The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-02-25
NEW BATTLESHIPS
Passage OF Naval Appropria-
ton Bills Makes Things
Lively.
DESIGN OF THE NEW SHIPS
They Will Probably Follow
Closely the Lines Of the
Iowa.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.--The action OF
the house accepting the recOmmenda.
tions OF Secretary Herbert looking to the
addition to our navy of three battleships
and twelve torpedo boats has stirred the
department officials to an unusual de.
gree of activity, for 1t means much work
for them during the coming summer.
Already they have begun to outline
roughly the main features of the vessels,
OF which there can be no official plans
until the board of bureau chiefs have
been instructed by Secretary Herbert to
consider the subject. Tt is already ap-
parent from the expressions of the off,
GERS who will have to design the battle
ships, that these will generally be
Patterned After the Iowa,
the largest and most powerful of our
new ships, which is now rapidly ap-
preaching completion at Cramps. The
department. has always striven in each
design TO profit by the experience Of
other vessels of like type and to avoid a
lavish copying of merits, and while this
will be the course pursued i'm the case OF
the new battleships, it is believed the
variations from the original model OF
the Iowa will be fewer than is usually
the case. The reason for this belief Ia
that there has been no very marked nov
city of design either here or abroad in
the last two years in the case OF battle
ships, and any changes in the Iowa
plans are likely to be i'm matters Of de-
tail generally rather than in the whole.
Draw Too Much Water.
Probably the finest battleships in the
world are those of the Royal Sovereign
class, which Great Britain il just put
ting afioat, and it is safe to say that If
conditions admitted our new ships
would be ON their lines. But this Is
scarcely possible for at least two good
reasons. In the first place, such a ship
would cost more than the limit fixed by
congress, and i'm the second, it could not
enter more than two harbors on the
Atlantic coast. The Iowa draws "a feet
of water, while the Royal Sovereign
type draw 81 oct. These British ships
are OF great size, having d displacement
of 1900 tons, or as much as great At
lantic liners, while the Iowa's displace-
ment Ia IL, ,410 tons.
Probably Build Them Cheaply.
The naval designers believe from their
experience with the torpedo boats, for
the building of which proposals have
Just been received, that with the money
allotted for the new ships they win be
able to build them somewhat larger than
the Iowa was contracted for, and there
are signs that the competition among
shipbuilders for these new ships will be
much keener than heretofore, so that
much can be accomplished with the same
allowance of money. Should it not be
impossible to increase the size
of the ships, the ordnance officers
are contemplating adding heavier bat
teries to them, adding 13-inch instead of
1O-inch gums for the main battery and
considerably increasing the number Of
rapid fire steel guns, which are said to
have done such execution in the Chi
nese-Japanese fight. II the new pro-
cess of treating armor comes mp to ex-
pectations, it In also probable that the
thickness of armor ON the sides Of the
ship win be diminished and the armor
protection extended to cover the ends Of
the yessel, the Importance of which was
shown b$ the experience Of the Japan
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