The herald., 1893-02-05
BUILDING WARSHIPS.
PIEcE BY PIECE TIE SMALL PARTS
ARE PUT TOGETHER.


hom the Scene of Construction--Ex-
anpies of Mathematical Exactness.
u say that the science of naval archi-
tecture and construction in its relation to
ships of war has had unprecedented devel-
Opment in late years would not be in any
respect an exaggeration. The fruits OF
the new era are already very apparent.
In fact, some have already come to take
the place of old methods and old machines,
and in their turn have been discarded ior
others that are now 81 a fair way TO DO
superseded by the results of further sclen-
tifc experiments. All this has taken place
without any practical test Of the merits oil
the innovations in actual fighting.
The introduction Of heavily armored bat
tleships might be said to date from tine
civil war, although there were NUMBER
of isolated examples before that time
With the monitor came a revolution in the
logic of naval science, and the end is not
yet, SO the prophets declare.
The evolution of the modern floating for
tresses, as exemplitied in the recently
fioatcd vessels in our navy, as well as those
that fiy the flags of England, Italy, France
and Germany. might be described as
long race between armor plate and arma-
ment.
In other words, the makers of guns have
been progressing as we'll as the makers oil
iron or steel plates that guard ship from
THE heavy missiles of various kinds that
are shot from the modern gun.
k At times It'll has seemed as though the de
tfence-had triumphed in placing heavy steel
lplates at the most vulnerable points, but
almost before the thought was spoken a
Il
new boat of another nation that would
render the steel plates no more serv1ceable
in an actual engagement than so much
pulp.
On these lines the game has gone on un-
til the steel ship has developed into what
seems to be perfection, and guns are made
which will pierce wrought iron TO the
depth of several feet, according TO the
varying size and weight of the projectiies.
While the effort to produce guns that
will make any kind of armor useless has
engaged the attention Of workers in naval
science, and while the effort to build ships
that are almost mass of solid steel has en-
gagged the attention of Others still another
complication thrust itself forth inthe shape
of the modern torpedo boat.
An English authority on the subject has
openly declared his opinion that the present
form of fighting with few powerful and
feet battleships must eventually be aban-
doned, and that p feet Of such vessels at
tackled at night by torpedo boats is a fleet
lost.
1t has been asserted by another man high
In the ranks of naval science that heavy
armor plate will be done away with on
nearly all vessels and that distinct styles
of craft will be used for distinct purposes
in.sea warfare hereafter.
According to his idea there will be the
fioatirs forts for harbor defense, with tn,
heaviest steel plates and heaviest gum
made that will be capable of the hardes
fighting, but of little use on the high sea
ON account of the impossibility of combin
ing these powers with that of speed.
For the commerce destroyers there vii
be the lightly built and lightly armore'
cruisers of the highest speed that Will b
nble to attack the merchant marine or I'm
protected coasts, and run away from tn
heayily arEafi arEasfissattlesfas .yJ %Jb2ss ls GGYn GGg
in this prophets estimation.
In accordance with this theory, in part
the navy of this nation is gradually taking
shape. The navy battleship and the swift
cruiser are combined, however, in the re
cent ships, and neither one nor the othel
has found its fullest development.
The new ship Cincinnati will very nearly
realize the idea of the heavy battleship
also combining the speed and seagoine
qualities of the cruiser.
These ships not only carry heavy stee
plates as a protection from the shot of al
enemy, but the entire vessel is uf iron
This CAUSES. as may be readily understood
some important changes in the construct
a. E...- Al. :.
Ing of wooden ship, and yet, on the whole
the two are put together on very much the
same principle.
AS many have thought, it is true that q
large part of the work done on these iror
ships is done in steel mills and factories
and the yard is the place of putting to
gether. In all the important parts of such
ship as the Cincinnati the iron forms are
made and shaped in the mills, far from the
place where the boat is being put together,
In such work the greatest accuracy is alb.
solutely Indispensable. In wooden ships
the different parts are shaped and put to-
gether in the yards from which the ship Is
launched, but iron cannot be sawed and
tplaned and cut to fit when it is to serve
such purpose as the backbone or ribs of
a ship like the Atlanta.
Il Every piece is measured from the draw
ings with the most scrupulous care and
mathematical exactness, and measured
with special apparatus in order that there
shall be perfect accuracy.
In building wooden vessels the drawings
are not nearly Sc exact as the plans for
iron vessels, on account of the necessity in
the latter for the elimination of anything
resembling allowance in any direction.
Everything is calculated down to the hun
dreth part Of an inch, and as the plans call
for the parts so are they turned out from
the factory.
After the iron and steel parts leave the
e mills in which they are made the making
Of the ship is comparatively the same AS il
1t were of wood. The blocks are laid in a
line to support the keel, which is the first
piece put in.
Thls Keel is made of many parts, but tc
the eye it appears to be one gracefully
shaped piece of iron that reaches from the
stem to the stern Of the ship that is to be-
When the keel is laid the stem and stern
pieces are the next to be added, and at
about the same time the enormous ribs
that form the frame are raised up on either
side All these timbers, as they are called
il spite of the fact that in these ships they
are iron and not wood, are shored up as
they are put in place. Each one Of the
plates is SO patterned that its edge receives
the other piate-that is it is formed like
one-half of a groove, and in the heightened
joint and the support on one side consider.
able strength is gained.-New York World.