The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1893-04-20
IN HAMPTON ROADS.
Scene of the Great Naval Review in Con-
nection With the Worlds Fair.

Scene of the Great Naval Review in Con-
nection with the Worlds Fair.
The Hampton Roads will soon be the scene
of such naval pageant as the world has never
before behed After many years the cannon
are booming there again, aud the harbor is
alive with war vessels. But the war vessels
are of far different appearance than that OF
those which were present at the memorable
fight between the Monitor and Merrimac, and
the gathering this time is one of peace-not OF
war. At this writing there are "a ships in the
roadstead at the rondezvous-l3 American, hVe
English two Russian, two French, one Italian,
and one Dutch.
The Blake, Vice-Admiral Hopkins, is one of
the fastest and best of the modern craft the
British have added to their navy. Sir John
displayed keen interest in our cruisers, and
when asked by newspaper man what he
though of them replied:
"The Blake is, of course, larger and faster
than anything else here, but that ship" he
added, looking toward the Philadelphia, " is a
fine one. Your cruisers stand up well and
make a good showing" Then the Admiral
turned interviewer and asked about our crack
cruiser, the New York. He wanted to know
when was she coming to Hampton Roads, and
when told she would not be there expressed his
regret and said if she was still at Cramps yard
he would run over there from New York and
take look at her.
"We feel rather proud of her." ventured the
correspondent.
You should be- as have no doubt she is q
splendid ship. There is no reason why your
country should not have great navy, as not
only are you able to profit by everything that
other nations have done, but the usual invent
iveness of Americans should lead to improve
ment. You have not had to experiment with
guns as we have, and your adoption of the
Harvey process of armor gives you excellent
material-so good that we have been led to
adopt it, Naval architecture is a constant de-.
velopment, and the last ship built is always a
little better than the one before 1t"
"a good deal of regret has been expressed
that England sent none of her battle-ships over.
1t has been suggested that they could not cross
the Atlantic"
Sir John laughed. " / can assure you" he
said, THAT was not the reason. The modern
battle ships are perfectly seaworthy and en-
counter as rough weather in the channel and
the Bay of Biscay as they would in crossing the
Atlantic. ! cannot tell you why some of the
batte-ships were not sent here but presume
that our authorities consulted with other pow
ers, France and Germany, and found ont
what they were going to do and acted accord
ingly; and, then, you know that these things do
not always appear the same to people at a dis
lance as those on the spot. The Admiralty may
have thought that all that was wanted were
ships to help increase the general number here
and so simply ordered five vessels without re-
gard to what they were. For my part am
free to say that / should have liked to have
England represented by one of the best ships of
each class, the Royal Sovereign as the latest
and best battle-ship afloat, and cruisers OF the
various classes"
Being altogether a remarkable ship, the
Blake deserves more than passing mention.
She is to-day the largest the fastest, and the
~ Utcta m
with the exception of her sister ship recently
launched, and her appearance on the Atlantic
Coast last year was her maiden voyage. She is
an ideal of naval Architecture, with displace-
ment of 5000 tons and engines of 10000 horse
power to propel her through the water with
twin screws at the rate of % nautical miles, or
about % miles an hour.
She is floating battery, capable of throw
ing nearly thousand pounds of metal with
each broadside of her double row of guns On
her forward deck. as well as aft, she has two
immense guns, each weighing 90 tons and
mounted on such massive gun-carriages that a
man can stand on the deck beneath the muzzle
without bending These guns fire shot of
$50 pounds II miles. Down in her hold there
are 30 huge furnaces and seven immense boilers,
which are attended by $50 firemen. Her four
sets of triple expansion engines cost alone
81 GOO 900. She carries no less than five search
lights Her two immense tunnels are 80 feet
high and her masts are in reality signal STATS
of steel
Directly in front of the forward mast is the
firing tower, protected by forge steel three feet
thick, where the commanding officer directs
every movement during an encounter with the
enemy. She is well equipped with torpedoes
and torpedo boats.
Social life is very gay at the Point just now,
and the pretty girls and the Naval Cadets are
10 their glory. The Army men just now have
TO give way before the Naval contingent, and
with all the visitors from the fleet the fort is a
never ending source of interest and pleasure.