Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1891-04-06

ship over considerably, as the normal
maximum elevation is no. more than
fifteen degrees.
The Lepanto is also one Of . pair,
the Italia being her twin. The Le-
pan,o has = displacement of 1850
tons. Her dimensions are: Length, 400
feet 6 inches; beam, "A feet; draueht,
81 feet 2 inches. She is built of
steel and carries . water-line belt OF
compound armor amidships sixteen
inches thick and = central citadel OF
compound armor nineteen inches
thick. The arrangement of turrets is
similar to that IN the Duilio, but the
four surret guns are modern II. Inch
breeoh loading rifles, and she h, 8
also eight SO inch breech>loading
rifles, eighteen machine guns and
four torpedo tubes. Her maximum
speed is 1888 knots an hour. and
with 1850 tons Of coal her cruising
capacity OF ten knots an hour is 5000
miles. She has engines Of $4,000
horse power and twin screws. The
weight Of metal deliverable at ono
discharge on one beam or the other
would be 1000 pounds for each Of the
four 5.9.inoh guns that would bear,
making . total Of $500 pounds.
OLDER TYPES OF ARMORED SHIPS.
Besides these battle ships Italy has
three chips Of generally similar design
to the Duilio, namely-the Andrea
Dorea, the Francesca Morosini and
Rupgiero di LAURA; also the Re
Umberto, somewhat similar to the
Lepanto. The Stella and the Sar-
dogma, building on the Re Umberto's
designs, are not yet finished.
OF older types Of armored ships she
has the Affondatore, Of 4376 tons !;
the Ancona, the Castel6dardo, tho
Maria Pia and the San Martina, Of
about 1900 tons each; the Principi
Amsdo, and the Roma, of 58l4 tons
each; the Formidable and the Ter.
ribile, of 2725 tons each, and the
Vsrese, OF 22OO tons. Most of these
are about on . par with our old moni.
tors, except that they carry much
better batteries than our monitors do.
OF cruisers Italy has some Of the
finest in the world, notably the Pie
monte and the Giovanni Bausan.
The Piemonte has $500 tons dis
placement, and carries no armor ex-
cept protective deck. Her dimen
sions are: Length, 300 feet; beam SO
feet; draughs, Is feet. She carries
remarkable battery, made up entirely
of rapid FIRE euns-six 6-inch, six AZ
inch, ten 6 Founders and ten machine
guns. She has $4,000 horse power,
twin screws, maximum speed Of
twenty>one knots, coal supply OF
5000 tons, and a cruising range at ten
knots an hour Of 5000 miles.
With the Piemonte's guns an extra
ordinary rap'dity Of fire can he mains
tanned. The G>inch gun throws shells
weighing 100 pounds each at the rate
Of six a minute, and a 47inch gun
delivers As pound shells at the rate OF
eleven a minute. Thus the total
weight OF metal thrown in one minute
by the Pirmonte's main battery would
be 5000 pounds from her 6.,nch guns,
aud 297O pounds from the A. inch
guns, or total Of 657O pounds.
SHE COULD OvERPOwER US.
1t will be seen that Italy could
place on our coast in a short time
eight first class battle shi ps and double
that number of cruisers aud gunboats,
besides swarm of first. class torpedo
boats, of which she has 100 built or
building.
Against this array we have one
arm"red ship-the Miantonomah-
and about a dozen modem cruisers.
Even it no attemp, were made to
shell our seacoast cities we could no,
prevent the absolute blockade of Bos-
ton, New York, Philadelphia and
Baltimore, and the ,ncalculable injury
that would be caused by this shutting
off of foreign market for our bread.
stuffs can hardly be estimated. Every
farmer in the land would be ruined,
our railroad companies would be
bankrupt, and business throughout
would be stagnated.
1t is not pleasant possibility to
contemplate, hut it is one that We
shall have to face continuously until
our navy has been increased in pro-
portion to the magnitude Of the in
terests it has to defend.