nch guns. mounted
in turrets; eight 5.51inch guns four 25olnch ana
twelve 1.55inch rapd-fring guns eight 14o-inch ne
volvlng cannon. and six torpedo tubes. A peculiarly
of the ship is the application of electric apparatus for
turning the turrcts and closing the ports, and for
driving auxiliary machinery In most OF the compart-
ments. She will be fitted with triple screws, after the
manner designed by Englnecr-in, n,Cmei
George W. Melville for the commerce destroyer bud-
ing ut San Francisco.
The Navarino the Russian belted barbette battle
ship under construction at St. Petersburg, is 33S feet
In length, 9476 tons displacement. and 1t Is estimated
will have speed Of sixteen knots. The armor on her
partial belt is sixteen inches thick, and that on each
OF the barbettes Is twelve inches thick Zach barbette
will mount two l2-nch guns and In the central box OK
battery there will be eight 6inch guns On ue
hurricane deck there will he ten rapid-6ring guns.
She will also have six torpedo tubes.
The rumors of war between England and Russia
naturally excite interest In the comparison OF The
two naves. The naval forces Of the Car consist OF
thrtysix vessels Of the first rate, forty eight OF the
second rate, eighty eight Of the third rate and twenty
OF the fourth rate 192 vessels OF all kinds. At the
beginning OF 1891 the British Navy consisted of sixty
armored vessels, including battleships; twenty
nine protected cruisers and 2s2 unprotected cruisers
or 373 vessels Of all classes But Great Britain 81 Is
in 1891: Fifteen amored vessels, fifty nine protected
cruisers and fifty -four unprotected cruisers, making
the British Navy consists Of 6s 900 men in active
service, while the force Of and marines In the
Russian Navy foots n total OF 30,5OO only
The Russian Government has ordered half million
rifles in France, which must be delivered by July,
1894. The Russian factories at Toula Tsheffsk and
SzeSIrorzk ordered to supply 129oO 900 more rifles
by the same time Four hundred mechanics. who
recently discharged from the small arms factories
at Steyr, Austria, are now employed In the factories
In Russia working at the rifle. Some OF the army
corps will be armed with the new weapon within the
next year.
The second class batteship Frithjof Of the German
Navy, which launched on July 81, is approaching
completion. She is built Of steel with displacement
Of $500 tons and an estimated speed Of 16 knots.
she will have battery Of three 94nch guns, two In
barbette tqrret forward projecting beyond the ships
turret armor is 12 inches thick, and there is
continuous armor belt.
The Spanish Government Is building six frstclass
armored cruisers each OF which is TO have dispace-
ment Of 9,235 tons and horsepower OF lo,ooo'
The speed under natural draft is estimated TO be
10 knots and 90 knots under forced draft The radius
Of action, under half speed, IS to be $4,000 miles
Each will be armed with two 11.lnch guns n turrets
eighteen rapd-fring guns OF different callbres SIX
revolving cannon and six torpedo tubes The ships
win have protective dec and the nb saes T Ss p Of
and the other Of chrome steel; @ Inc
turret armOr, which will be either al steer or GULL
pound, will be 9.6 inches thick.
The two torpedo boats being built IN England Tor
the Brazilian Navy are about completed The
builders had guaranteed speed Of 90 knots on the
measured mile and "a knots on two hours con-
tnuous trial but at the trial Of the first boat sne
made a speed OF 25.0s6 knots on the measured mile
and 244 knots on the two bours' rum
The Davaert, q new French protected cruiser OF
about 1900 tons displacement. does not seem TO be
as successful expected. At her recent u1a ue
boilers in full blast and the ship running at speed OF
little over nineteen knots, alarm OF fire was sud
denly raised from the engine The wooden cloth
ing of one Of the cylinders had begun TO burn ana was
nearly consumed before the fire could be quenched
The nishap was not of great Importance, but IL was
shown that heat In The is so great that
the men can hardly remain at their posts when In
active service.
The French Admiralty has just issued an important
decree regulating the organization examinations for
admission t6 and promotion in the Engineer Corps
The document is long but one OF the most I'M
portant sections is that which regulates the organlza-
ton of the corps 50 provide for One inspector gen
eraI of machinery ranking with rear-admral six In
spectors ranking with postcaptans twenty chlei eng
the United states Navy) and 800 engineer officers OF
lower grades. The promotions are regulated SO that
wothrds will be advanced BY seniority and one-thiro
by selection The system is 50 strongly approved Dy
the British Admiralty that there Is talk OF the latter
adopting something similar.