The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-12-24


sealed. This precaution is taken in or
damage in case an emergency renders it
necessary to food the powder magazine
with water.
The fighting ship par excellence is the
battleship. IL Is actually floating fort
ress and is expected to stand it's ground
and hammer away at the enemy rs long
as it stays afioat. With a cruiser it is
quite different, inasnuoh as that type of
vessel is intended mainly for destroying
commerce, and the speed Of the grey
hound Ia given to it in order that it may
be able to show q clean pair OF heels
threatened by formidable foe. The
business of cruiser is not to lombard
forts or to engage q battleship; consa-
quently it's armament is comparatively
light. Tt follows that the quantity OF
ammunition required Is mucn less than
in the case of battleship. The Minneap-
oils, for example, tiIst-class cruiser,
carries only 40, 900 pounds of powder.
She is provided with 1876 armor-pieroing
shells and 2l0 ordinary shells for her
six inch and eight-inch rifles. She has
sixty-five shrapnel shells, 9s4 cartridges
for rapid fire guns of four inch calibre,
1863, 600 rife cartridges, 80, 200 revolver
cartridges, ard the usual number of
blanks and dummies for salutss and
drills. To these should be added 5165
cartridges for six-pounder and one
pounder rapid-tire gums.
The equipment of rapid-fre guns for
cruissr is very formidable. inasm uoh as
she relies mainly upon thnse weapons for
he fighting powder, possessing no rifles
of very great calibre. In case Of war our
auxiliary cruissrs-i. e., merchant steam.
ships under subsidy for Uncle sam
would be transformed into strong YES
sells OF war by providing them with large
numbers OF rapid fire guns. There are
now thirty -ons ocean steamships enlisted
for the auxiliary navy, comprising the
finest American craft engaged IN oom-
MERGE and passenger transportation on
the sea. Within q year there will be
fifty rapid-fire guns and full batteries OF
machine guns stored at the New York
anu NUElOlA navy oiNp AStsAy w ~ 50
stalled on these ships at twenty-four
hours notice. The best OF them are the
four vessels of the American Line, ply
ing between New York and Sou5hamp-
ton. and next after these come the Pa
eific liners out of San Francisco. Many
more guns are to be made for them, and
soon all of them will be furnished with
gun-mounts and otherwise prepared for
transformation into vessels OF WAR off,
hand.
Que reason why a reserve supply OF
powder would he good investment Is
that the stuff does not dsteriorate with
time, 1t is apt to get niouldy II damp,
but in "a dry place it will keep indefinite
ly. Most of the gunpowdor for the navy
is bought from firm in Wilmington,
Del. the rest comes from factory In
California. Before very long all Of our
ships will be furnished with smokeless
powder. which is now being made at
Newport on an experimental scale. The
Newport works are nearly ready now to
turn out smokeless powder for all cali
bres of guns. They will be pure guncot-
ton powders, and all of them will be OF
the same composition, merely differing
in the size of this 'grains." The
"grains" ere not grains really, but long
and narrow ribbons, resembling glue in
appearance. These strips are done up in
fagots sll ready to be put Into the gun.
The cast Of running ship of war is
enormous. 10 kesp first class cruiser
like the New York In commission means
an expense Of $500 day, including the
pay of officers and mon. Yet 1t is not
uncommon for war ship to start 10,
foreign Port with hardly penny In
money. This is a matter of no import
ance, inasmuoh as no cash can be spent
on the way over, and as much az may be
nesded can be got at once en- reaching
the other side On arrival the paymaster
on board the ship makes out bill OF
exchange on London, which is drawn to
the order Of tho commanding officer of
the vessel and indorsed by him. This is
sold for gold, or paper money il pre-
ferred, at any bank that may be conve-
nient.
There is no corner of the world, popu'
lated by civilized human beings, where
such bills of exchange may not be nego-
riated readily. The signatures of the
naval 6mmander and paymaster are
good for any amount, because Uncle
Sans credit is behind them. Thess two
officers could, if they 60 wished, draw
several millions of dollars out of the
treasury of the United States by signing
their names a few times to bills which
foreign banks would eagerly buy. or
course they would do SO at the coet OF
their commissions, and Of punishment
under the laws if bhey were caught.
The present paymaster general OF the
navy was in Japan many years ago. He
was paymester of one Of the ships Of the
Asiatic squadron, aud his authorization
was to draw for what funds he needed
upon Jay Cooke g. Co. Unfortunately
news had just arrived of the failure Df
Jay Cooke. What was to be done. The
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