The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-10-21
THE PENALTIES OF rns, rnsuyrus.
The Spirited Controversy Over the Propo-
sitton to Remit Them.

pneumatic gunboat Vesuvius has encountered
no little opposition thus far.
As is well known the Government in all it's
contracts for new vessels names the time at
which they shall be completed. and exacts a
penalty OF fixed amount for each day Of de-
lay. Whenever postponemonts are due to
changes in the contract or to lack OF material
Tor which the Government is responsible. lib
eral time allowances are made: but there
never yet has been n new steel vessel. OF the
many built. on which time penalties have not
been incurred
Where great and sometimes enormous speed
or horse power premiums are earned by the
contractors there Is usually little or no grum-
bling about the small offset caused by the
time penalties. But where there are not only
| no premiums. but penalties on horse power or
speed, there Ia hard kick against the time
penalty. and in some such cases Congress has
come to tho relief Of the contractor. Two in
| stances were those OF the cruiser Charleston.
built by tho Union Iron Works OF San Fran
cisco and the gunboat Petrol. built by the
| Columbian Iron Works OF Baltimore. Both
had suffered deductions from tho contract
| price from shortcomings In horse power and
Congress RENTED certain amounts OF penalty.
There is now pending also. in the House. a
| bill to remit the time penalties incurred by the
bennington and the Concord
| Tho case Of the Vesuvius Is analogous to
| that OF tho Petrol 1t is not exactly parallel.
because there was no deduction from the con-
| tract price for failure In horse power. On the
| contrary. the Vesuvius exceeded both her con-
| tract engine power and her contract speed.
| But under her peculiar contract she got no adj
ditional price or premium for these excuses.
and yet in procuring them her actual cost to
the contractors had far exceeded her contract
price. The case Of the Charleston was rather
remission Of horsepower penalties on ac-
| count OF imperfections in the Information
| given to its contractors by the Government as
| to what was required and the means for ac-
| com plishing it: but the Petrel's was purely a
remission OF time penalties
Taking the case Of the Vesuvius. however.
purely on Its own merits, 1t is said that she has
cost to build 100000 in excess of her contract
price II 80. or even II she cost s50.O00 more.
that seems a good reason for not exacting
$37.550 in time penalties since the Govern
ment appears to have actually lost nothing by
the delay. The Vesuvius was peculiar ex-
pertinent designed to carry form Of battery
never before attempted anywhere. That is the
great and essential fact which will not only &C.
count for some delays. but may fairly appeal
to Congress to treat the contractors literally.
The case is different from that Of an ordinary
war ship with ordinary guns
a speed or horse power contract like that Of
AL other vessels without exception. built at
moro money than she ever seeks to save She |
was required bv contract to develop 20 knots |
ns tables 6s Ba
reau of Construction. 22ia knots. But 21.U5 |
BE- Is RS
which is given to small gunboats of displace. |
eosns ee sr han Of Fse f bid
LIKE the My o 10rk and the Columbia
$4,000 per quarter knot Rewardirg the
Nesuvius by the premiums customary for ves-
sells Of sbou. her cost or 5000 per o quarter
Ssr
the eca tabes areaiy @uotsd to be- s:a7sa
horse power. The premium Tor extra horse
Ways been sioo per unit. Hence she 81 really
represents $50 4s6 Of premium. at that stand
fact she has attained much more horse power.
she is also much larger Vessel than was
greater coal-carrying capacity.
The real q for the I'll to the
the failure tho no tie
tenn Of the |esuyius. Thus far she has not
been able to explode successfully So shells fired
in the fuses. In addition. the gun has not been
sufficiently accurate. Commodore Folger. in
fitted as gun platform for artillery Of this
IS, her stores Of high eSpiosi iS and iarse
|
petey exposed to the fire Of rapid fire ord
nance. The vessel. as is well known. pos
this being the case. it Is probable that two tor:
pedo boats OF the type OF the Cushing. armed
fire guns Of small calibre. would Very much
overmatch her" Commodore Sampson. the
difficulty in working the pnen@Stio gun gun with i
proper accuracy ppears TO centre in the main |
and hsi to be-
proper fuse will presumably be secured. and
that 1t is possible that the serious objection
J ectlon pointed out by Commodore Fogsr as
to the UNPROTECTED character Of the ship sp-
The Hfs s eli Ms shp
gun. y hat they aid was 70 furnish vessel Of
q speed then Justly deemed extraordinary.
examined 1t, and Secretary Whitney was struck
matter now may may fairly be said that the az wiser sp
course would have been for the a ,r althor-
he1 oF the navy
should It have proved completely successful
it's TO It's could bs red
> pitching and rolling vessel But the navy. at
guns and naturally s desired Also to be- first IN
the field with promising new Invention. AS
had TO recommend that further experiments ,
with the Vesuvius be deferred until the pneu- Z
are installed at Sandy Hook. since in those {
guns the company promises to overcome the {
difficulties existing In the guns OF the Vesu-
vius. The Navy Department has already ex-
pended 100000 upon experiments Tor these
guns. and as Commodore Sampson says.
i without any decided Improvement" s
But so far az the Messrs, Cramp are con-
,erned. they furnished a very fast vessel. and c
he Dynamite Gun Company. without add
ional cost to the Government. furnished guns ,
very much larger than tho contract required
carrying shells q 800 pounds Of high exPlo- /
he mi 10 range guaranteed. Comm odore Fol-
ger reported tia that # the dynamite gun s, were
orpedo cruiser. with rapid.h guns she
you'd become formidahIe ANTAGONIST for
s a success as a vessel. In spite OF the failure
hitherto Of tho peculiar battery, which was
placed on board Of her Considering that q
ieem worth trying. together with the value OF a
he shin as fast torped2 cruiser the pending Y