The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1896-01-28
Ceremonies Over the Light Draft
Warship Thursday.
NEWPORT NEWS THE PLACE
Large Party of Washiugtonian VIII
Go Down to See he Fun-IntereSting
Details of C0ii-t rue; ION With Some
Novel Points Thut Fit the Boat for
Special Uses.

| parry Of naval officers. with ladies and
gentlemen OF their acquaintance, will go
| down to witness the ceremonies.
Congress, under the appropriation for
| increase OF the navy act, approved March
| 3, 1898, provided FOR the construction of
three lght-drafJ gUnbuats of about l 200
| tons displacement, zach to cost, exclusive Of
armament and speed premiums, not more
| than 100000 each.
The Helena. heretofore known as gunboat
! No. 8, is the third OF these vessels, and the
! lastone To be launched, the Nashville and her
sister Ship the Wilmington, having been
launched on the 19th OF October.
The Helena has been designed strictly for
| special service. ana Is intended particularly
| for the shallow waters and rivers of the
| Asiatic station.
| Her principal dimensions and general
| features are: Length on load-water line,
normaldisplace cement, $50 feet g inches ma X
imum breadth. 40 feet inch: mean draft at
normal displacement. . feet: freeboard for
ward, 10 feet inches: frcrhoard aft, IL
feet inches; normal displacement, / 1892
tons; coal carried a normal displacement,
lGO tons; total coal capacity, 219.73 tons;
speed, contract ana estimated, 3 knots;
complement, Officers and crew, 10 men.
The bulls will lee constructed OF steel
throughout.
DESIGNED FOR RIVER SERVICE.
A watcr-teht viii be worked over the
region OCCUPIED by the ''vitals,'' to be
placed about the level Of the water-Iins,
with slopes extending To the sides below the
watcr-ine.
There viii be = double bottom, worked
and magazine spaces. throughout which
this double bottom will be OF cellular con-
struction, requiring thai two skins he
pierced before water can gam entrance TO
either the engines or fir" rooms.
Owing to the light draft OF this vessel
and theuse OF twin screws together with the
special river servic. for which the boat is
designed. the hull Is Of unusual shape aft,
that part being followed out into two tun-
nels for the purpose Of admitting an easy
flow OF water to the propa!lers. the water
line breadth being ina iniaincd over nearly
the vessels full length aft and about the
counter. thereby affordmg protection to
the screws against river banks and injury
from other craft in Il crowded river.
The extraordinary beam allows Il large
berthing space. augmented by covered
utCh tAltiIuAlr at lOE ABOUT tWJ-JllruS
OF the vessels total length. The light draft
has necessitated the adoption OF twin
rudders, one forward Of the other, and so
arranged hat they si.aH respond to either
the forward or backward action of the
screws before ,nc vessel has acquired head
way. These rIddrr- are strongly protected
against damage when backing.
There will be no sail power. There is one
in theupper top and two one FOUNDER Hotch-
kiss guns in the lower top. The mast is
large enough 10 admit OF spiral stairway
for access from below to the coming tower,
which is situated Just beneath the lower
top. at the same time providing a covered
way for the ammunition hoists which raise
the gun supplies for the tops.
Every pre,aution las Teen taken TO pro-
vide against fCu'InS, and hut few ohStruC-
tons appear upon Tie sides. The Sponsors
are so arranged that the guns are entirely
within the side inc OF the vessels. while
their range is in 10 wise limited on that
account. Coal protection is provided for
the wateI..ine region. tie bunkers heing
placed on the slopes OF the w&teI-sight
deck.
VENTILATION, BATTERIES AND EN-
GINES.
Aside from the customary exhaust sys-
TEN of ventilation. tie ship will he provided
with a supply OF fresh ar through an ar
ranEenent of electric fans, placed in nu-
nlcrOus ventilatOTs TuHu.nE from the main
deck to the spaces lt!Ow, and further sup
plcmented by number of portable fans OF
similar propulsion. In hot weather or
during a wet season, owing to the ar
rangement of awnings, TIE main deck can
be utilized for berthins the men.
The arrangement of tie batteries will be
as follows; Four i-:nch guns mounted in
two forward and two aft: those aft being
mounted on the main deck, those forward
on the forccastie dccS, and Il II protected by
gun shields.
-Four finch guns mounted in armored
Sponsors on the gun deck; Two on each side
amidships.
Two 6-pounders mounted in armored
sponsors on the gun deck.
Two G-poundcrs mounted forward on
the forecastle deck.
Four 1-pourdcrs: two on the bridge and
two in the lower top.
TwoGatlinc guns in the upper top.
There VIII he 10 torpedo arrangement.
All of the guns will be of the rapid-firc type.
The engines viii be in two sets-one On
each of the shafts-lnd will be vertical, in-
vertcd-cyiinder, dircct-acting, triple-ex-
pansion. having cylinders of lis feet. 30 |
feet and 3a.T5 feet. respectively, with an |
lS-inch stroke; designed for Loco horse |
power. with Il piston speed of $50 feet Il |
minute, and a boiler pressure of so pounds. |
There viii he six horizontal, return |
tubular boilers, in two water-tight COM |
partmentS; TO maintain Il working pressure |
of so pounds. These boilers will be o |
feet 9 inches long by feet inches in |
diameter. having in all 100 square feet |
of CRATE surface and 4.O74 square feet Of |
heating surface. Forced draft will be or
the closed-freroom principle.
Common to all modern naval vessels of !
the United States, the boat will be lighted |
by electricity. pumped and drained by |
steam, provided with Il refrigerating plant |
and such other accessories contribntive to |
health, comfort and efficiency.
The contract price was $3.50, 900, and the
work was awarded to the Newport News
Shipbuilding Company of Newport News,
Va, on January 30, 1894, two years
prior to the date of launching.