The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-01-15

two and fitted her with side wheels;
she was the first large vessel in the
English navy driven by steam. The
Americans were able to claim priority
by nearly five years. The year 1s41
saw the completion of the Mississippi
and the Missouri. twin vessels of 1,7O0
tons, the first steam men-of-war of any
consequence turned out in this coun-
try. The Missouri was burned acct
dentally at Gibraltar in 1S43 and the
Mississippi was destroyed at Port Hud-
son in 1868. The u. s. S. Michigan,
built in 1874, marked the beginning of
the period when sail power used by it,
self was looked upon as obsolete. In
1S4S the Saranac, splendid 2,000-ton
warship, was built; she was sunk in
1875. The Powhattan, of 5000 tons,
built in 1850 and still in commission,
was the largest and most successful Of
the paddle-wheel type.
Ericsson invented the propeller in
1887, and its advantages of affording all
underwater protection to the machin-
cry were soon acknowledged. The first
man-of-war ever propelled by screw
was the U. s. s. Princeton, authorized
by congress DIN 1889. Commodore r.. r.
Stockton, an American naval officer
who han been closely associated with
Ericsson, had charge of her construc-
ton. The introduction of the screw
was made difficult on account of the
popularity the paddle wheel had gain
ed and the expense attendant on
changing the structure of vessels to
the form necessary for screw engines
The Princeton was laid up in a couple
OF years, and the San Jacinto made
her appearance in 1S4S, with more sue
cess. The San Jacinto was lost in the
West Indies in 1865. The Merrimac.
captured by the South during the re-
bellion, was built in 1855; she was 5000
tons and carried 40 guns. The Roam
oke, slightly larger ship, was built
In the same year, and afterwards cut
down and remodeled into a three turret
monitor. The Franklin, a 5000 ton
ship, and the Minnesota, Wabash, Col
orado and Niagara, first class frigates
of 400 tons each, were fitted with
screws in 1855. They approached very
closely to the old line-of-abttle ship
class, and were relegated to navy yard
service, the Wabash now serving in
the capacity of receiving ship in Bos-
ton. Perfection in the steam screw
type of wooden vessels was reached in
1858 with the construction of the Hart
ford. Brooklyn, Lancaster. Pensacola
and Richmond, second rate screw sloops
of magnificent proportions and I'M
equaled sail area. In 1873 the class of
sells like the Essex, Vandalia and En-
terprise.
The first ironclad of the United States
was Stevens floating battery, built in
1912 by John Stevens and discarded by
the government after several years
trial. She was a screw propelled vessel
sheathed with iron plates and carried.
or was designed to carry, 16 broadside
guns in a rectangular turret. Stevens
died before the completion of his YES
sci and his plans We're never properly
carried out. She was sold in 1880 The
advantages of iron armoring were first
practically demonstrated to the United
States government by the rebel river
cut-down ships that were ar
mored with any form of iron Drocura-
BILE. from chains to bent rails. The
fight at Hampton Roads between the
Merrimac and Monitor was the real be-
ginning of armsred shipbuilding
though England ara France had both
floating batteries toward
the end of the Crimean war. which
never saw service. After the close of
the war iron shipbuilding became
lost art to this country.
From 1862, therefore, until 1888, when
the first real steps were taken toward
the creation of our navy in the con-
structiOn of the first of our cruisers,
America stood by and permitted the
development of the modern warslip to
20 on abroad. To trace this develop
ment in full would require a volume,
and indeed volumes have already been
written upon it. The English and the
French had already worked IN the idea
d armored ships; the effect of the
Merrimac fight was to create
abroad a demand for tuTrets as the
best armor. In France the Gloire and
n England the Warrior class of plated
steam frigates already existed, and
there at once began contention or
IDEAS which has not entirely ceased at
he present day. The problem how
best TO dispose of the armor Of the
so as to bring it into best re-
ations with its guns and it's speed is
still in dispute between the advocates
Of vessels resembling the old line-of-
battle ship, with its high free-board
and with it's vital parts protected from
an enemys shot by a belt of heavy
a1rmor, and the advocates OF the moni-
tor type of vessel, with low free
BOARD and strong turrets. The French
navy has developed, on the whole, more
than the English. AL
most every ship in the English navy
the result of some new con-
.ention or compromise or experiment
and has a history of conservative the
Dry and dispute behind 1t.
Thus the huge and SLOW, oNergroWn
monitor, Devastation and her consorts,
were the result of carrying the monitor
.ype 10 the extreme. The Alexandra
and her consorts were the old hne-of-
cattle with high free-board, the guns
collected into a central battery armor.
In the Admiral class came something
IF a compromise between the two, the
development of the central citadel idea,
md during the whole progress of de-
yelopment armor went on changing
and increasing in thickness, guns went
an growing heavier and heavier, boil
RS went on improving. and when the
I'D muzzle- loading gun gave way to
eech-loaders. projectiles were enor-
improved. and when the United
states began to turn again to the idea
n shipbuilding the elements of the
problem had been pretty well ascer-
aimed, and. though new questions have
developed since then, 1t may be said
n general that we waited ABOUT the
,,,p,hav. IF wears TO allow for