The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-12-20
OUR SHIPS or TO-DAY.
The Various CInasea md some Pointa OF
Individual Excellence.

u SHIPS or TO-DAY.
The Various Glasses md some Points OF
Individual Excellence.
WASHINGTON. Dec. 10.-Tho table Of vessels
in the navy. built and building, which Chief
Constructor Hichborn has compiled and brought
up to date. is one OF much interest.
IL begins with eleven battle ships. OF these
only two. tho Maine G,Gs2 tons, and the Texas.
6,3l5. are under 10, 900 tons displacement. The
Indiana. Massachusetts and Oregon have l0.2sS
each, the Iowa Halo, and the kcarsarge. Ken
lucky. Illinois, Alabama, and Wisconsin ll,525
each, the three latter, however, when with two
thirds OF full coal supply, ammunition, and
stores. Their actual displacement when reck-
oned like the others with all stores aboard, yet
with the normal coal supply instead Of the full
bunker capacity, will be somewhat different.
Notably heavy batteries are those of the
kearsarge and Indiana class, with four l3-inch.
eight S-inCh, and four 6-inch guns. although
for all-around efficiency the Kearsarge class has
been armed by preference with four l3-inch,
four S.inch. and fourteen rapid fire 5.inch
guns. aud the Illinois class with four l3-inch,
no s-inch and fourteen rapid fire 6-inch guns.
The thickcst side armor is that of the Indiana
class, eighteen inches, but the later vessels
have the advantage OF all improvements in
armor. The Indiana class carry six torpedo
tubes each, and the other battle ships four.
We have two armored cruisers. the Brooklyn.
0,27l tons. and the New York. 5000. The
former is the superior in nearly every way,
although the contract price of her hull and
machinery was but 81. 900 more. She has n
trial speed of 2l.9l knots. against the New
YorK's II. She carries eight s-inch aud twelve
5-inch guns to the New Works six S-inch and
twelve 4-iuch, and five torpedo tubes TO tho
~latters three. The New York has the thicker
ba roette and side armor, but the Brooklyn the
moro modern.
We have one armored ram, the Katahdin. of
2,l55 tons and a speed of 1911 knots. her pro-
tective deck being six inches thick on the slope
and two inches on the fiat.
Our double turret monitors are six in number.
the largest and most powerful in every way
being the Puritan, of 6.O0o tons, with l4-inch
armor on the barbettes and sides and four L.
inch and six 4-inch guns. The Amphitrite,
Miantonomoh. MonadnOck. and Terror. OF $500
tons each. have llh inches on either barbettes
or turrets. at the maximum. and their heaviest
guns are four l0-inch. There are also thirteen
old single-turret monitors. tho Ajax, Conanicus.
Mahopac, Manhattan. and Wyandotte. of ?.l00
tons ench, and the Comonche, Catskill, Jason.
Lehigh. MontauI, Nahant, Nantucket, and Pas
saic. OF 1873 each. They move about at five
or six knots an hour, but this Is enough for
harbor defence purposes. md they have five
inches Of ~old-style iron plating on their sides and
ten or eleven on their turrets. each. mounting
two l5-inch smooth -bores. except the Conan
che. which has none.
The grand total. OF all classes. built and build
ing, Is thirty-three armorclads.
There are sixteen uhaFmored steel cruisers
built and no Others now building. The fastestis
the Minneapolis. 1873 tons, of u little over ~
knots, followed closely by her sister ship, the
Columbia, of o2.s knots. while the Olympia, OF
over 2l&a knots, is a good third. The Chicago.
OF 1900 tons, ia prominent for her powerful
battery OF four S-snch. eight 0-incl. and two D.
inch guns. although this will he altered some
what when she is again fitted out for service.
The Olympia, with four S-inch and ten 5-inch
guns. and the Baltimore. with four S-inch and
six O-inch. are also heavily armed cruisers. The
Atlanta. Boston, Charleston, Cincinnati. New
ark. Philadelphia, Raleigh. AMI san Francisco,
none of them having less than 5000 tons dis
placement, and three exceeding 1000. are. like
those already mentioned, protected cruisers.
while the Detroit, Marblehead, and Muntgom-
cry, of 2,Oso tons, are OF the simple cruiser type.
Our oldest, largest, and fastest gunbuats are
the Yorktown. Concord, and Bennington. OF
LILO tons each. and they are also the most
heavily armed. carrying six d.inch guns. Next
to them in displacement and both longer ana
broader. but of much less draught, are the He-
lena aud Wilmington. LOO" tons each, and the
Nashville, l,J7l, all three nearing completion.
Already in service are the Castiuo and Machias.
of l,l17 tons each; the Bancroft, Of O1U, and the
Petrol, OF SG2. The six composite vessels. An
napoiis. Nicksburg. Newport, Princeton, Wheel
ing, and Marietta, are of about / 900 tons, and
are now building. This gives us u total OF six
teen gunboats, while II the despatch boat Dol
phin, l,4s0 tons. and the Vesuvius. 0n0, should
be added. The number would be eighteen.
of torpedo boats, built and building, Wa have
now twenty-one. The Gushing and Ericsson arc
familiar, and also, the little Stiletto, the only
one not or steel. Tho highest speed expected In
our newer boats Is BOLS Knots, from No, . and
No. 10, building at Bath, which. IN only lib,i
tons displacement, have I, 200 horse power, No.
! building at san Francisco, is TO develop
torpedo hoat, displacing 273 tons. While she Is
expected TO make 80 knots. from tho pair ad-
NhhcinE toward, completion, AT Bristol. s.kp
Knots Is expected. and from the Seattle boat 20
knots. The three newly finished al Baltimore
ARE 10 make 24Ie knots, and we also have three
new ::'s-knot and four 2O:kn0t boats pudding.
have thu iron Alert, Monocacy, Michigan,
hlhla. ana Hanger, and the wooden ADAMS, AL
lance, Enterprise, EsHrI, Lancaster, Marion,
rmheiISi ana lantic, all, ~, some sori OF service.
Alarm and the wooden MOlican are in ordinary.
The wooden sailing vessels still in service of
some sort are the Constellation jamestown,
To make the record complete we may add the
wooden vessels no longer fit Tor sea service, of
which the steam division is led by the Franklin,
sofa, Nipsio, Omaha, Pensacola, Richmond,
Swatara. and Wabash. while the sailing vesAels
are the Constitution, Dale. Independence, New
most even OF these vessels arc still doing duty
as receiving ships VI vessels for the naval
militia, and 90 on.