The San Francisco call., 1895-10-17
MOST P0RERFUL AELOAE.
Comparison of the Indiana Vith Eng
lands Best BdttIeship.

lands Best BdttLeship.
Since December 10, when the new first
class barbette battleship Magnificent OF
the British navy was launched at Chatham
dockyard, the experts on ship-building of
all countries have devoted a good deal of
time in commenting upon and criticizing
the new vessel.
They have almost without exception
used the French ship Sardegna and the
American battIeship Indiana as their
standards of comparison, though some
have used the battleships Re Umberto of
Itsly and the Royal Sovereign of Great
Britain.
Even the English contractors who have
spoken of the Magnificent have agreed that
the enthusiastic English constructor who
stated that the Magnificent was the most
powerful vessel afoat was wrong, and
almost without exception they point to the
Indiana as one superior to the Magnificent
The Indiana will be worthy OF the title that
the Englishmen bestowed on the Magnifi-
cent-that is, '.the most powerful vessel
afoat''
AS matter of fact, comparison of the
respective merits Of the Magnificent and
the Indiana appears unjust to the latter,
for the Indiana was designed and con-
tracted for in President Harrison's ad-
ministration, and the appropriation for
the Magnificent was not made by Parlia-
ment until 1898, and so the latter has every
reason to be, and is, more modern than her
American rival.
Leaving aside, however, the improve
ments Of the last few years for comfort of
officers and men and the little details of
mechanism, ana viewing the Indiana and
Magnificent purely as engines of war, the
Indiana is, in the opinion of ship-buiiders,
the better vessel of the two.
The principal dimensions of the Mag
nificent are: Length between perpendicu-
lars, 800 feet; length over all, 420 feet Her
extreme breadth is rs feet; the vessels
mean draught is 27H feet. The displace-
ment is IA 800 tons. In the matter of en-
gines, the British ship has triple ex-
pansion engines, which, with their twin
screws, are supposed to develop speed
under natural draught of sixteen and a
half knots and under forced draught
from seventeen and a quarter to sc ven
teen and a half knots. Her coal-carry-
ing capacity is $1,000 tons.
Armor and battery are the things upon
which the claim of superiority are based,
and they are certainly better than any ship
ever before built in foreign shipyards. 1t
is in the matter of the armor and battery.
however that the designers OF the Indiana
have been most particular, and they say
that the Indiana is far superior to her
English rival.
The Magnificent mounts four 22-inch
breech-loadIng rifles, twelve 6-inch rapid
fire, sixteen 12-pounder rapid fire and
twelve 3-pound rapid-fre guns, or forty
four guns in all. Out of this battery the
Magnificent can fire eight guns either
ahead or astern, and with these eight guns
she can throw 1859 pounds of metal.
Here the lndiana's superiority is demon
strated. Her battery consists of four 13-
inch breech-loading rifles, eight S-inch
breech-loading rifles, four 6-inch, twenty
6-pounder rapid-fire guns, making in all
thlrty-slx guns, or eight less than the
Magnificent. With these, however, she
can throw 1884 pounds of metal either
ahead or astern, which is 1926 pounds more
than the English battleship can throw.
In the matter OF firing abeam the In
diana's superiority is demonstrated by
the fact that with twenty-four guns the
Magnificent throws but 1915 pounds; the
American ship, with four guns less,