The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-03-24
ANOTHER SEA TERROR
One Of the Worlds Greatest
Warships.
THE IOWA WILL SOON BELAUNCHED

Vivid Description OF Mighty Fighting
| Machine-she l. an Up to Date Craft
of Monster siss aud Has one Hundred
Engines.
WASHINGTON. March 80. Especial =
| One OF the greatest warships In the world
will be launched from Cramps yard at
| Philadelphia In n few days She is the
Iowa. and first class terror Of the seas she
is likely TO prove The Iowa represents in
most perfect type and detail the modern
art OF battleship building. II is not easy
TO comprehend the potential power Of this
mighty lighting machine. Imagine, II
you can. o monster OF white aspect sec
feet long. 72 feet broad, sitting % rect IN
the water, and weighing ll,4i0 tons
Down in the hold Of this great craft an
army of coal beavers and fremen will
shovel fuel into 80 yawning, glarinR
mouths The steam thus generated IL
used In almost innumerable ways There
will be no fewer than hundred engines
in the Iowa when she is finished, electrical
and hydraulic, used for the purposes of
raising anchors, taking on and dischargine
stores, bringing ammunition from the
magazines TO the great guns, turning the
turrets, swinging the rudder. dischargine
ashes from the frebo1es lifting and low
ering the ships boats. heating and drying
every nook and Granny OF the hull illu
minating thousands Of electric lamps and
the great searchlights as we'll, freezing
tons OF ice for the daily use Of the crew,
pumping cold air into the firerooms. where
the stokers stand almost naked at their
work-these are only few OF the well
nigh limitless purposes 10 which steam Il
put on modern man of.war and the en-.
ergy OF coal Is used 10 facilitate the daily
work
She Comes High.
The Iowa has been built In an almost
incredibly short time, indicative Of the
facilities which this country is acquiring
for turning out great battleships in short
order The contract for the Iowa was
awarded only a little more than three years
ago. and her keel was not laid till August,
1898. Yet next week she will glide from
the ways with hull practically perfect, and
needing only her armament and fittings
to make her ready for service. This shir |
cost the government for hull and engines |
alone little more than SO. 600. 900, and |
than million in addition Modern bat. /
tleships come high, but IL seems to be the /
prevailing opinion in congress and among Il
the people that we must have them
The Iowa has "A thousand tons greater
displacement than her prototypes. the In.
diana, Massachusetts and Oregon, which
are already recognized as among the great.
est naval vessels afloat One distinguishing
feature OF the Iowa. one which shows her
to be the most closely up 10 date war craft
In existence. is the free use that has been
made upon her hull of that wonderful |
method OF hardening steel to any required |
depth known as the haryeyizing armor
process This great invention is OF Amer.
!chn origin aud development, and it's use
is hkely TO place American ships in the
van OF all warships, so far as the important |
feature OF armor is concerned.
In naval vessel tho boilers and engines
and the machinery which gives her life |
and movement, the "vitals must be pro. |
tected from the enemy's fire at all hazards. |
IL is upon this some Of the brightest In. |
ventive minds of the world have worked
Tor years. The great desire is To get de.
fensc resistance to shot. without TOO much
weight The race that is going ON all the
lime between the inventors OF armor and
he builders Of guns and designers Of mis- |
lilies Is one OF the most interesting things
II modern mechanics The harvey process
appears TO have put the armor makers a
ew laps ahead. In the Iowa band of
MS harveyized steel IL inches thick runs
learly around the ship on the water line, .
feet above and a feet below that line.
hus protecting the boilers and machinery !.
n addition 10 this protection which is be.
leyed to DO strong enough to stop the
reatest shot an enemy can fire at the ship,
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF the coal bunkers, and
yer all protective deck nearly 3 inches
mex of harveyized steel, strong enough | g
D stop any shot from getting through In | r
hat way. Above this IA inch belt Of steel | |,
armor plate 5 inches thick, and the c
avail architects are willing to risk their /,
,putation that no missiles from any war n
cssel now afloat will ever find their way ! G
Ito the machinery OF the Iowa.
Her Wonderful Features.
These are only tho main features Of the
rotective system adopted for this ship G.
he Iowa Is designed virtually as a steel Il
ne. or cage, within n ship and within O
lis cage are placed all the vital parts, such |
the machinery and the appliances for | ti
orking the great guns in the turrets
ferhead. All round and under this shin
thin ship are innumerable watertight | X
apartments, each connected with the | T
amps. IL one or more OF them are pierced | o.
: the shots OF the enemy. no great harm | %
Ill be done. Forward and aft " this | o.
eel box. In which the life Of the lighting
achne Is contained are Golfer dams of
llulose. substance which swells a. soon |
water reaches IT, and thus AUTOMATICALLY | "
oses any shothole p
The Iowa is fitted with u ram, and in n re
ose engagement her commander viii he al
lie To drive her at speed ~ about 20
ntute miles per hour. with all the mighty
sh OF II, 40 tons OF steel. pushed by cn
Des having / GOO horsepower. at the fne r
l. almost impossible to estimate what | =,
nm III ~. Ia. 49, - ~!