Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-11
WARSHlPS IN PORT
Vessels Now at the Brooklyn Navy
Yard.
TEE CINCINNATI TO GO In COMMISSION
The Portsmouth to Leave for a
Cruise.
OF MODERN TYPE

The new 2O00-ton cruiser Marblehead has
left the yard for Newport where she will
take on board her supply of Whitehead
torpedoes. which viii practically complete
her armament and supplies. After that her
officers expect the ship to go to Marble
head. where the people may see their city's
namesake. and formally present q set Of
silk coiors to the ship.
The usual gift Of q city's people to o
ship named for II hae been q silver service
or some part Of one. and this seems more
fitting than q set Of colors. which may
soon wear out and however honorable q
nag ''tattered and torn" by service is II is
never iown from Q man-of-war's stan or
peak.
Yet the people Of Marblehead have pre-
pared their gift with becoming patriotism,
and. as "beggars should not be choosers."
the ships people should be just as thank
full. After this the Marblehead Ii to 90 to
Bluefields
The old sailing frigats Portsmouth. with
a hundred years OF active service IN almost
every part Of the globe. is stu in commits
sion and will soon start on a summer cruise
to Europe. with q crew composed mostly
going repairs to her masts and rigging
here. She is one of class OF ships which
century ago were the pride OF all Amer
leans. and their long line Of service shows
that the pride was wen founded With her
black hull lying low In the water. and the
long lines of square gunports for her old
style broadside battery, and the high masts
whose rigging seems like a tangle, she is
a marked contrast to the Cincinnati lying
near her. Yet, though she has no such
latter-day improvements as electric lights.
and must trust to luck in wind and tide
to get from port to port. service on her as
a training ship is not unpleasant. for In
the winter the time Is spent in the West
Indies and in the summer along the
European coast. while twice a year there
Is certainty Of getting back to the United
States.
Then in warm weather her decks are
cooler than those OF a steamer, with all the
heat and smoke and dirt from the engines
and boilers. Though we are apt to talk
much OF modern conveniences. life in the
''old navy" was not without its comforts.
The Portsmouth Is almost the last of her
line left In active service. The Constellation,
that has served for many years as prac-
tice ship for the naval cadets on their
summer cruises, has at last gone to New
port for a receiving ship where the high
masts that made her the fastest sailing
warship in the world for years viii come
down. and roof will be built over the
deck, where hundreds Of embryo officers
have learned the first rudiments OF sea-
manship. And another sister ship, the
jamestown, dismasted and dismantled.
serves as a floating quarantine hospital a
Hampton Roads. where she went when the
cholera scare was In force last year.
Yet another relic OF the "old navy" is the
hull of the old Vermont, now housed over
and used as a receiving ship here though
her active service has been very small.
Laid down in the years just preceding the
war Of 1872, she was not launched for
nearly twenty years. and then only went 10
sea a few times. The last time was during
the late war. when she left port for the
gulf coast, loaded with supplies. but she lost
he Of mil
out Of her course. SO she had to be towed
back into port.
The Miantonomoh. which is here for a
few minor repairs, Is the only one of the re-
modelled monitors now in commission and
her two years service has shown much of
what may be expected from her class In a
moderate seaway her low deck is washed
fore and aft and the apertures around
the revolving turrets have to be fitted with
some continuance to keep the water out.
Thus fitted. the turrets will not turn
easily. which results In limiting the moni-
tors usefulness as battleship to very
smooth water.
The Vesuvius has arrived at the yard. As
every one knows. she is the only vessel In
the world fitted with dynamite guns" so
called. The idea of using a gun that will
fire enough explosive material to destroy
any vessel afloat with one shot Is certainly
fascinating one to q naval ordnance Off
GER Though the difficulties to be overcome
in the use of the pneumatic tubes which
project the dynamite shells" or cylindrical
cases OF explosive gelatlne are many the
eXparts who have seen the Vesuvius at tar
get practice are hopeful and enthusiastic:
but for general use the dynamite gun" has
few supporters. After all. the vessel is only
a torpedo boat. firing her torpedoes through
the air instead Of through the water. She
is built on very fine lines. and is proba bly,
next TO the torpedo boat Cushing the fast,
est vessel in the navy.
Putting the Cincinnati I'm Com mi salon
On the 14th of this month Admiral Cher
ardi will formally put the new cruiser Gin
cinnau In commission, and as soon there
after as all the little attachments that al
ways Seem necessary after ship seems
completed are In place she will go on her
trial trip. which is expected to show that as
good engines can be built I'm the govern
ment shops at the navy yard here as In the
great private ship-building works
On the same day the people of Dobb's
Ferry. n. Y, will celebrate the centennial
OF that place. and they feel that the occa-
sion Is Important enough to demand the
presence OF a fleet: so the New York and
Miantonomoh may take part. Though so
loudly decried by many newspapers as a
perverted use OF war vessels and excur-
sions for their officers, the sending Of YES
sells to take part In large celebrations is a
good thing In one way. for II allows the
people to see the new navy and appreciate
It. and In a republic where the votes of the
people are needed TO build a navy 1t is not
The New York is expected here soon from
the West Indies. Much has been said In
criticism of the big cruiser, but many navy
people think that mountains have been
made OF mole hills, for there are aiways
many things about ship of new design
that require changing after a short trial
In service, and the enthusiastic friends of
the New York still claim she is the finest
vessel Of the cruiser type afloat When she
was at the yard before starting for Bre I'll
the visitors amounted to several hundreds
each day, sometimes almost a thousand
people came to see the new ship and n Is
probable that many will wish to see her
now.
The Lancaster has arrived from the Ash
attic station. She will be put out of COM
mission after many years of useful service
Twenty years ago the Lancaster was con-
sldered one of the finest cruisers in the
world. and her twelve-knot steamtny was
considered exceptional, for the liners took
twelve days to cross the Atlantic then
where now they take six. A comma rison
with the New York. which has almost dom
Bile the speed and over twice the tonnage
OF the Lancaster. will show twenty years
progress in naval architecture.
Mnchiax and Castiue.
The new gunboats. Machias and Castine.
which are being heightened In the drydock
here. are wen under way. and the frames
and plates of the fourteen-foot midship
sections which are being put In are nearly
all in place. so that in few weeks more
they will be out of the dock, and, accord