Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-29

crowd in the room where the lunch was
served was so great that the formalities
had been abandoned. After the lunch
con the Washington party returned to
the capitol on their special train.
While the Iowa is larger than the In
diana, her armor and armament will
both be lighter than those of the latetr
vessel. Despite this, when completed
the Iowa will be the most formidable
fighting machine afloat from her all
around capacity as an effective ship of
war.
After the authorization of the building
of the ship the bureau of construction of
the navy department prepared the plans
and specifications of the vessel and the
contract for her construction was award
ed to the Cramp company on February
IL, 1898, and until she was launched to-
day she was known officially as "seago-
ing battleship No. l." The dimensions of
the ship are as follows:
Length on the lower water line, $50
feet; extreme BREADTH ~ feet and 21s
inches; moulded depth, 80 feet and 5S
inches; mean draft, "a feet; displacement
on normal draft, II, 300 tons, and with full
coal supply about $4,000 tons.
The motive machinery of the Iowa con-
sists of two vertical inverted three cylin-
der triple expansion engines, actuating
twin screws, and is to develop 11,000 col
lective indicative horse power at 112 rev.
olutions of the screws. The guaranteed
speed is sixteen knots under the usual
four hour trial conditions, with a prem
ium of $4,000 for each quarter knot ex-
cess, of speed above the contract guar
anty.
The armor protection of the ship con-
Sists of a water-line belt of HarVeyiZed
nickel steel ID inches thick on II inches
of wood backing, extending over length
of 1856 feet amidships and feet inches
wide, tapering below the water-line to 6
inches thick at the lower edge.
At each end of the armored citadel
rises circular barbette of 15-inch Har-
veyized armor, the after barbette being
s feet inches high and the forward one
16 feet high. These barbettes support the
main revolving turrets and protect the
turning and loading gear. The main tur-
rets are armored with 14-inch plates, and
have an inside height of 10 feet inches
from the tops of the gun supports to the
under side of the covering plates.
Above the water line belt is worked for
100 feet of the length amidshipS, case
ment of 4-inch armor with diagonal ends
joining the main barbettes on either side
and forming an upper citadel, from each
of the four corners of which rise a bar
bette of S-inch armor, surmounted by
revolving turret 51s inches thick. The
armored coming tower Is 7H inches
thick, feet inside diameter and feet
inches high in the clear.
The main battery of the Iowa consists
of four 12-inch breech-loading rifles,
mounted in pairs in the two main turrets;
eight S-inch breech-loading rifles, mount
ed in pairs in the four turrets at the cor
ners of the casemate; six 4-inch breech-
loading rifles, mounted in sponsons or
with shields, and twenty-five rapid fire
and machine guns. The axis of the for
ward pair of 12-inch and all of the S-inch
guns Is 26 feet, and of the after pair of
12-inch guns 18 feet above the load water
line, so that with the stability due to her
great beam she can fight her whole bat
terry in any weather.