Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-21
4 NAVAL WONDER,
An English-Built Torpedo Destroyer
That Reels OF It's Mile I'm = Minutes.

That Reels on It's Mile in = Minutes.
From London Engineering.
Very few vessels that have yet been built
have excited more interest than the Sokol
the latest addition to the Russian fleet. The
guaranteed speed Of twenty-nine knots was
alone sufficient to account for this, 1t having
been two knots in excess Of anything prom
Used at the time the contract for the vessel
was made. 1t may be said at once that the
interest shown by engineers and naval arch
fleets in the progress of the vessel has been
more than justified.
The vessel is 100 feet long by IS feet 6
inches beam She is of course. a twin-screw
vessel, and has three-stage compound en-
gineS Of the type ordinarily fitted by Messrs.
Iarrow in vessels of this class: having cy
| liEders IS inches. 26 inches and :s9Ia inches
| in diameter by Is inches stroke.
The boilers are eight in number. They are
| of the well-knOwn Iarrow type. and 1t may
| be stated that boiler arrangements are SINH
| lar to those of the Hornet, the vessel built
| by this firm for the English government, but
which was about pa knots slower than the
russian vessel. 1t will be remembered that
al the preliminary trial the maximum mean
| speed of 3oh4 knots was obtained second
mean Of three runs with and against tide.
Since then the official three hours run had
| been made in the presence of Prince Oukh-
tomSky. naval attache to the Russian gov
eminent. and chief Of the Russian commits
sion: Capt. Behr. who will command the ves-
sci; Mr.. Poretchkin enSineer-in-chief to the
commission. and other naval representa-
tives.
The mean speed on the six runs was %. III
knots. AS the mean revolutions per minute
of the siX-mle run was 46. Il, the true mean
speed of the vessel for the three hours was
three hours was ten tons seven hundred
weight. with an average air pressure Of 3-S
inches
1t will be seen, therefore, that the palm
for the swiftest vessel in the world has once
more reverted to the Poplar yard. and the
| British navy once more loses the supremacy
| in speed which 1t has held for some time
past.
The remarkable success of the Sokol has
not been due to a mere exercise of what may
APPLY, if not correctly. be termed the brute
force of horse power The maximum power
eNerted did not reach 1000. Exactly what it
was We are not aware but taking line
through the spots obtained by progressive
runs on the preliminary trial. it could not
have exceeded the figure named.
An inspection of the boilers when the ma
chinery was opened out indicated that they
had been subjected to no excessive test.
The furnace of a water-tube boiler Is a
comparatively easy thing to get into, and
| Engineering had an excellent opportunity of
examining the tubes in one boiler. In the
inner rows, which were quite easily eX-
amined, and which are subjected to the Sc
VereSt ordeal. there was no sign of leaka ge
in any part, the tube ends, where they are
expanded into the receiver above or the tube
plates below. being perfectly tight and
sound, and this may be said of the whole of
the tubes, there was no sign of leakage
throughout. The tubes themselves did not
present the symmetrical appearance of
rev boiler. being bent little out of straight
That, however, is the characteristic of all
straig ht-tube boilers of this description, and
naturally in itself does not affect the steam
ing properties of the boiler. The large fire
CRATE area of these boilers leads to ease in
working: indeed, the difference between run
ming q trial with Water-tube- boilers and with
the old loco-marine type is only equaled by
the difference in the appearance of the two
types of boiler after the run
In the case of the Sokol, although she had
been steaming about 30 knots for three
hours, the paint on the four chimneys was as
fresh as when put on.