Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-10-08
BRITISH WAR SHIPS.
A ouARTETTe OF $4,000 TO 10000
TON MONSTERS PlANNeD.
Names That Pledge Something Marvellous.
They Arc TO he $50 Lsnx, with 20
Feet Beam-Dispiscement $4,000.
New York SUM

above the ordinary. and. although naval
nomenclature il often somewhat mis-
leading. az when Mignonette and
Snowdrop in our own service. were the
christenings Of smoky steam-tugs. yet
no doubt these new British ships will be
exceptional. AS will presently BE- seen,
the Majestic ana Magnificent are per
haps rather the more powerful and ter
rible pair. while the other two promise
10 be very striking In appearance, so
that they might have exchanged names.
Beginning with the Powerful and Ter
rible, We find that they are TO be about
800 feet long, with about 20 feet beam
and q feet mean draUght having a as
placement, as has been said. or ABOUT
1900 tons There are. therefore. among
the largest war-ships in the world. Com
paring them with our own crack cruising
vessels We find that the New YORK lS
but $50 feet 6 IL inches long by oi rect
10 inches beam, and % feet IL inches
mean draught. having displacement OF
$3.50 tons. The new vessels may also DE-
compared with the British Blake anu
J2lenhein,. which are 37j feet long between
Derpendiculars, 81 feet broad amldships'
and with a draught Of q feet I inches
making their displacement about 1900 tons.
Again turning TO our Columbia ana
NinncaDolis. which were built for chor-
NOUS speed, We find that they nave
length on load-water line oil ~ I'e''
with a breadth Of S. and mean draught
OF y - lcet making ther NlSpiAc'"y
40 tons When the Columbia was w
signed secretary Tracy said sh" was me
longest nan-of-war in the world. But
the Powerful and Terrible will b" nearly
one-fourrh longer, and will exceed oE
about l20 feet the length of the New loIh'
HEIGHT OF FREEBOARD.
Again AN unusual height OF frceboard
has been provided for forward ana ar,
which win aid the use Of the bow ana
stern Guns in heavy weather. ana hcip
IN maintaining speed lat sea In 'he
Rrooklvn which IS OF the New fofk
TYNE. with about 100 tons more dlspidc'-
rnont. the freebOard forward has Deem
Increased eight feet. and the Forward
S.inCh cun-turrot cOrrespondingly ralsel'
with a view to increasing her Sea-EolIS
cAiricncv. the working Of the guns III
hish sea, ard the securing OF sre"'cl
lar.hing spoca for the comfort OF the
cr.,y. Additional length has also been
ri,on 10 the brooklyn. These advantages
r.v.yar aS sought in the BROOKLYN
mr., er1pbasZed in the two English yes
scls while iu addition, their steel nuns
VIII -. wooa shaathel ana coppercd, so
tplt they can keen the sea for long
time without any great loss OF the caicn-
latcI speed In our steel navy we cSu-
mt the radius Of action by the coAi
c3ulcitv aul the sea speed of the vessel
as asccrtaincd when the bottom is smooth.
But practically the quick cOrrosion OF
st,ole hulle. especially in tropical waters,
makes a drag UpOn the calculated speed,
ana that IN turn requires greater CON
SUMPTION Of coal to keep u up But IN"
sholthiu. of the nov British vessels
since II is taken into account in the
seed required of them. needs less de-
duc.lon from this source. our splenid
armored cruiser New York made q knots
SIS an average OF four hours under
forced draueht. while q knots IS stipu-
IateI for the Columbia. with hopes that
she may reach %. But the Powerful
ami the Terrible are required, il IS said
e. make no less than - knots under
natural draucht alone without forcing,
and that. too. In an oight-hours' trial
~ g. the coal endurance, the extreme
bunker capacity of 2,Oo0 tons assures it,
II is not surprising to learn that in
order 10 produce this high speed the
hitherto unapproached aggregate Of $4,000
indicated horsepower is talked OF for
the Powerful and the Terrible. The
New York which as has been said.
makes q knots at the maximum, has
1850 indicated horsepower, and even the
Columbia has but 2lo0o. II is worth
noting that while IN the Columbia 1t
was necessary to provide triple screws
IN order to obtain the shafting in this
country. il being probable that long de-
lay would be required for producing
main shafts capable of conveying 1880
horsepower each TO the propeers. In the
Powerful and Terrible twin-screw engines
only viii be rescrted 10.
MAIN BATTERY.
The main battery planned for the Pow
crful and Terrible consists Of two 9.2-inch
guns, one AZ the bow and the other at
the stern. together with twelve 6-inch
guns. which latter. however Will be rapid
fire. and four of them capable Of being
trained directly ahead and four directly
asteru. The Columbia carries one S-inch.
two rapid-nre 6-inch ana eight rapid-fire
4-inch guns. but the New York has six
S-inch and twelve rapid-hre 4-inch guns.
The Powerful and Terrible have the very
remarkable secondary batteries of eigh-
teen 12-pOunder and twelve 3-pOunder
rapid-hre guns. besides smaller machine
guns, and, of course, they carry torpe-
does ArmOr protection and shields are
provided for IN" guns. The protective
deck seems not ~ be as remarkable as in
some vessels if its maximum is correctly
given as only inches although that eX-
protection for the ammunition on It's way
from the magazines to the batteries is
carefully looked after.
Turning to the Majestic and the Mag
nificent. the two f1rst-class battleShips. we
find them the heaviest IN the world. They
are TO be 800 feet long by Il feet extreme
beam, and y 1-2 feet mean draught CIV
ing displacement of 1890 tons. While
belonging TO the Royal Sovereign class,
Of tDnn 70 no
in certain particulars relating to the bat
teries Under the new policy OF England.
which has had more than enough OF no.
ton monsters. the largest guns carried
will be the l2-inch 50-tonners, of which
four will be mounted in pairs on each YES
sci in strongly armored barbettes, so as
to be loaded in any position by manual
power. although retaining the proved adj
vants4;es of hydraulic mechanism and fix
ed loading stations. Thick steel shields
fitted TO the turntables will revove with
the guns. They will also carry twelve
rapid-fre 6-inch guns, which is two more
than I'm the Royal Sovereign class. and
they are better protected with armor In
stead Of the 6-pounders in the secondary
battery they carry sixteen of the new
type l2-pounders beside twelve 3-pounders.
There will be five torpedo dischargers for
lS-inch projectiles, four OF them being
submerged iuty nave a Dltie HOIt
freeboard than the Royal Sovereign class.
and they expect TO reach a mean speed
for eight hours OF l6 l-2 knots with natu-
raj draught alone. and nearly or quite n
knot more with limited degree of forced
draught.
AS has been suggested. the two later
vessels might better. in view OF their bat
tertes and armor be called the Powerful
and the Terrible than the much less
heavily ships that are to bear
those names. although any one OF the
four might perhaps well merit the title of
Majestic or Magnificent The two new
wsr-ships do not equal ours Of the In
diana class In the actual weight of the
main battery. while our sea-gotng Iowa is
q most valuable vessel for all-around
qualities. But the lesson OF the four Bri-
tsh ships for us is that we must con-
tirsle In the good work OF building up our
own navy. since the standard of construc-
ton Ia continually set further and further
ahead.
A SIOUX INDIAN LEGEND.
An Opposing Army Of "Crows" Put to
"a -