Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-01-23

0attls SHIPS. Cruisers. Gunbssts
and Torpedo Craft How the
Records Stand for Speed. Pro-
tectIve Avmer and Battery Pewsr


Records Stand for Speed. Pro-
tsctIvs Amer and Battery Pewsr
The tables that accompany the re-
| port of Chief Constructor Hichborn
contain some interesting statistics or
| the seryiceable fleet, new and old, ne 1t
stands at this time.
We have, built and building. eight
battleships. These are the Indiana.
| Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts,, Oregon,
TEXAS and Kearsarge, and her mate.
| The last two will be the largest, l,52o
tons, although the Iowa Is close upon
them, with IL, 400. The speed record Is
held by the Name with 17.45 knots,
although this, 1t Is true, was on a mean
draught of two and half feet less
than the normal and displacement
| OF only $500 tons. The highest horse
| power goes to the Iowa, II, 900, and she
also has the largest normal coal supply
aud bunker capacity, the former being
62J and the latter LOS tons. She is
hut eight feet shorter than the Kear-
| sarge.
| In the combination of armor and ar
mament the Kearsarge and her mate
1 and the Indiana trio are all remark
able. They will carry each four IS
| inch, eight S-inch, and four 6-inch guns,
while the former carry four 13-inch,
| four S-inch, and fourteen rapid fire >
| inch guns. AS to the rig, the Indiana
| trio and the Iowa have one military
mast and all the other battleships have
f! two. The deepest maximum draught
Is that of the Indiana class. that of
the Kearsarge being only little over
25 feet, or two feet less. The largest
complement is that of the Kearsargc
and her mate namely 40 officers and
| $50 men.
We have two armored cruisers, the
Brooklyn, of 9,271 tons, and the New
York, of $500. Each was built for the
same speed, twenty knots, and the
same horsepower, 10000, but the New
| York has made twenty-one knots, and
17,4O1 horsepower, so that as much,
perhaps, may be hoped for from the
| Brooklyn. which is built by the same
| firm. The Brooklyn is the more heav-
| lily armed, carrying eight S-inch and
! twelve rapid fire 5-inch guns, agains.
| the New York's six S-inch and twelve
rapid-fire finch guns. The plating of
| the New York is a little thicker on the
sides and barbettes, but the Brooklyn
has the advantage Of later methods Of
manufacture. Although over a thou
sand tons larger than the New York
her contract cost for machinery and
| hull was 81, 9S6, 900 to the New Yorks
| S29S5 900.
The armored ram Katahdin is In a
class by itself. Her displacement is
2.1J5 tons and her speed about 1Gh
knots, while the armor on her sloping
sides is from to 3 inches.
OF double turret monitors we have
six. The largest is the Puritan of 6,600
tons and 12.4 knots. with side armor
| II inches thick at the maximum bar
bettes of ii inches, and turrets of g.
| She carries four Pinch and six rapid
| fire finch guns. Next comes the Mon
| terey, our only steel built monitor,
| though the others have steel turrers
| except the MiantOnomoh. which has
| compound armor. The other four
| monitors are sister ships of $500 tons
| differing a little in details.
The thirteen iron single turret mon
| itors are the Ajax Comanche, Canon
! icus, Catskill. Jason. Lehigh, Mahopac
Manhattan, Montauk. Nahant, Nan
| tucket. Passaic, and Wyandote. These
have > inches of armor on the sides
ana either 10 or II on the turrets, have
a speed of ) to q knots, carry battery
of two 15-inch smooth bores, and have
| the single screw, grasshopper type of
| engine. Their keels were all laid in
| 1852. Some of them are now turned
over to the naval militia for use as
| training ships.
| Turning to the unarmored vessels,
we find. first, sixteen steel cruisers,
| Of which all but three are of the pro-
| tccted cruiser type. Largest and fast
| est among them are the famous sister
ships Minneapolis and Columbia, 1915
tons and 23.07 and 22.S knots respect
| lively. They are also our largest YES
sells, being 412 feet on the load watep
line. Next to them in speed comes the
! Olympia. of $50 tons and 21.6SG knots.
| She is more heavily armed than they,
| carrying four S-inch and ten rapid-fire
finch guns. Fourth in speed is the
Baltimore. of Alb tons and 20.09
knots. and she also carries II powerful
battery. But of all our unarmored
cruisers the most heavily armed is the
Chicago, with her four S-inch. eight g.
inch, and two 5-inch guns, on dis
placement of only $500 tons.
OF gunboats we have fifteen. The
largest are the Yorktown, Concord,
AMI Bennington. of LILO tons. and the
|, smallest the Petrol of S92. The fast
est is the Bennington, of liz knots.
followed by the Concord, 1853 knots.
while the slowest probably, is the Pet
rel. of lilo. although the six compOs-
lite gunboats. of 1000 tons, are only re-
uuired to make Il knots.
The special class includes the 4S6-
ton despatch boat Dolphin, the Ban
croft. and the Vesuvius; while a tor
pcdo cruiser provided for by Congress
has not yet been built
or our ten torpedo boats, three. the
Cushing, Ericsson, and Stiletto, are
built and the others building. The
highest speed 2T1a knots, is expected
from the new Herreshoff pair. with PC
knots from the Seattle boat. 241s from
the Baltimore trio, and "a from the
Ericsson.
Our six iron unarmored vessels are