Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-11-16
oua s,ssss1 sAIIlE SNIP.



at It's last session, authorized the construe-
battle ship, the debate showed that the
former was looked upon as substantially
sister ship of the New York and the latter
as sister ship of the Massachusetts, the
Indiana and the Oregon.
1t has turned out. however, that, thanks
to the Liberal limit of the cost IN the OIL
the Brooklyn, as the new armorcd cruiser
will perhaps BE- called, unless Mr. Tracy
successor amends his system of nomencia-
ture, is notably to exceed the new YORK IN
size. as well as 70 surpass her in other par
ticulars. while the new battle ship 10
make an advance quite rs conspicuous
upon those just named,
The revised specifications of the battle
ship, completed at the uayy department
shaw how grea; this advance is The mat
ana ana her mates are seagoing ships, anu
are expected to have speed nearly equal
TO that of the cruiser Chicago: but the new
seagoing ship is TO be faster and also one OF
the most effective possible of coast defend
ers.
To begin with, she will reach the great
disbursement of II 250 tons, against the
10 200 of the Indiana and her mates. This
difference in displacement will be utihxeu
principally in two ways, namely, increased
sneed and increased coal endurance. II
also happens that the gain now achieved oy
the Harvey process of snper-carbohizhs
the armor will allow as great resistance To
be secured against projec,iles US IS possible
with heavier weight of plates nor thus
hardened on the surface. This proportion
ate saving Of weight will therefore allow
more powerful machinery and also greater
bunker capacity.
She is TO have, in fact, triple expansion
engines of 900 aggregated imhca'eh
horse mower, where as those OF the lndiitha
and her mates are of only 5000 horse power
and the result will be speed of 10 Knots
against the 10 knots of the Indiana Inc
two great merits of the latter ship and her
mates are tremendous battery power and
armor lmpreguability. They throw at u
single discharge greater weight OF proJec-
| tiles than an ship in the world, and they
have an extraordinary protection III Their
] lS-ineh rickel-steel armor on the sides aud
! I7-inch arinor on barbettes and turrets.
J Their two drawbacks are slow speed and
! inferior bunker capacity. They make but
| 10 knots, against the Il l-2 required OF the
eight new II.l50-ton British ships of the
| ROYAL Sovereign class, and they carry 400
| tons of coal with a radius of $500 miles at
! 10 knots an hour, against the 40 tons aud
the 800 miles of ratlins of the British battle
ships. Hence our new seagoiug battle ship
aims to overcome the draw backs OF It's
predecessors by doubling their bunker
capacity and adding a knot of speed, while
preserving their distinctive merits.
The feature which may perhaps attract
the greatest amount of popular attention in
the new battle ship is its enormous smoke
stacks. These will be without precedent in
any navy in the world. and also perhaps in
the merchant marine, except IN the case of
single British steamer. The smoke fun
! ncls of our new battle ship will be 100 feet
4 high above the CRATE surface, which is
| about 50 per cent in excess of the extreme
height now customary. The object is to 10
away with the necessity for resorting TO
forced draught, even in cases where a high
degree of speed is needed. The high
stacks will furnish the required draught.
Another point noticeable in the plans +
the new battle ship is their provision for
armored improvements over the ships now
under construction, as it is a decided ad-
vantage to give protection to the ammun-
/ ltlon III us passage rum the ihaS"@hS ="
/ the turret.
| The other new vessel. the armOred cruz
ser, shows like gains over the New York.
Shc'is also to have displacement in ex-
cess of her predecessor. With as high
speed and increased battery power and ra-
| dus of action. She will have the l00-foot
smokestacks, like the battle ship, as they
are economical for cruising, and also the
armored ammunition tubes, which in her
case may perhaps be considered as still
more important, since she carries so much
| less thick armor on the sides.
| She is to have four sets of tripple-expan-
sion engines. each in its own compartment
with two sets on each shaft, the two after
engines only being used for ordinary cruisr
| ing purposes There will be five double
ended and two single-ended boilers, the
latter serving only as auxiliaries if desired.
Their total heating surface measured out
side will be 33 ,s53 square feet, and their
crate surface ,0l6 square feet.
| II is possible that when the bids for the
new battle ship and the new cruiser are
opened and the contracts awarded, sugges-
! tons by the builders may lead to some
notifications in minor details of their
! plans. These, however, would be only in
the way of further improvement, while as
they now stand the designs will give our
| navy the two finest vessels of their respec-
tive types thus far planned or contemplated