The San Francisco call., 1896-04-19

by the young engineer for his invention
which, if found to be successful. will be
another advance in the nautical appliances
Of war.
| From the models and drawings may be
seen in prospective a modern cruiser 375
| feet in length over all, 56 feet beam at the
ordinary waterline and 20 feet in depth
from the cardboard strake to the main
| deck. There is no material change in
| shape of hull beginning at the stern and
moving aft until almost two,thirds OF her
| length has been gone over. Then comes a
striking change. On each side from bottom
| to deck the walls of the ship almost
abruptly fall in several feet, leaving q
| place for what the inventor calls the two
amidship propellers. Further under the
stern are the twin screws of an ordinary
vessel.
In putting the auxiliary propeIIers so
near the center of the hull the inventor
has caught his idea from the rowboat
moved by pair of oars amidships; also
from desire to find place for the two
extra screws. He claims that his ship can
be made to turn completely around in a
circle of 300 feet in diameter going at full
speed. One propeller backs as the other
goes ahead, pivoting the ship. as the two
oars pulled vice versa in the rowboat.
Each of the propelIers is driven by a
separate engine, and with a coal consump-
tion Of 200 tons in twenty-four hours will
attain a continuous speed of not less than
thirty knots and twenty-five knots with
122 tons. These propellers are two-bIaded
and are OF duplex power, constructed to
give the greatest speed with the fewest
revolutions.
Their dimensions are IL feet, with a con-
tinuous curvature of 1917 feet. The inven-
tor claims that he has tested them and has
obtained an increase of speed over the
ordinary screw of the same length of blade
OF 700 ieet to knot Each of the four en-
gines is of 5000 horsepower.
The second great feature is the sinking
of the hull to low freeboard. The hull
has double walls, and the compartme nts
or spaces between the outer and inner
castings are about Is inches wide amid
ships, decreasing toward the stem and
stern. These spaces can be filled with
water lowering the hull four feet, there by
presenting less surface o hostile fire. This
also drops the ram four more feet or twelve
| feet below the ordinary water line.
| Mr.. Varila claims that as the armor oi
the modern cruisers only extends about
| five feet below their water line his keen
steel ram will pierce the comparatively
unprotected bilges of an enemy's hull like
a knife blade through cork. His hull will
| be sheathed in armor belt of ample thick.
ness.
The third practical feature claimed for
this new craft is the concentration and
range of gun fire. All of the pieces have
high mounts, permitting them to be de-
pressed upon targets close to the ship. In
the two large turrets the 8-inch rifles NAV
work on an object twenty-five yards dis
tant and the 4-inch in the four side tur
rets may make things warm for torpedo
boat even twenty feet away.
The two large guns sweeping around
fully 270 degrees and the four smaller
pieces describing a range OF 22O degree.
make the battery most formidable one
The side guns may be trained across III,
deck, making starboard rife bear on al
object on the port side. A secondary bat
terry Of machine guns will complete tn,
new cruisers fighting strength. She viii
be provided with three torpedo tubes, on.
forward and two aft.
Another feature claimed is the ram
which is backed by blocks of heavy tim
bers placed fore and aft. This wooder
filling not only strengthens the weapon
but takes up all the concussion of a blow
saving the ship from the possible injury O
a jar. The forward turret is also the con
ming tower to be used in action. The coal
bunker capacity is 1000 tons, making he
a long-distance cruiser, as this will permi