The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-07-25
NON FOR No, ~,
The Horse Power. speed. and Coal En-
DURANGO of the Great Steel Cruiser That
Is About to be Lnunche ed Mt Phi, ndclphln.


durancc orthr Great Steel Cruiser That
Is About to be Launched mt Philadelphia.
WARRINGTON. July 24.-One Of the most In
tercstinE and important vessels OF the new
teel fleet Is to take to the water on Tuesday.
indeed. protected cruiser No. l.. popularity
nicknamod the Pirate In advance Of her
formal christening has perhaps attracted a
larger share OF notice and comment among all
nations than any other Of our big war ships.
She has. to begin with. q very large dis
placement for an unarmored craft. Planned
originally with a length Of 400 feet and o
mean drnught OF %. she is now 412 feet long.
with an extreme beam Of SO and mean draueht
Of 22h. giving her a displacement Of 1880
tons. This exceeds BY 700 tons the displace-
ment Of the armored cruiser Maine. and by
1.O50 that OF tho battle ship Texas.
But it Is the sea speed and the ooal-carrying
capacity. or rndius OF action OF this vessel that
have created the greatest interest in her. md
this interest has been enhanced By tho char
acter Of portions OF her machinery. Her en-
gines are OF tho triple screw. vertical. triple
expansion type. The enormous horse power
OF 21.OOO had been fixed upon for No.
H. and the improbability Of seasonably
securing in this country shaftinG big
enough to transmit this power to twin screws
led Chief Engineer Melville to depart from
the usual practice and divide tho power into
three parts. each engine separately driving It's
own screw. The then recent accident to the
City OF Paris had also impressed engineers
with the Importance Of reserve power. and no
easily conceivable crippling Of her machinery
would render No IL helpless. Again. with the
third screw between and below tho other two
and fifteen feet further aft. 1t is possible to
disconnect any one Of the three from its en-
gine and leave 1t free to revolve. thus offer
ing only slight resistance to the prog
rcss OF the ship when propelled by
ono or two engines. A further advantage Is
that in ordinary cruising. with one.th!rd
power. few boilers can be used with the high
pressure for which they are intended. and ono
engine driven at full power. which is more
economical method than driving two engines
at low power. Even with ono engine and ono
screw No. IL may reach Is knots.
Triple screws had already been adopted In
some foreign countries when they wore
chosen for No. II. The Italians had built or
were building them for several torpedo cruis-
ers. and France had adopted them for tho
de m eruss5 but the
II guido were mostly those made In the latter
country with the launch Carpe. In these ex-
three propellers were placed abreast the off,
cheney OF the zen centre one was impaired BY
is placed fifteen feet aft. And again. the tn rec
Eropeliers are not In the same horizontal line.
diam ters viii permit, Willis these two also tH in.
cline outward and slightly upward. whereas
These points as to PEop99!!sion natu rally give
s9 No ~ d to her
at TIC same yard. Cramps. in Phiisdel phia
But after all. it must not be supposed that 1t
IS nG p IN spe. thH so p t sy screw his
moro effective than the twin screw: in fact.
exGert. perhaps. under full powor. It is prob
eessty 5eeaHse otherwse Sors .o poW Re
would have had to be transmitted through
SO big forging OF the highest character could
not be had here; the law recurring the ships
Is. each shaft only has to transmit 900 horse
were the other advantages already referred to.
this real feature Of interest 70 see what It
means we may look for a NOM nt at our other
Mam of re0 poW hsafef 5s tss chas
toRs IS 1;dye that C Of twe iS Is
10000 that OF the Baltimore. which was prop.
erly conSitered q wonder Of speed in her day
Ing % is Knots is io.4o6. 1t vi il be seen
therefore, what an. enormous jump is made BY
G svins to No. Z and No. II fully Il 60S anu
OF course; as the disbursement in No. IBIS
y
latter being +.OS;t the gain in speed is not so
marked as it might appear: and. in fact. 1t Is
familiar experience that ut the higher speeds
it REQUIRES an enormous increase Of engine
power. on similar III odols. to gain n knot per
hour. However. the guaranteed speed Of No
II is 81 knots. and it is this feature which will
invest with great interest her trial trip. Soc
rotary Tracy has put her maximum stu high
thirds rover ut from liz to 10 knots
ard with three screws and full power
ut II maximum OF % knots and o sustained av-
erngc OF II. " In any case 1t is ovideat that as
commerce destroyer she IL unsu: passed. for
she carries two siN-inch and eight four-inch
rapid-flre guns and an eight-inch rife. being
armament more than su III Gent for any armed
merchant vessel. and her own vital marta are
completely covered hya protective steel deck
four inches thick at the maximum.
She can keep the seas too. to extent
hitherto unknown among steam war vessels.
She carries 1000 tons Of coal and Mt ten knots
that would tako her 2552O knots: In other
words. at easy steam she conld circumnayi-
gate the globe without coaling.. and could.
with full speed. run down RAPIDLY any ship
She might see. The launch o. such wonder
Of efficiency may well be IL great event: