Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-18
ENGLISH ENVY OUR DESIGNS.
fhe Indiana Considered a Capital
Type of Battleshfp.

'spe ot bottleshtp.
From the Pail Mall Budget.
In the ships which are &c be added 10 the
Meet by the new naval program, apparently
the Royal Sovereign type is to be reproduc-
ed. NOW, this class Of ship. admirable In
many ways. has some most serious defects.
iheir heavy rolling has been alluded To,
ana Is fact in spite Of Messrs White and
Forwood. They possess the additional dis
advantage OF weak bows and weak bow
nre In proportion to their size. In the mod
erh Ehshsh ironclad the arncr has dis2p-
peared from the two ends CT the shin. ana
Is ali applied to her middle. The French
and Russians on the other hand have never
given up the continuous belt OF plating.
NOW. suppose that q French ship-ror IN
stance, tine Brennus-neets the ROYAL Sow
ereign end TO enc. what Will be- the Jesuit?
Ihe French vessel is stiff ana strong from
the armor which runs right up to her bow:
the English ship Is exceedingly weak there
Indeed the ram has only the support Of
the armored deck. The brennus would rlp
up the bow OF the Royal Sovereign ana
penetrate TO the armor below the heavy
guns. and our ship would be certainly IOs.
But IL VIII be SAID, end-to-end encounters
VIII never occur In warfare. On the con-
uary the best authorities. English ana
french, expect them to take place and GER
tainly the weakness of our ships will en-
courage the enemy to attack In this way
Even II both ships go 10 the bottom the
li.vvo-ton Royal Sovereign would be a good
exchange for the ll.VoJ-ton Brennus. be-
Sides, the knowledge that his bow is weak
Will seriously handicap the English captain
In the hour OF action.
When the ships are apprc aching one
another bow To bow the number OF guns
that can be brought to bear ahead viii lie
factor or great Importance in the night
The Royal sovereign could only fire two
heavy guns TO the French ships three ON
the most favorable supposition. though, as
matter OF TACT. In no ship Of the fioyai
sovereign class nave the guns ever been
hred right ahead. and IL tins were done in
action. the nuzzles Of the guns being only
three feet from the deck, the deck would
probably be blown in Both could bring 70
bear the same number of smaller guas
-FOUR. Thus the big English ship, ALREADY
handicapped by her weak ram. is places
suincient rre. Now, why should our ves-
sells OF 1900 tons be inferior. in this ras-
pect. TO our opponents of lo,Up to II 40
tons! Yet the Americans have an ironchd
OF the size only Of the Centurian, whichts
more powerful than even the Royal Sss-
ereign. Her big guns are as numerous al
very nearly as heavy. Besides these de
carries eight s-inch guns -four firing iriht
ahead and six 6-inch 1.-TWO hiring aheslU.
SO she could oppose eight guns TO the Real
Sovereigns six, and all of them protected
by a thicker armor than that which cosers
the corresponding wt-pons in our snip
True. she shares the fault of a weak bow,
but with the extra 400 tons which Cur
naval architects have al their dispose IL
should be possible to extend the plating to
the ram Uncle Sam has borrowed freely
from our designers in the past: they heed
not be ashamed Of adapting his designs 10
our needs.