The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-12-21
:
OUR LAKE

M AS q udO opilCA NRJ RNS
lished an alarming article to the effect
that the three British revenue cutters
recently placed on the great lakes were
really powerful men@of-war which could
annihilate any craft our government
has afioat on orr inland waters, and lay
waste the lake cities and towns. The
New York Times treasures us on that
point by giving a description OF a new
vessel, the Ann Arbor, bnilt for the To-
ledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan
railroad, which is designed expressly for
immediate conversion into a war ship on
the breaking out OF hostilities. Ordina-
rily the Ann Arbor will be used to carry
cars across Lake Michigan and she is so
built as to be able to crush her way
through the thickest ice. The vessel is
intended to use as a harbor defense ram
in case OF war. The craft is thus de-
scribed.
She measures 267 feet il length and has a
beam Of hfty-two feet. Her draught is
twelve feet. and displacement 1850 tons.
This displacement is slightly in excess of
that accorded to the new Ammen harbor
defense am now building for the United
States. The Ann Arbor is provided with
three screws, placed ONE on each quarter.
well forward of the stern, and the third IN
the bow. The bow screw sets we'll aft OF
the stem. and occupies q position clear OF
the keel. The lower edge of the propeller
blades are flush with the keel, making 1t
impossible for the blades to touch bottom
before the keel. The three screws are OPP
Grated by three distinct sets of engines.
These engines are of the horizontal COM
pound tyre and are placed entirely below
the water line. 1t is calculated that the
new vessel will develop a speed of fourteen
knots per hour when tried. 1t is now rec
oRnized that had the triple expansion en-
gines been used instead of compound en-
gines their speed might have been made to
approach close to sixteen knots per hour.
The adaptability of the new vessel for
ramming purposes will be best understood
when it is known that the hull construction
is of oak up to two feet above the water
line. At the water line there has been pro-
vided a belt of iron extending all around
the vessel and having a uniform width of
six feet throughout.
In the bow and extending aft fer a dis
lance of fifteen feet is a solid and massive
backing Of oak. Extra oak backing has
been placed under all the beams along the
water line, and there is a further Longitude
nal strengthening furnished by means of
steel cord running the entire round of the
vessel and nippinR together the oak back
ing. At a distance of every four feet this
steel cord is connected with steel ties In
ming to the keel. The keelson is strength
ened with q steel plate two feet wide and
three-fourths of an inch thick.
Alongside her longitudinal backing is ar
open and spacious run fore and aft, afford.
ing sufficient berthing room for 500 ham
mocks. The coal bunkers are placed IN 8
longitudinal line amidship. The open fore
and aft space along the sides has its deck
some four feet above the water line. ans
gun ports marked off can be cut through il
desired in q davis time for the mounting o
broadside rifles. II is hardly deemed likell
among those we'll posted that there vii
ever be any necessity for opening port
from the main deck space, as there can b,
placed on the upper deck a battery too
powerful to be opposed by any vessel the
British are now able to crowd through t.
the lakes. The battery of the Ann Arbol
can be made up of as heavy ordnance riisl
as the navy department may desire.
Naval officers who have inspected he,
are filed with admiration for her goot
good qualities and predict that if hostil
tiles should occur she will give a gooc
account of herself.