The sun., 1895-05-19
OUR NEW BATTLE SHIPS.
FIG HT OYER TIE DESIGNS AMONG
THE NATAL BUREAU CHIEFS.

of the Ordnance Bureau Decidedly Fn-
vors the 13-inch Gun-A Tendency TO
Reduce the Thickncrs OF Hull Protection
md Spread 1t Over n Greater Aren.
wAsHINGToS, May 1s.--The fight over the
battle ship designs. In which tho first shot was
fired from the l3-inch gun against nm 1S-tnch
plate Mt Indian Head proving grounds yester-
day, was resumed Mt the Navy Department this
morning. and continued without interruption
all day, the main difference in the occurrences
OF the two days being that Secretary Herbert
controlled the conditions to-day instead Of the
ordnance officials.
The all-duy session was held in Commodore
Sampson's office. and those present were
the Secretary of tho Navy and the Chiefs
OF Construction, Engineering, ordnance. Equip
ment, and Naval Intelligence. Chief Con-
structor Hichborn had some time ago submitted
four tentative designs, differing only In minor
details with n memorandum which had met
with sharp criticisms from Chief OF Ordnance
Sampson and this memorandum was brought
under discussion. No result, however, was
reached up to the hour OF adjournment Secre-
tary Herbert, who has to mako the decision, de-
clined to act hastily. 1t is expected that tho
points at issue will not be definitely settled for
some time. but the best OF feeling is manifested
between the adherents of the different sides Of
the case, and all the officers determined to
have the new ships superior in fighting power to
ANYTHING likely to be afoat in the next ten years.
The most important part OF tho official MEM
orandum describing the ships says that the de-
signs resemble more closely the Indiana class
than the Iowa in general appearance. but in
many essential qualities they are between the
two. While they have not the additional deck
forward of the Iowa, they have three feet more
froeboard at the bow than the Indiana, and the
hpa tyOn rd a a carried q inchps
higher above the water. The armor has been
distributed over wider than on tho In
diana. Tho side armor has n maximum thick
ness amidships of fifteen inches instead of the
eighteen of the Indiana. The speed is intended
to be 10 knots at normal displacement under
forced draught
Weight is allowed for the same torpedo outfit
that Of the other battle ships. The Bureau
considers. however. that torpedoes discharging
above water are of doubtful value upon battle
ship. for the reason that such ship would
doubtless be In action some time before reach
ing torpedo range, and the chance of above
water torpedo gear surviving until 1t could be
used would be hardly sufficient to Justify the
risk run by exposing the large charges Of high
explosive carried by torpedoes to gun fire. II
ships, submarine discharge should be developed,
as is now being done abroad.
pointed out that the development Of the larger
Salibres OF rapd.hfe guns has ni. materially re-.
oay o the
very slight protection which can be given to
such guns After much consideration s the
been fixed nt II inches. This is in accordance
with all recent foreign practice The table OF
gives the normal penetration Of the le-nch guns
as q inches Of steel armor with the ordinary
backing. While the penetration would be less
in Harveyized arrnor, the bureau makes the
significant statement that the amount OF armor
rom S bs e
inch gun at fighting ranges is practically nil.
This being the case It does not appear that the
they require and the additional difficulty Of
loading and working them with the desired
The calibre of the rapid fire battery was fixed
Of rapid fire guns that can use fixed, ammuni-
tion on board ship. and hence really deserves to
teeted teo TIE bureau the practical @
blity Of mounting them In pairs in small tur-
" ean be thaf
that the pairs OF guns are isolated. The disad-
vantages are tho slightly greater weight the In
dey Of ana the
ammunition in order to keep UP a rapid tire.
AS regards armor. the tendency at present is
spread it over greater area. At present the best
6-inch armor is tolerable match for the g.
gun gun is good for about ten inches Of tho best
armor. Now 1t Is. and will be. possible to cover
a large part Of the largest M battle M ships with
vii! not be possible to protect any large part of
such ships with lO-inch armor unless displace-
ments much larger than yet attempted are
While it is now generally admitted that the
heaviest guns can. on well-balanccd ship be
carried to advantage in two positions only. two
guns in ench. it appears advisable to have more
cannot the
and II is sound policy to supply sufficient num-
ber Of them to provide for some damage in the
1t is stated that a battle ship. as proposed in
in one of the plans Of 1880 tons, opposed to
four 6-inch rapid -are guns opposed 70 two 10
the s.inch guns would be thoroughly and the
b-inch guns fairly well protected against the q
guns could smash without difficulty the English
6-nch-gun protection. which Is six inches thick.
thn sas and sep epb
to four l2-inch and six 8-inch.,. The j5;inch
rapid-tire guns should make IT possible to
fight the numerous unprotected 12.pounders
and smaller guns carried in the English second
ary battery It would be stii more eectiys
Russian vessels, which are smaller than the
English.
Commodore SIMPSONS, memoranda Of the
modications recommended by the Ordnance
Bureau are all OF a character that commend
= OF VIII be
TO- The most important relate to the cal bre of
the heaviest guns, the ammunition supply. the
number and arrangements OF turrets. and the
position of the armor belt In his opinion the
armor belt should he raised one foot. as he
showed that the top Of the belt. when the
ship had 1900 tons Of coal aboard, would
be only ls inches above tho water line. Com
modore, Sampson also showed the. necessity
OF provision for at least 200 rounds of anmuni-
ton for the l3-nch guns, 500 for the s-inch.
and $500 FOR tho 5-inch, increasing the weight
OF ammunition carried by each ship to i3s tons.
IIe also expressed himself decidedly In favor of
the l3-nch calibre for he principal guns, CIV
ing among Others. the following reasons:
An armor plate which would Withstand re-
peated blows from q l2-inch gun would be per-
Iorated or destroyed by single l3-inch pro1ec-
tile. Notwithstanding that the accumulated on
greater than that of tho single l3-inch projcc-
tile.
Under the present state of the art of manu-.
facture OF armor and projecties a ] inch plate
Is a match for n l!-inch projccti lie under normal
impact ut a range Of 900 yards. Under service
conditions of impact. even at the short range Of
1000 yards, q +-inch plate will keep out nine
tenths OF all such prnjectes. To secure the
same degree OF projection against II l3-inoh
h.,r ~ nj ho In