The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1895-11-23

for a years service, and, besides the
distilling apparatus capacity, the tank
holds a supply of fresh water to last
fifteen days.
The Kearsarge and her sister ship will
be driven by two sets of triple-expan-
sion engines, in separate compartments,
actuating twin screws, each screw being
propelled by direct acting engines hay-
ing cylinders of 1872 inches, 81 inches
and 1S inches diameter, with common
stroke Of 4S inches, indicating, together
with the engines for air and circulating
pumps, collective horsepower of TO-
900, when making about 120 revolu-
lions a minute. Five boilers, two
double-ended and two single, in four
water-tight compartments, will gener-
ate the necessary steam at pressure
of $50 pounds to the square inch. There
will be no speed premiums, a penalty OF
$4,000 knot being imposed for failure
to reach the contract speed of sixteen
knots for four consecutive hours. If the
speed falls below fifteen knots, which is
highly improbable, the vessel may, in
the Presidents discretion, be rejected
altogether.
The main features of the Kearsarge's
design involve the following dimen-
sions:
Length of load water line, 1858 feet.
Beam, extreme, ~ feet % inches.
Freeboard, forward, IA feet inches.
Freeboard, aft, II feet 3 inches.
Mean draft, with 40 tons Of coal, %
feet inches.
Corresponding displacement, 1880
tons
Speed, per hour, Is knots.
Indicated horse power, 10000.
Total coal supply, loose stowage, 1,21O
tons.
Torpedo tubes, two each broadside,
one in stem.
To serve the batteries, 4S1 ton of am
munition will be habitually carried on
each ship, distributed as follows:
Thirteen-inch breech-loading rifles,
200 rounds
Eight-inch breech-loading rifles, 500
rounds.
Five-inch rapid-fre rifles, $500
Six-pounder rapid-fire rifles, 10000
rounds.
One-pounder rapid-flre rifles, $4,000
rounds
Each magazine is intended to contain
Dos, 900 rounds of 40 caliber cartridges,
to be fed into the Unsuitable maws of
the four Cuttings, each capable of dis
charging 800 shots a minute; 100000
rounds of 236 caliber nickeled pellets
for the repeating rifles with which Jack
equipped, and $4,000 rounds of SO cali
her ball cartridges for the self-cocking
long naval revolvers to be useful in
boarding an enemy. Eight Whitehead
torpedoes will ordinarily be stored
ready for launching, and for landing
purposes a mounted regulation field
gun has not been omitted. 1t is conserV-
atively estimated that the Kearsarge,
in commission. will have sufficient am
oh Il 70 iii n h q
a million persons, and that she will be
able to fire it all away within five
hours-the calculated duration limit of
fierce fight af1oat.
Every comparison of these ships with
any foreign battleship, built or build
ing, is clearly favorable to the Ameri-
can design. The United States ships
will carry heavier guns and more OF
them, and heavier armor, more widely
distributed and protecting more thor
cughly the vitals of the ship and gun
crew While their normal speed OF
sixteen knots will be less on paper than
that of some foreign battleships, it is
notable that it will be obtained with g
very moderate forced draft for a per-
iod of four hours and without unduly
pushing the engines, so that at any
time this velocity can be duplicated by
cur vessels, foreign battleShipS notOri-
I oQSly never AGAIN approaching lIlS1l
single measured mile trial speeds. The
United States has never fallen into
this error with its battleships, but in
every case has required that the maxi
mum contract speed should be obtained
under conditions which could be re-
produced at any time upon a we'll
drilled ship. AS illustrative of this
point, the Indiana, upon her recent Of
fetal trial run. although she had been
I nd Il11oc,
/ lily lost half a knot through the rough
ness of her bottom. due to accumulated
marine growth, still averaged 10 l..
! knot rate four hours, the contract re-
Cuirement being fifteen only. The In
diana class may prove to be really IT,
! knot ships, and battleships Nos anC
! g. with about the same extreme speed
are adapted to maneuver in company
with them.
! The Kearsarge, when using as bases
| of action ports having not more than :;
! feet of water at their entrances, will be
! limited to 40 tons of coal, which viii
! permit her to cruise $50 nautical miles
| at a 13-knot rate, or 1000 miles at II
knots per hour. When operating from
! a deep water harbor, however, her bun
/ ker-room is so ample that ! ,210 tons car
/ be rapidly stored in her, it being pos
sible to dump that amount with the
/ greatest ease lHlO the DuHhcIS NlIIlOu
| trimming or handling, and with thi:
amount, for all ordinary contingencies
or for service in time of war along oul
! coast, at a cruising velocity of IL knots
she can steam nearly 1000 miles, or a
the more leisurely 10-knot rate she car
can go over 5000 miles. In case it be
came necessary to send her greater dis
tances she has provision to carry TEN
porarily about 800 tons outside the bun
kers, which would give her the incom
parable limit of 5000 miles.
In general external appearance anC
arrangement battleships Nos. D and
/ will more nearly resemble the Indiana
class than the Iowa; but the single huge
! tower of the Indiana will be replaced
! by two graceful military masts with
fighting tops, and the Indiana's shor
smokestack will be heightened to secure
the development of more power and tn,
maintenance of better speed wheT
working under natural draft alone.
Perhaps the most novel feature o.
these vessels, and the one which is dis
tinctly in advance of any battle-ships
| in the world, is the unprecedented for
midable secondary battery of fourteen
! 5-inch rapid-fire rifles, incased behind
the protection of five inches of the bes
armor The 5-inch gun is the larges
caliber that can be fired with extreme
idPiuilS' anu ny ~ - Ci4 etiCS'
guns is such that it could be pene
trated by but few of the weapons will
which any possible opponent is armed
| Experience in the recent war between
China and Japan clearly indicated tn,
effective power of rapid-fire guns anC
demonstrated that to enable such guns
ITO do their best work, they should hav'
more protection than has heretofor,
been given them.
The terrific destructive effects OF tn
secondary battery can hardly be over
estimated. At all ranges the big thir
teen-inch "Peacemakers' in the turrets
with their half-ton projectiles, strikin,
| fairly, can smash to pieces anythin,
c.;c- In I, liz