Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-07-27
1.-THE PIRATE" LAUNCHED.
Now to Be Known in Naval Chronicles a
 the Columbia.


 the Columbia.
 PHILADELPHIA, July 27.-The new gov ernment cruiser Columbia, familiarly known as "The Pirate," was launched at 3:50 yesterday afternoon.
 Among those present, besides a number of naval experts, Senators and Represen- tatives, and agents of foreign govern ments, were Vice President Morton, Sec retary Tracy, Assistant Secretary of State Grinnell, Senator Hiscock, Commo- dore Wilson and Naval Constructors Bowles and Woodward, Mrs. Morton and Miss Edith Morton.
 The last named young lady performed in a graceful manner the act of christening the new vessel "Columbia".
 The cruiser is in many respects unique vessel and is the fastest commerce des- troyer ever launched in the waters, and for the purpose intended, the most effec- tive engine of destruction the world ever saw.
 She is 400 feet long, has speed of 21 knots, is made entirely of American material and cost g, 2,735, 900.
 Cruiser No. 12, when completed, will not only be triumph of ship building but will embody all the essentials of propulsion. offensiveness and defensive ness which have long been recognized as combining the factors necessary to a maximum efficiency in naval architec- ture.
 She is termed '"The 73OO-ton, three screw commerce destroyer" in the Con gressional Appropriation bill.
 She is primarily designed for speed, for her chief function will be to sweep an enemy's commerce from the seas To do this she must be able to overhaul in an ocean race the swiftest passenger steam ships between New York and Queens town.
 The transatlantic record being five days, nineteen hours and five minutes, she must break it down to five days and a fraction of an hour.
 A combination of perfected machinery such as has never before been designed will accomplish this end.
 The cruiser is full of intricate mechan- ism and has ten boilers, six of which are double-ended, fifteen and a half feet in diameter by 21 IA feet long. Eight of the largest are built in air and water tight compartments into which is forced a draught of 216, 800 cubic feet of air per minute when running at full speed.
 The engines are three in number con- sisting of vertical triple-expansion cylin- ders each of which develops 1000 horse power and drives a separate screw.
 Under full pressure each of the three screws should turn at the rate of 12S revolutions per minute. Ninety revolu- tions was the maximum of the City of Paris when she broke the record. The cruisers shafts are made of forged steel 16.5 inches in diameter. Steel is used wherever possible, Iightness being the essential to speed.
 The vital portions of the vessel are pro tected by an armored deck four inches thick on the slopes and two and one-half inches on the flat. The space between the deck and the gun deck will be minutely subdivided by coal bunkers and store rooms.
 In addition there will be a cofferdam five feet wide running next to the ships side throughout her entire length The bunkers not used for coal will be filled with patent substance of such solidity as to form wall five feet thick and having all the advantages of an inner and supple mental armor.
 Forward and abaft of the coal bunkers the cotferdam will be filled with water eXclu- ding substance similar to woodite. In one wake of the eight finch and machine guns the ships sides will be armored with 1 and , inch plating. The siN-inch guns, which are four in number, will be mount ed on the open deck, and protected by heavy shields attached as ill the new ships to the un-carriages. The coal capacity of the cruiser is ?, ,000 tons. At ten knots speed per hour this will give her m en- durance of 100 days, a radius of action of 26, 24O knots and she will be able to steam around the world in 109 days without re coaling, thus breaking all records for speed, economy and capacity.