Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-28
He RAM kATAHDIN
Arrangements All Completed for Her
Official Speed Trial Tomorrow.
ihe Pioneer of Her CInss-Expecte5
That She Will More Than Fulfil
Her Contract Requirements.

Arrangements are complete for tho off
clal trial of the ram Katahdin over the New
i-ohoon course tomorrow. She is reoufre6
10 MAINTAIN speed of at least seventeen
AlotS Tor two consecutive hours Other.
WIS., she Will be rejected. A premium nj
Si"'ooo Is provided however, for each u,,ar.
Ter Knot developed in excess OF the mini.
mum speed requirement.
Pioneer Of Her Class.
Inc katahdin is the first war vessel eva,
constructor exclusively 70" rdmming and 10
therefore, properly referred to as the pio.
ne-r OF her class" The American navy ba
taken the lead in this respect. Judging
from the results of private trials on the
coast of Maine, the Katahdin will meet her
contact sreed requirements If her other
performances are equally as successful. il
Is likely that provision will be made nv This
government, as well as others, for more
vessels of this novel type The Katahdin
was built by the Bath iron works of Bath,
Me- The contract price was 500 OOO The
org nal plans have undergone several al.
terations, and the vessel Is eight feet longer
than the original design. Her measure.
ments are: Length, 80 feet and inches;
breadth, 43 feet and ) inches; mean draught
10 rect, and displacement, 2,155 tons The
additional length has gwen more berthins
room for the crew and increased space for
Coa.
A Turtle-BaclSed Craft.
The katahdin is a turtle backed craft
having Moderate armcr protection. She Is
driven by twin screws, and her engines are
of the vertical triple expansion type. de.
signed for an indicated maximum horse.
power of 1880. The ram is designed, when
preparing for engagement, to become partly
submerged. This result is to be obtained
by the admission of water into wa.ertisbt
compartments.
The bracket and longitudiraI svsten, &c
usel IN the hull. with an inner bulkhead at
the stern. The longitudinals and Orders
supporting the deck are continuous con.
Verslhg 10 the stem casting aud to the
stern, the frames and beams benz, interiors;
tai. There are six transverse water.iyht
compartments, which are divided Longitude
rally by watertlght frames. BY this means
the space between the inner and the outer
ments.
Interior Ompartmcnts.
The transverse and the longitudinal bulk
heads between the inner skin and the deck
armor divide this space into thirty diyis-
ions, making total of 1902 compartments in
the vessel. Above the rounding deck only
the coming tower, with 1S-inch armor, the
smokepipe, the ventiators and the skid
beams for the boats viii show AS means
OF defense against torpedo boats, the Ka-
tahd.n Will carry four 6-pounder rapid fire
riies. She would probably suffer but very
Little during an engagement, for she offers
but small target, being nearly all under
water, While the part expcsed is SO shaped
that the square impact Of shot is almost
impossible.
Rear Admiral Daniel Ammen, the de-
sisner of the katahdin, claims that four or
SIX such vessels could protect our whole
Atiantlc coast against the invasion of a
foreign fleet: Going at speed of seventeen
knots the katahdin will strike blow of
40O,ooO foot tons, force undoubtedly capa-
bic OF sending any war vessel that floats to
the bottom, the blow being struck, as it
will be. below the water line. A naval au-
thority OF Great Britain has stated that in
all tie instances of ramming the offensive
vessel has suffered as much as the vessel
struck in seven cases out of ten. But this
has resulted from the fact that the vessels
ramming were not constructed for the sole
purpose of ramming, and SO were lily fitted
for the shock.