The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-03-25
DEMON OF THE DEEP.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE TERRIBLE
MONSTER AT PORT ROYAL.


MoNsTERAT PORT ROYAL.
Her Guus Belch Five Tons of Steel "t
Single Blast-.Heaviest Armament OF ANY
Ship In the World.
PORT ROYAL, March 2O.-W nile
Spanish students are burning Aneii-
can flags, and Americas congress is
undecided as to whether the exercises
of courteous magnanin.lty OF !rresisti,
BILE force would be best IN dealing win
the effete descendants of the once all
powerful Spaniards in securing 1alr
fioht in Cuba, must not the bones OF
Lncas de Ayllon. resting somewhere
hereabouts, turn in their grave at the
SIGNIFICANCE of the demonstration here
for the past day or two. And the shade
of that doughty Spaniard, the fore
runner of all Europeans to this coast,
must tremble with chagrin that the
port which he first entered three and
three quarter centuries ago IN searcn
of Indians to use as slaves, should oe'
come the scene of jolli6cation tor the
people of this new nation who holo tne
bower of his old country IN SO nCl!e
dread. Out upon the bosom OF TINS
grand harbor lies a grim leVlathan
bearing aloft the colors OF thls new new
country and before whose angry oreath
the most powerful ships OF SPAN! S
navy would shrink as men OF OLD did
from the fire. breathing dragon OF my
tholoey. Within the range OF vision
is also the accomplishment of engl
neering skill backed by natures smiles
and a rich country's gold-or silver.
The largest dry dock in America IS on 2,
Paris island, and the astronomers tell
US that on March % these two stars OF
naval architecture, the one on sea and
the other ashore, will be in conjunc-
ton.
By the time the keel OF grea. war
ship is laid the magazines OF the coun-
try give accurate technical descriptions
of the ship as she will be when com
pleted, with representation of her as
she will be some years later cleaVlag
the green waters of the Atlantic: so
such a description of the Indiana
would now be out of date. Inc snip
must be seen TO be realized, and II
would probably require several days
devoted to close inspection to enable
one to fully comprehend her many
wonderful parts.
On approaching the Indiana l was
impressed by the smallness of her ex'
posed surface to the guns OF an enemy.
Lying low in the water and painted
light brown stone color, she is not
conspicuous at a miles distance. Her
great steel military mast with hghting
tops-or round armor- protected plat
forms in which are mounted machine
guns 80 feet above the decks the
most conspicuous part of the ship at
distance. This mast is, of course, hol-
low, the communication with the
fighting tops being by ladders up tn
interior. At the DICK the interior OF
the mast is about Is feet in diameter,
tapering up. Its weight, with the
fighting tops, is 1000 tons:
On the Indiana are the largest guns
ever mounted on an American ship
and the most effective of any cannon
in the world. She mounts four can
non that fire steel projectiles 13 inches
in diameter and weighing l, 100 pounds
each. These guns protrude their long
black bodies 20 feet beyond the steel
turrets which protect them: These
turrets look like huge brown dlshpans
turned upside down over the guns and
with slits cut in them through which
the muzzle may peep out, as 1t were,
to sight an enemy. But they are pans
made of the hardest steel known to
man and IL inches thick. The me.
chanism is so perfect that the gun and
turret revolve to the pressing of but
ton which sets electrical powers in
motion. The 13-inch guns are loaded
by hydraulic power; all the others on
the ship are loaded by hand. Each
turret with its great guns weigh SUI
tons.
There are eight S-inch and four g.
inch rifles, each protected by turrets
similar in construction to those of the
13 inch guns. Besides the machine
guns in the fighting tops, the ship also
mounts 20 3-pounder rapid fire Hotch-
kiss rifles. She is also supplied with
six torpedo tubes for projecting into
the sea the terrible Whitehead torpe-
do, loaded with 500 pounds of gun
cotton, and supplied with storage
battery, propeller aud steering appara-
tus. They can be so adjusted as to
run at any desired depth under water
and in any direction for 300 yards.
Steamiug up between two ships of
an enemy and delivering simultane-
ously single fire from all her guns
this demon of the deep will hurl forth
1000 pounds of steel and with force
that makes pale into insignifcance the
most terrible stroke of thunderbolt
ever recorded. No other ship in the
world can cause such destruction at a
single blast, and no other ship is so
securely protected by such tremen-
dously thick steel armor from the as
saults of an enemy.
Down in the interior there are Won
ders to behold. The many uses to
which electricity is applied is astonish-
ing. A big room, full Of dynamos of
the most improved description, would
be an hours paradise for an electric,
ian. During battle these dynamos
furnish auxiliary power in many ways.
All of the ammunition is brought
from the depths below and supplied to
the firing SQUAD at each gun, the tur-
rets are revolved and all the minor
machinery kept in motion by electric
itY.