The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-12-05

details We're to- be worked out by the
department. It was found out long af-
terward that John had won In the COM
petition by trick. The specifications
called for designs for battleship of 5000
tons displacement. John submitted q
deck and gun plan which ought to have
required q 10000 ton displacement. By
doing this he gave the ship the effect OF
offering very great offensive power, ana
thereby won the award. John was also
paid $1,000 additional for furnishing de-
tail drawings.
BOWLES IN a DILEMMA
when Bowles started in 10 build the
Texas he found that in order to carry
her armament and guns according to
Johns plans he would have to 'scrimp'
considerably beneath the water line. AS
soon as the designs had been accepted
row arose over the fact that the Barrow
Company claimed a part OF the money,
declaring that John had drawn the plans
during time that belonged to them \
compromise was reached In some way.
John giving the company pa!t OF the
money. John had been paid for his
plans and the extra work, and didn't
care what happened to the Texas. and
the Barrow company was not anxious to
have her turn out n success because the
plans were in Johns name. So, be-
tween the two, Bowles received no as
sistance, and was left to make the best
of q bad job.
when the Navy Department made
contracts for material to be used in the
construction of these two battleShips,
the Maine invariably got the best of II.
She was the Departments pet. and the
sympathy of nearly all the officers lean
ed toward her. When Bowles appealed
to John, the designer. to help him out
with the Texas he received an answer
which was, in effect. that she was too
heavy, and the best way 10 do was to
cYNlft hnr tn, 11n a ms 70 1nnrnr
and give her a greater displacement. a
commission of experts was given the
problem of showing the defects In the
plans of the Texas. and, after the most
exhaustive computations, reported that
she would, # built according to the
plans accepted be 600 tons too heavy.
"Bowles went 20 work and figured that
by adding 300 tons TO her displa cement
he could make her all right. Another
commission of calculators was put TO
work on the same task and they esti-
mated the weight of every bit of mate
rial that was to go into her construc-
ton. This commission sat for weeks.
and reported in favor of material alter
ations tina. would decrease the displace-
ment two or three hundred tons.
AT this time Lewis Nixon. most
competent expert. who has since become
the proprietor OF great shipyards at
Elizabethport. n. j., the man who de-
signed the best battleships we have
the Indiana, the Iowa and the Massa-
chusetts-who graduated from our Ma
val Academy at Annapolis with first
honors, and later on from English naval
schools. where he also stood at the head
of his class, examined the plans of the
Texas. Nixon reported that the first
Board of Computers was wrong, in that
their estimate. 600 tons too much
weight, was high. The second board, he
said, was but Il little less inaccurate. and
he told Secretary Whitney how it was
practicable to still make a success Of
the ship. Bowles then proceeded ac-
cording to Nixon's instructions. Every
thing that could be left off was omitted
in order to tighten her. For this reason
she Is not equipped with torpedo boats
and her bulkheads are not supported by
steel braces, or any braces at all, in
fact.
TRACY STUCK TO THE PUMPS.
while the Texas was in course OF
construction there was a change of adj
ministration, and General Benjamin F.
Tracy succeeded William c. Whitney as
Secretary OF the Navy. General Tracy
when the defects in the Texas were
brought to his attention, distinctly de-
clared that he would not allow those
defects to be remedied. He said that If
mistakes had been made. he proposed To
let the blame rest where it belonged. In
one item alone-that of her pumps-this
action of Secretary Tracy is well empha-
sized. Johns plans called for the use
Of u certain kind of English pump. Some
six or seven years had elapsed between
the time when the plans were submitted
and when the hull was ready for the
pumps. During that time much better
and much lighter pumps had been in
vented and We're in use. American
pumps that were far better could be had.
but General Tracy said No Those
designs call for English pumps he said.
and English pumps must he used.
They We're used ut n cost of $50. 600, and
proved utterly worthless. AS is now
generally known, they are being re-
moved.
Nov. to sum up her defects. The
amount Of 'scrimping' that had to be
done below her waterline leaves her
with the armor and armament of a ten
thousand-ton battleship resting upon
the hull Of light cruiser. Her bulk
heads are not braced. and consequently
when she recently sprung alcak and one
compartment filed up, the walls quick
ly bulgcd and seams were spread. Luck
sink into soft mud on both occasions
When the bulkheads of a ship are sprung
as hers We're, four. five and six inches
something must happen. Steel is not
elastic. and when it bulgeS. bolts and
beams must be drawn out of place.
1.-The steel sheets which separate the
compartments in q battleShiD ere at
tached by bolts to the deck beams above
and to the keel below. When the bulge
comes, seams must be opened some
where Now, when the Texas. with her
very heavy armor and armament, was
placed i'm a dry dock. where the light