Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-01
DEFECTS IN THE NEW yopx
some Minor Faults Pointed Out nv ths
Trial Bourd

Soon after the final trial of tho ,-,,,so-
New York the press was furnisba, ,,,h
synopsis Of the official report thereon bv
'he naval board OF which Admiral Belknav
was mead The synopsis was good so far a .
II went but II did not touch on severaI
material points. AS has already baan
stated IN The Star. the general opinion of
'he Inspection board was that the ship was
structurally sound and that her machinery
and guns were we'll built and strong Tbs
board found several things to crtttcise bouy-
ever. such as defects of the flush water
usht matches Of the platform deck, which
the board believes to be serious and should
De remed1ed. The report SAYS:
During the evening December I9 the
searchishts and Ardois Very, and truck
hsht systems of signaling were tried. The
Stttornance So,tCsIce OF the searchlights was not
1SIs factory. When the port waist search
Asht was placed in operation IL was Oh
served that the beam OF light was In proner
al s.nent. but. upon attempting TO turn
the protector by means of the elactricaI
apparatus 1t failed, through a short circTit
Wnlch destroyed the operating switch. The
hSnt practically went out, and further ex-
SSIiHIehts were postponed. Both the fore
ohd main mast searchlights failed to on
crate effectively. The results OF the three
sS SEEMS c OF night signals were without fault
ne elght-inch guns were fired two
81 ~llu tne exception of one OF
he guns IN the after turret which was
nFed nut once No sign of stress was shown
~ tne CARRIAGES in the turrets The gun
thlI was hred but once in the after turrat
had IT'S breech plug So jammed that IL took
more tnan an hour to clear it. 1t was final
cleared by rammer thrust down rha
pore from the muzzle Of the gun. The
a sIeeeh plugs OF two OF the other eight-inch
guns were similarly disabled. bur for a
much shorter time. In every case the rnush
rooms either became jammed or the consfd-
eraDie amount of residuum from the charge
~edged the plugs.
q, ne main deck battery worked well, but
.ne hoidlng-down bolts of the mounts were
started almost without exception
The cartridge cylinders for the s,,nnIr
oI the sponsor eisht-inch guns are apt to
edtCh az the Joints in the chutes; one chute
nds ulsabled temporarily by such lam
.linss. Inc joints should be made smooth.
10 overcome such serious defect
ne hfing pin Of one of the six-pounders
- - two OF the lock lanyards broke. The
lock or the starboard gun in the forward
turret did not work satisfactorily. Seven
primers failed to ignite the charge. the
ss.5hth primer fired the gun, when the lock
The working Of the turrets was not
eSou. the movements go by Jerks rendering
e'.eS % i've pointing OF the guns impossible =
. Collision and fire quarter drills yvera nod.
~ performance was satisfactory During
.He HFlnS or the guns the shock Of the ex
p'slohs sent of some OF thC~,lectric emer-
trnCy alarms. On two occasions the buIk
q, ~ ucors We're Unexpectedly closed. owing
10 we accidental signals so made
The chief engineer of the sb,-, -.,,,..,.
,t ,nat the boilers furnished to the steam
.aulCh and cutter have given trouble con-
unuoasly, an1 that no reliance can he
placed In them" 0e