New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-09-18
A FIRE IN THE NAVY YARD
THE c1NcIyNATrs MACHINERY DAMAGED.

a
-,s,,lts IN the machinery for the new cruisei O
dnnau and also to an important buiio'hs III VIZ.
ward occurred In the Navy YARD NJ III 49,
yas,o,dev morning Directly opposite the io"hors
over neaf the east gate of the yaro' ,A,,.' 49,.
machine shop belonging TO the stea" i-"e"' .
Department: II is a large BRICK bu'ui"s ' ..
hirb and from the rear OF 1t two woouen "''e'
-. .ic, yrore built as annexes two or three
, .co n no used one as n boerShop ana Tue
n,har as an erection shop. In the bOher sup Wv
boilers for the cruiser Raleigh nave "i'''"' ~
b,,,lt and those for the Cincinnati are no" III
~ construction. In the erection shop' ''' ,
for the two cruisers were put toeelhe' ~ Wv ,,
narts were obtained, the set Tor The kaihsn nav"
hcen removed and sent TO Norfolk 10 the 'ceS'' "'
the SO. for the Cincinnati being a'h''. f".,, =
ono cneiu, indeed had n preliminary test ABOUT i"
Wv In the macbinc.shop Itself large force
-, nnochin,st, was employed who were ehehgeu v"
,ous iohs ON the upper floors OF the pu'iui'b
wore the Offices OF the Steam Engineering Dcl.i'
and also "A pattern shop. IL was !" '''' ~
tho, tbe fire occurred that involved loss OF many
thousands of dollars and affects seriously '"e '''
structIon OF the cruiser Cincinnati -
Az . o,c,ocl, on yesterday morning one OF the '"o
,.n, uo,chmep visited the building. About O'Clock
the erection shop found TO be on hre' Inv ~
aorar,ment Of the yard Immediately cahed o"''
Tho naval vessels In commission there sehu'"e 'o"'
NAMES TO assist. In accordance win ,h' Ies"
A call was also sent to the brooklyn fire D'pA
and hcforc long there were eight engines at the re'
ort belonging to the yard. and seven Diners ~"
gno 20 on, bv a,ont 6 O'CLOCK. But In the mean
lime great damage had been done The erecuou S"op
had been burnt to the ground and the machine Snop
No., boo, d.maccd IN some extent but the boiler shop
was unharmed A..
When seen at a later hour yesterday morning. u'e
Mace presented a doleful appearance Inc er'o',on
Shop was in ruins Charred pieces Oh u'noel "a,
around n big sheet OF the tin ROOF WIS o"iioA Wy ~
the beautiful new engines were backenea ana S'r'o",
injured although not ruined. omoen WIZ 49, 80,
Looking for remains OF their personal effects IN 'he
ruins The loss Of the officers. whose docks were III
the burned shop in personal property probably wiz
amount 10 several hundred dollars Wnter On wv.
floor OF the machine shop was several ihohes "'eP 80
rho machinery was blackcncd with smoke. the betting
was all down having been destroyed III the hre' ~
t,o offices upstairs. some papers were damaged ana
the rooms were rsthor dilap ldat d. The main biius'
however was but slightly injured by the fire. although
I, vos we'll blackened by smoke and soaked by water
In the boiler shop the force OF mechanics was az "or"
lust rs usual on the boilers for The cincinnati u
was said that the machine shop would be IN oFuer AZ"
work begun again on Monday morning. The "o3h Oh
put,ing up betting Immediately begun ann '''e
workmen were busy yesterday oiling ana turning '"''
io,hes and other machines and putting them IN "r"'
I, could not b. told how seriously the two S'' OF
limos for the Cincinnati were magod-this can
only he learned when the engines taken apart ana
each niece. is Inspected. II was said. however mat
IL would be necessary 10 renew one low p''N''
cylinder 10 rebuild the two condensers anu 10 'eO">
some OF the large composition castings Inc I"u'
blowers. two for the Rslcieh and two for the uhcln
pau are entirely lost: these blowers were bHit ny
an outside firm and recently successfully es'ei
in the Navy Yard. The engines Will now he taken
epart and everything proved TO see u VI" pAfA are
distorted The plans for the engines "er" oeNuos'1'
but the original plans are In Washington ana ~"
comics can be made. One estimate was thh' ''e
damages TO the machinery could be perhaps covered
by $50 900 or 100000.
but inside from the direct monetary damage u'ere
T. loss OF many months OF time involved. The on
zines have been erected piece ny piece. in period
y, many months Now they were practically com
Melted and one OF them had been run successfully by
steam AZ low pressure. The Cincinnati Is 10 u"
launched In October and then The engines were 10 Dc
token arart and erected on board OF the vessel bu'
NOW this cannot he done for some time Coming, as
# did Just as the long Job was about finished IN" ire
was particulnrly distressing The Raeigh's engines
escapcd the fire. as they removed from the shop
several wcelS ago ana sent to Norfolk The building
NJ these engines was fine Job. ard was rxcclently
done g, that they were beautiful models OF engineer
ing skill as they stood In the shop. They were triple
exhaustion engines and were 20 develop speed OF ~
least nineteen knots.
no
as estimates varied from 5000 to 100000. Prob
ably 800 900 will the entire loss The officers
could not tell how the fire started Th"f' was no IRE
anywhere around the erection shop earlier In the
night the Mace had been closed AZ O'Clock on the
nreyo,ts afternoon and the fire Of single poriame
furnace that was near the shop had been put out.
There used 10 be n large force Of watchmen en-
ployed that Is when the appropriations were not 20
small but Mt the prSnt time there are Only TWO OF
.iY I..Io N.Nr Var VI nls1tlt
s,yty-ave buildings. Consequently this building that
contained engines worth many hundred thousands OF
dollars could not receive constant attention. An
Investigation Of the fire will be made. Much OF the
duty formerly done by the wa'chmcn has Of late been
done by the Marine Guard. but the detail OF 50 large
a force Of marines to quarantine duty at the sahuy
Hook station during the cholera scare has necessarily
left much Of the Government properly WITHOUT t'
proper protection.
Tho rsonltor Mianonomoh returned 10 The Navy
Yard on Friday and IS now moorcd alongside the
Cob Dock. She VIII probably be- In the yard for some
time as she needs number OF repairs. Her engines
require a general ovcrhaulIng Is usual after
cruise she needs be locked and painted. and her
steering gear needs attention board Of
survey was on dc vessel yesterday morning. The
device that was put In for steering the ship by cleo
triclty-that IS managing the steering gear by cleo
tricity-bas not proved success, aud the rattle:
clumsy way 81 steering her by steam and passing the
word along has been used. 1t Is sald that the idea
In the electrical apparatus Is good but that II has
not been perfected enough TO make 1t work success
fully. The vessel IS to lake part In the Columbian
celebration In October, aud Will remain at the Navy
Yard until then and probably will return there after
ward.
The work on the cruiser Atlanta IS coming toward
its completion, although there IS much sui to be done
An order has been received that she shall DO ready
for sea by October l. 1t is not thought that this
means that she Will be sent 10 Venezuela, but she
probably will take part in the Columbian celebration
Extensive repairs have been made TO the vessel aud
she needed them The most important Job was In
the engineering department. the rciubing OF the
boilers but there Is also other work, construction
work and other things. IL must bc remembered
however I'm considering the extensive repairs that
ars being made 10 tbls vessel that she has been III
continuous active service during that time, with cr
cnnnncr and winter crnislng and her long trD Will