The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1892-04-02
ENeLANo,s wARsHiPs.

| A Formidable Monster d the WaxsPlts,
Flagship Of Engiznd's North Pacine
Squadron, Beside which Our Cruissss
Would be rs Yschts-Happily, However,
the Prospects Of Trouble are Very Faint
WASHINGTON, March 29.-Much specu-
lation is indulged in by naval officers
respecting the possibilities Of conflict
in Behring sea- The vessels of the
United States navy that can be put into
these waters within reasonable time,
have already been named in these dis
patches England has now three men
of-war in the north Pacific, and it would
take her but few weeks at most to
rendezvous her Chinese, Japanese and
Australian squadrons in those waters.
Only one of the three vessels now there
is regarded as formidable by our
naval men, but she is so large
that our heaviest cruiser would be
but n pleasure craft alongside of her,
and England owns dozen just such
men. .of-war within easy distance Of the
theater of possible hostilities. The War.
spite Is the name of the dreaded vessel,
the flagship of the English squadron,
and she is heavily armored with the
most recent plant. She has displace-
ment of s,400 tons, while our largest
man-of-war has but 4,5O0. She was
built in Chatham, England, in SO, and
was refitted year ago. Her horse
power is 10000 and her speed over q
given mile was 1875 knots per hour,
but her nominal speed is about Is.
She will average a.65 pounds
of coal per horsepower IN
each hour. but can carry 1.130 tons of
coal and it will take her 1000 miles
without recoaling. Her combined
length is 325 feet with Sc foot beam,
and the immense draught of ga feet.
She is armed with four 2a-ton guns, six
6-inch guns, eight rapid-fire and ten
Gatling or Hotchkiss guns, and has two
torpedo tubes and four carriages for the
purpose of exploding the Whithead tor
pedoes. She is beyond doubt the best
equipped man-of-war in the matter of
guns in the world. Her sister ship, the
Imperiuse, of the same size, has as largo
guns, but not quite as many of them.
A commander in the navy said that the
Warspite could, as he expressed it,
click any three ships we had at once,
and not have much of a fight either"
The other two vessels in the squadron,
the Champion and Melpomene, how
ever. would be easy prey for our ships,
as they are unarmored. The latter is
built of steel, but not thick enough to
withstand the big guns of the Balti-
=
third-class cruiser with displacement
of a.94O tons, 1000 horsepower, and an
average speed of about Is knots per
hour. Her draught is seventeen feet
and her steaming radius is 5000 miles
She is 965 feet long and has a beam OF
fortysone feet. Her guns consist of six
6-inch breech-loading rifles weighing
five tons each, ten rapid firing and three
Hotchkiss guns. The batteries of the
Melpomene and Yorktown are almost
identical. The Baltimore would give
the Warspite the hardest fight as she
can outsail her and is very heavily ar
mOred
The Champion is superior to the Mel
pomene for fighting purposes, as her
battery is very heavy for her class and
consists Of four 6-inch and eight 5-inch
rapid-firing and six Hotchkiss guns. In
addition TO this she has on board twen-
ty-one submarine fish torpedoes, pro-
jectiles that can be launched and will
propel themselves on the waters edge to
the objective ship. Her displacement is
1850 tons. Her length, beam, speed
and coal bins are about the same as the
Melpomene.