Passaic City record., 1892-07-30
Description of the Vessel.

Cruiser No. 12, when completed, will not
only be triumph of shipbuilding, but will
embody all the essentials OF propulsion,
offensiveness and defensiveness which have
long been recognized as combining the fac
tors necessary to maximum efficiency in
naval architecture. She is termed ''the
7000-ton, three-screw commerce destroyer
in the Congressional Appropriation bill.
She is primarily designed for speed. for
her chief function will be to sweep an
enen1y's commerce from the seas. To do this
she must be able to overhaul in an ocean
race the swiftest passenger steamships. The
trans Atlantic record being five days, nine
teen hours and five minutes, she must break
it down to five days and fraction of an
hour. A combination of perfected ma
chinery such as has never before been de-
signed will accomplish this end.
The cruiser is full of intricate mechan-
ism and has ten boilers six of which are
double ended, 151& feet in diameter by 2iI
feet long. Two others are liz feet in di-
ameter by 1871 feet long, and the remaining
two, which are single ended, are ten feet IN
diameter by eight feet long.
The boilers are made of steel and carry
pressure of 100 pounds. Eight of the largest
are built in air and water-tight compart-
ments, into which is forced a draught OF BIO
500 cubic feet of air per minute when rum
ming at full speed.
The engines are three in number, CO nsist-
y
each of which develops 1000 horse power
and drives a separate scrow. Under full
pressure. each of the three screws should
furn at the rate of 1928 revolutions per min
ute. Ninety revolutions was the ma ximum
of the City Of Paris The cruisers shafts
are made OF forged steel 1876 inches IN d.
ameter.
The vital portions Of the vessel are pro-
tacted hv an armored deck inches thick
-, the stones and Ok inches on the fat. The
Gun deck will be minutely suodivlded by
coal bunkers and store rooms. The bunkers
not used for coal will be filed with patent
substance of such solidity as to form wall
feet thick, and having all the advantages
of an inner and supplemental armor.
In the event of an emergency this patent
substance. the nature Of which is kept secret,
can be used for fuel Forward and abaft of
the coal bunkers tae ccfEerdaTi ~ill be 1iied
With a water-excluding substance similar to
woodite.
In the wake of the eight four-inch and
machine guns the ships sides will be ar
mored with four and two inch plating. The
six-inch guns which are four IN NUMBER.
will be mounted on the open deck and pro
tected by heavy shields attached, as in the
new ships, to the gun, carrlages. aooo
tons. At ten knots speed per hour this Will
give her an endurance of 109 days, radius
Of action of 25 240 knots, and she VIII be
able to steam around the world in l09 days
without recoaling, thus breaking all records
The patterlesor the cruiser viii consist of
four six-inch breech-loading rifles, twelve
six-pounders, rapid firing; two machine
guns, one field gun and six torpedo tubes.
She will have two signal masts.
The new cruiser is eminently superior to
anv other war ship in the world. The Blake,
the finest ship in the British navy, is the
nearest approach to Cruiser NO. ~.
It was stipulated in the contract with the
Cramps that the vessel, in all its parts,
should be of domestic manufacture,
A sister ship. Cruiser No. 13, is construct
ing by the Cramps. Her contract was
awarded August II, 1891. the Cram ps's bid
being So. 745, 600, less S55. 600, which they
threw Of Both vessels will be identical in
character, except that No. 10 will carry a
heavier battery.