The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-19
THE MARS AND THE Full.
BIG BRITIsH- BUTLT MATTE SHIPS
THAT H. YE ENTERE D ThE WA1ER.

the Heaviest Ever Lnuuched-A FltHht
OF Pigeons In Lieu OF the Traditional
Bottle or Champagne Mt the Christening.
The two large nrmorcla1s launched IN Eng
land a few days ago have NIL the greater inter-
Get for us from our own new construction Of this
sort. comprising not only tho Kearsarge ana
her mate. but four others of the same type.
Strictly speaking, only the Full was
Launched. i" for the Mars was simply foated out
NJ the dock from the yard ~ tho Lairds NJ Birk-
enhead. And ono advantage slown in this exper,
iment OF building an enormous modern battle
ship In dock instead OF on a slip. 10 lie launched.
is shown BY her carrying already all her citadel
and most OF her .harbcttc nrnor, with four
casemate fronts. In fact, she might have had
on her complete suit OF armor. except that the
Sheffield makers were too driven with other
work TO finish Il.
For the rest, IL Ia enough 10 say that the
Mars Is one OF nine new sister ships. built or
building. including the Majestic, Prince
George, and Caesar, at Portsmouth: the Mag
nifcent, Illustrious, and Victorious. at Chat
ham; the Mars in the Mersey, the Jupiter 40
Glasgow, and the Hannibal Mt Pembroke.
Designed by Sir W.. II. White, she has Q
length of 900 feet. n breadth Of -, a mean
drauRht OF 2Tlt, a frccl GARD forward Of 25,
and aft of lStE. n horse power OF 10, 900
with natural and 10000 with forced drnught,
10 give speeds respectively or lbS. and In
KNOTS anu n displacement OF la'ioo tons.
she has n total coal stowaGe or 200 tons, al
lowing her to steam n month. or 5000 knots,
at ten knots an hour. Her Hnrvcyed armor
is 900 feet long on the sides, II feet high. and
nine inches thick. and on the bnrbcttes II
inches thick. The protective deck is 4 inches
on tho slopes and "L6 on the fiat. The guns
arc FOUR wirc-colIeu I"-ihch ana twelve rapid
ire oin'h' win e'Ght"en II ponhders. twelvo
5-Vouhders' e'rht machine nad 1--WE field guns.
nc hea'y oaroet'o l--lh'h guns are " tees
aooVe inc water Inc. Inc wars is bullt or
m'id steer throughout. Her anchors ana
cHain 'ho!es "e'Rh ~ TONS anu inc !a'ter' In
a single line, would extend about one mile.
comparing our Indiana class ana kearsarSe
class with the Mars they are smaller, having
lo.2ss and ll''"1 tons displacement respeo-
lively, ana lengths OF 34S]s ana JON feet
oreadths OF ABOUT WA ana '!'S' ana mean
drauGhts OF ~ ana -''c. lheir full bunker
capacltles arc l'"4o ana l'2lo TONS Inc In
dtana's forced draught horse power was q. TBS,
ahd her forced drnuRht speed lo'o47 Knots,
ana those OF the hearsarse are estimated az
10000 horse power and probably not much over
~ Khots' bu' ooth ciasses' II slower ana OF
less coal'carryIng capacity than the Mars,
have thicker armor ana heavier guns The
Indiana has ~ inches on her sides ana II on nor
barbcttes. and carries four IL inch guns,
EIGHT S-inch- and four q. fuch plns with kwenfv
q ,aun,a.. a. ,nounaa.s 49,, 49, c.
o-pouhdcrs' SIN l-pouhders, anu FOUR ua1
H trom =, inc nc a Me" ,nchss n on, ', t",r as" nrm vary, o
~ 70 q win four 1a.inch four s.incb ana
fourteen rapid fire 5-inch guns. with n Sec =.
nndnrv botterv like the Indiann,s. md a field
o'n"'y o,'.,' INV """
Perhaps we might better compare with the
Mars our just launched sea. going battle ship
Ap"u imam thc '"o ihSi' JuT' II
Iowa has n length Of 800 feet. a breadth Of
rearly 7ali. a mean DIR .ught OF "a, and a
u.spIncetneh' Oh il'ilv IONS Sho Is " havs
1000 forced dFausht horse power and 10
nv o,nmtor ooracttv -, , 80 tor. = h,,ba.
mas a Dunksr e'pa''Iy OK t'.so IONS a n.sher
hon,e .,des uer sIde armor IA ID incbes tbick
WITH l5 inches at tho maximum IN tn.
inch. eight 8. Inch. and six rapid fire 4-ipch
Nv" -. W."
guns win IL SECONDARY pieces. Shs Is a Rooo
all-around ~scagoing ship.
Turning to the Full built for Japan by the
Thames Iron Works at BlackwaH. she Is q Sis
ter ship OF a vessel also building FOR Japan oy
Sir w., Armstrons d Co.. her launch was
g. 10 >, ~. -. 49, .ana.as ~
cord which. IN dne progression. released the
shin n,,oons ,yero cot freo from n govIv deco.
rated cage at tn. h9ws: this being The sharacter.
istically artistic Japanese SUBSTITUTE TOT tno
ceremony of smashing a bottle OF champagne.
This pretty spectacle would have delighted the
Prohih,tionists of Town, could they have seen
1t. The launching party also had lite laurels,
as Bow Creek. at the end Of the silpway, was
not more than 200 feet wide, and yet the Full
slid away without a hitch,
According to the English, papers. too. fhs
was the heaviest battle ship eyer Launched
from any slip. either In a public or private
yard. for she was launched with her sac ar
NOR in place. her weight as she stood being
nearly 100 tons. and her length between per-
pendiculars 3Ii feet: or over AL about AZ.
This was 1000 tons heavier on, the ways than
the Victorious, lately launched AZ, Chatham,
and hence she required as substantial "A cradle,
the weight of the latter being $50 tons. thus
increasing the dead weight or. the ways "
nearly $500 tons. The cost Of PREPARATIONS
for this launch was great, "hie the skill In
way also makes this a memorable launch.
W men Toihplcteu INC r"lL viii oeoI 10y
~ ~ Sci. f."t Sbe is a. feet lang bet vcan per.
~ tars ,nJ has n moulded breadth ana
b''N, ''"' 49,, -