Birmingham state herald., 1896-11-08

| be used, to minimize the possibility of | fires and flying splinters, light metal work being the general substitute; and where wooden material is unavoidable, | it will be subjected to a fire-proofing pro | cess of proved efficiency. Cork sheet | ing will cover the metal bulkheads in the state rooms and living spaces. to reduce | the chances of unhealthful condensation. The ship will be lighted by electricity, ventilated by natural and fan-induced 1 draughts; and auxiliary engines, steam, | hydraulic, and electrical will turn the turrets, load the guns, raise the ammuni- I tion to the fighting stations, handle heavy | weights, raise and lower the boats, dis charge the ashes, control the rudder, and perform hundred services which the | crew of 800 could never compass.
 With 1,200 tons of coal on board, at a cruising speed of ten knots, the vessel will be able to cover 5000 knots; and at a. | speed of thirteen knots, will be able to cross the Atlantic and then have coal enough left to travel thousand knots farther. With slight provision, the ship can carry, in an emergency, 800 tons more yielding correspondingly increased ra- | dius of action.
 There will be no speed premiums. A penalty, however, at the rate of $25,000 is | imposed for failure to reach the contract | speed; but the well known performance of all our ships dismisses at once fear on that score.
 Such ship will be an imposing possi- bility, to be realized only when the con- manding officer calls his crew to quarters and prepares to meet the enemy. Ones imagination can give but a poor idea of what she will mean then, and the thought dazes rather than enlightens.
 From the conning-towe forward or from the other armored fighting position aft beside the mainmast and below the bridge, the captain stands in touch with every important phase of his craft and knows tO a niopfV of erything vital to efficient control. Speak ing-tubes, telephones, call bells, elec- trical and mechanical telegraphs of all sorts branch like So many nerves from
 the brain centres of the fighting stands carrying everywhere their messages and bringing back an acknowledgement of their reception and discharge.
 At the mast heads of the ensgns fly, and on the signal yards, the flags fiutter their messages from ship to ship, while in the tops the Gatlings and one-pound- CTS are manned to sweep the enemy's decks so long as they are allowed to live On the bridges stand the signal men, and almost beside them the six-pounders' crews stand silent and ready. Just above, youngsters keep the range find : CTS pointed at the nearing foe, and trans | init to each gun station the shifting dis l tance of their marks. f..
 l With bared arms and naked feet, the | guns crews cluster about the larger 1 pieces, waiting, in ordered groups and l with anxious beating hearts for the mo- i ment that will bring the enemy within l range and give to their tingling nerves | the self-forgetfulness of activity and din, and then, perhaps, to see their armored bulwarks twisted into tangled heaps of broken armor and bleeding bodies, and huge masses of ponderous slate sent crashing through the battery's length. Prone upon the deck for safety's sake, and hugging powder charge, here and | there man lies ready to spring forward and deliver. The decks areywet from the | pulsing hose, coupled and running for | instant service against fire. Ladders, | benches, and all other moveable wood- | work are tucked below to escape the | bursting shell, and the boats are filed l with water and swathed with canvas to | check fire and to hold the -splinters. | Wooden hatchways are covered to avoid l draughts and to prevent their eonver- | sion into flaming fiues,
 Down before the whitening storm of | rapid-fre shell the ventilators may be swept, and their opening become stifled | with smoking masses of splintered deck | plank; and the tall stacks become smok- 1 ing sieves instead of the channels for l escaping gases-their armored gratlngs
 burdened with broken bits of heavy mis- l siles.
 1 Below, the men stand ready at the | ammunition hoisik. shell whips, and | passing rooms. The shel!-rooins and m3BaZineS are manned by n1mble, naked | footed crews, and by the loaded torpedo | tubes, the men stand ready to point and | launch their automobile burdsns, fraught | with that irresistible charge of gun-cot- l ton. at
 Way down in inc engine rooms, the steady roar of the machinery fills the ears | and the air reeks with the hot smell of 1 oil and steam. At the throttle stands | the attentive engineer, and ct every Jour- 1 nal and crank stands wltchful assis.- ant. Overhead perfect maze c, copp r 1 pipes wander o, tbe.r several errands | Of transmission sh.1ing pistcn-rods,
 long arms end jggering levers fly bas
 i and forth, in and ou. with dazzlfng spe= q | the journals and bearings froth like tn,
 | foaming mouths Of wpr horscs; the cn-
 zines thIi.c-r, the pipes pulge, and the