The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-09-25
MONTGOMERY AND MARBLE.
HEAD.
Two More Cruisers are Getting Ready
to Take Their Trial Trips.

is proceeding with a good degree Of
rapidty in these days, and to the cur.
rent preparations of the New York, the
Detroit, and the Machias for practical
service we shall soon add those of the
Columbia, the Olympia, the Maine,
the Montgomery, the Marblehead, and
the Castine
The Montgomery and Marblehead
are sister ships Of class which has al
ready in the Detroit shown admirable
results. The act authorizing these
vessels was that of Sept. 7, 1883, but q
delay in the preliminaries resulted in
the contracts for them being signed
only in November, 1889 The origin
al demand had been for a guaranteed
speed Of I8 knots an hour But the
first bids on them, those OF the Cramps
and the Bath Iron Works, exceeded
the limit Of cost, which was $7oo, 600,
imposed by Congress for machinery
sndy hull. Accordingly the Navy De-
partment reduced the guarantee Of
speed to seventeen knots, allowed six
months more for their completion, and
modified the speed premiums. There
was then no difficulty in procuring bids
that could be accepted, and two Of the
vessels, the Detroit and the Mont
gomery, went to the Columbian Iron
Works Of Baltimore for $6I2,soo each,
while the third went to Harrison
Loring's City Point Works Of Boston
for $674,ooo. When the Detroit, the
first of these vessels, was tried few
months ago she achieved the great
speed of 872 knots. This was close
upon "a knots in excess OF the guar.
antee, and was fine speed for YES
sci of such tonnage and so moderate a
cost.
There is every reason to expect
equally good results from the other two
cruisers Of this class. The aim Of the
Montgomery's builders will be to secure
at least the narrow margin Of extra
speed over the Detroit necessary to
attain 1875 knots since this will mean
exactly $4,000 more premium than
the Detroit earned. The Government
pays $4,000 for each extra quarter
knot, but makes no allowance whatever
for fractions Of quarter, SO that the
Detroit failed only by three. hundredths
Of a knot to earn the premium of a
full additional quarter Perhaps with
equal machinery even little difference
IN coal or the force of stokers or other
favoring circumstances may squeeze
out this small fraction of extra speed.
Still it is fact that two ships, made as
close duplicates as possible, by the
same builders, do not show exactly the
same speed, and the Montgomery may
considerably exceed or fall short of the
record of the Detroit.
As to the Marblehead, the business
difficulties Of her original contractors
forced them to give it up, and the YES
sci is now under completion by the
sssignees of Harrison Loring at New
York. 1t will be point of interest to
know how this vessel compares with the
Baltimore, constructed under a similar
contract.
While it is not likely that more YES.
sells of this exact class will be con-
structed by our navy, since progress is
such that Improvements can always be
made, yet it is conceded that some
very useful cruisers have been secured.
At very moderate cost of original con.
struCtlcn and also of maintenance these
vessels can perform station duty as well
as cruisers much more expensive, while
having sufficient battery power. They
are each of about 1000 tons displace.
ment, having a length on load line oi
257 feet, an extreme breadth of 81 feet
and mean draught of I4H feet. The
engines are of the twin screw, verticle,
triple expansion type, designed to yield
$500 indicated horse power, under
forced draught The main battery oi
each vessel consists of two 6-inch guns
mounttd on central pivots forward anc
aft, and eight S inch guns on the broad
side in sponsons. The secondary bat
terry consists of six 6-pounder and two
FOUNDER guns and two Gatlings, be.
sides torpedo ontfit.
| A noteworthy feature has been III,
provision of commodous quarters for
the crews of these vessels. After they
were planned and nearly completed an
addition of about one-sixth was made tc
the space allowed for the quarters o.
the crew, the number of torpedo tubes
being reduced in order to effect this
change, The experience Of the gun
boats of the Yorktown class had shown
the desirability of improvements of this
character and the result will be to
make these three vessels very comfort.
able ships to cruise in, as well as eff.
cient. The protective deck in these
vessels wholly covers the vital parts,
and a Golfer dam, filled with water.
excluding substance, runs above il
along the fore and aft bulkheads, the
top Of the Golfer dam being four fee,