The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1893-07-11
The Monterey
Arrives in Port.

/
Company's wharf, her Gdd-sounding
whistles returning the greeting of those
of the river craft that footed q hearty
welcome. AS she drew nearer, large
crowds sought points of vantage from
which to obtain good view of the
| formidable vessel.
About 10 o'clock Mayor M. c. Crosby,
Hon. c. w. Fulton, Collector Taylor
and b. Van Dusen, of the reception
committee paid the Monterey a visit,
and extended the freedom of the city
to Captain Kempff, officers and crew
All day long boats Of all description
circled around the vessel but none of
them We're allowed to land visitors.
In the afternoon Captain J. II. d.
Gray, appointed by the committee to
arrange for the reception of visitors to
the battleship today, w. B. Adair and
an Astorian reporter, went on board,
and were received at the gangplank by
Lieutenant A. G. Almy. Arrangements
were soon made for a lighter to be
placed on either side Of the vessel upon
which passengers will be landed from
the small boats today from 10 a. m.
till p. m.
Through the courtesy of Lieutenant
Almy e. c. Pendleton and other Off
GERS, the party was shown through the
vessel, of which a description will be
found below.
Captain Kempff was at one time sta
toned here as lighthouse inspector,
and knows many old Astorians whom
he will be pleased to meet.
The Monterey is a twin screw, steel
armored vessel of the Monitor type.
She was constructed by the Union
Iron Works of San Francisco, and the
contract with the government called
for $1,62S,95O. There was a stipulation
in the contract, that every horse power
in excess of that called for by the con-
tract, 540O for the main engine and air
circulating pumps a premium of $1OO
was to be paid, like amount to be
exacted for each horse power less than
the above amount.
The armor is eight inches thick, to
inches above the cruising water line
for 10 feet Immediately forward and
aft of the 10 inch belt. This plate
tapers to inches above the shelf.
The main battery consists of two 10
inch 27- ton guns and two 12-inch 46-
ton guns. These guns are mounted in
two barbette turrets-the 12-inch guns
forward, the 1O-inch guns aft. The
second battery consists of six 6-pound-
ers mounted on the superstructure
deck; two 1-pounders on the bridge,
and two in the military top. The bar.
bette armor of the forward turret is
1S inches thick and the revolving ar
NOR is 5 inches thick. The thickness
of the after turret is little less than
half of the forward. The smokestack
and fire room ventilator are armared
to five feet above the deck by steel 6
inches thick. 1t has a double bottom
which is divided into 1O7 separate
water tight compartments and the ship
is submerged to her fighting trim by
admitting water into this double bot
tom. Her length including rudder is
262 feet and A inches, and her beam is
50 feet.
The depth of hold from the top of
the main deck is 141A feet. Displace-
ment for seagoing trim is 1927 tons
and the displacement for fighting trim
is 1850 tons. Her hull is composed of
mild steel, and she was begun in 1890
and completed in 1898. The trial trip
took place on January 9Th, in San
Francisco harbor
1t is a floating island in itself, and
all ready for war, peace or any OF the
vicissitudes of fate which time and
events may bring about. 1t lies so low
in the water, so very low in fact. that
people who saw the men-of-war which
were in port last fall, will wonder at
the difference. But the vessel is built
like the famous Monitor. and is con-
seauently built under the water.
Down there, with the waves rolling FAR
above their heads, is small army OF
men. who eat, sleep and drink by the
light of Edisons incandescent lamps,
Although it's hold is a big place and
would take a person full hour to go
over it, yet every square inch of the
space is utilized. There are winding
alleyways that lead to all the numerous
different compartments and stairways,
which communicate with another COM
munity, a library and electric plant,
lodging house, restaurant, machine shop
clothing store, oommissary department,
a. saloon, and anything else that you
can think of that men in the enlight-
ened nineteenth century need to make
them happy. The big guns which
frown out from the turrets throw a
projectile weighing nearly ton, at a
velocity of 25OO feet per second for a
distance of eight miles. The officers
claim that there is no armor which is
inyulnerable against these projectiles,
and in turn say that the armor of the
Monterey is sufficient to resist any gun
which has ever been on the Pacific
coast.
The Monterey went into commission
February 10, 1893 and at the present
time is differed as follows: Captain,
Louis Kempff; lieutenant commander,