Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-26
THE FATE OF THE VICTORIA.
The Disaster n Viewed by Naval Omcers-
The Force of the Collision

The Disaster n Viewed by Naval Omcers-
The Force Of the Collision.
Naval experts are still at loss to explain the
cause of the collision between the Victoria and
Camperdown, and in the absence of authentic
Information can advance only theories
Admiral Gherardi is inclined to the belief that
the steering gear failed. He recalls the fact
that in the course Of the voyage of the vessels
OF the naval review feet from the Pacific to
Hampton Roads the steering gear of the San
Francisco and the Charleston failed on several
occasions. Had this happened when the vessels
Of the feet we're in close formation the results
might have been disastrous collisions.
In modern naval construction every possible
precautiou is taken to insure the efficiency OF
the steering gear, but even then accidents will
happen.
Surprise has been expressed in some quar-
tiers at the fact that the vessel was not saved by
the vater-tight compartments into which she
was divided But the naval constructors say
that too much dependence has been placed on
these compartments. They are unquestlonably
Of great service.
Had the Victoria been struck at either end she
might still have hoated, and in fact the Camper
down. which crashed into the Victoria. IN
doubleday owes her own escape from immediate
laundering to the fact that her forward COM
psrtment bulkhead kept the enormous food
OF water Wn1cl prODaDly poured through ler
torn bow from flooding the vessel
Commodore Farquhar. who. commanded the
Trenton at Samoa, speaking on this point, said:
"You never hear of a vessel struck amidships
surviving the blow. They are bound to ill.
The shock is so great that everything substan-
tial that is not cut down is wrenched and torn
apart"
THE FORCE OF THE BLOW.
Chief Constructor Hichborn has made an
ut ,fot,r To obovw he
force Of the blow that the Camperdown dealt
the Victoria He says:
The Camperdown has a weight of 10000
tons and was moving at q rate of ten knots per
hour, or t. 80 feet per second. This would give
an impact Of 46, 900 foot tons delivered by the
sharp ram of the Csmperdown- That is equiva-
lent to the blow that would be struck by a rail-
road train consisting of six large Pullman cars
drawn by the heaviest Of locomotives, say one
of 40 tons, running at a speed Of fifty miles
per hour"
Naval officers say that compartments some
times fail Of their purpose because the water
tight doors are not closed in time TO keep out
the water from the damaged portion. Admiral
Gherardi saws that il is absolutely necessary to
keep these doors open most Of the time. owing
to the impossibility of securing air to breathe
when they are closed, especially in tropical
climates. IL is reported that the VIctoria's
sailors were endeavoring to close these doors
when the ship went down.
THE EFFICIENCY OF THE RAM.
One result of the catastrophe has been to
bring to the front numerous advocates of the
ram pure and simple a weapon of offense,
and attention has been called to the Ammen
ram. Kathahdin. now being built at Bath, Me-,
for the navy. But the naval constructors do
not attach much importance to this vessel,
mainly because Of the fact that by reason Of the
weight Of her armOr she will be too slow to
catch up with most Of the modern war vessels.
They argue that moss of the American naval
vessels have ram bows and would be quite as
efficient a specially designed ram They also
say that the efficiency of the ram NAV easily be
overestimated, for actual experience in warfare
has proven that il IL exceedingly difficult and in
most cases impossible TO an antagonist that
Is fully aware of the purpose of the enemy, for
the attack can generally be defeated by sharp
maneuveriEg while the vessel making the at
tempt must expose herself at her most vulner-
able point to an almost irresistible concentrated
FIRE Of heavy guns
While the Victoria disaster has not shaken
Secretary Herbert and some of the naval ex-
perts in their advocacy Of the battle ship, il is
nevertheless obvious that the accident will have
. deleterious effect upon future legislation for
this class of vessels. Even experts who have
hitherto favored battle ships are now disposed
to question the wisdom of expanding large
amounts in monster craft, and with the experts
divided on this question il is going TO be a hard
matter to convince an economical Congress that
bhips Of this character are necessary.