The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-04-08
leg there was an average Of 1912 knots
an hour. gratifying increase over the

| last time in this leg.
/ For over an hour after passing tn
fifth mark boat .le speed Of the battle
ship did not vary apparently hundrej.i
part of a knot, supposing, Of course, tha
the buoys were in the right position Tn
fourth, third and second legs of the cours'
were all made iI- exactly the same tir..e
% minutes and AZ seconds. SO that whsr
the second mark boat was passed th'
ship was only six nautical miles from tht
finish and glory. and the reckoners had
figured that, barring accidents. she woult
make something over seventeen knots.
But before the snip was the handicap OF
the course, the shallow water. a fact
which had already held back her sister
ships, cutting down their premiums IT
more than one instance. knowing this,
every effort was made to get every pound
of steam on, and every irch of power.
The seconds ticked off steadily as she
hurled herself on. the mark boat and fin
ish in sight, but still miles away. The
margin over the seventeen knots became
smaller, and as the ship rushed on it be-
came a serious question whether she
would get TO the line on time. Fifty thou
sand dollars depended on the speed Of the
| last fifty feet, a delay OF one second might
cut it off. The Iowa just did it and that
was all. In fact, so near was the margin
that the reckoners had to carry out their
| figures to the fourth decimal point ir Or
der TO make the speed for the whole
course average seventeen knots an hour.
1t came out al right in the end, however.
and, with a broom on her fighting top,
the queen Of the American navy, after
two or three half circles to show just
what she could do IL quick maneuvering,
slackened speed and headed for Boston.
Throughout the trial the boat behaved
admirably. The heavy turrets, placed
we'll above the water line, gave her a
much greater roll than the Indiana or the
Massachusetts. but except for this she
was much steadier that the other battle
ships.
The tidal corrections will not cut the
seventeen knots, but, on the other hand,
viii probably increase it 10 come Slight
extent.
The Iowa anchored off Boston light a.
o'clock and will remain there all night,
leaving al O'Clock tomorrow morning
for Philadelphia.
The Iowa is officially known as "Sea
going battleship No. L. The contract
for her construction was awarded Feb
ruarv Ii, 1893, 10 the William Cramp &
Sons Ship and Engine company, of Phil
adelphia, the famous marine architects.
The Iowa is larger than the Indiana in
length, beam and other measurements.
but the disposition OF the battery is the
same, except that she carries four 12-
inch guns, as against the Indianas four
6,inch, and her secondary battery is %
rapid-fire and machine guns. as against
the 2S of similar caliber on the Indiana
In word, while the Iowa is the larger
ship of the two. her armor and arma-
ment are both lighter. than those of the
Indiana. These differences in plan are
based upon the fact that while the In
diana is intended as fighting ship with
every other quality more or less subor-
dinated 10 that Of ability 10 give and
take hard and heavy blows, the Iowa is
designed to combine with the latter quail
ity the attributes of an all-around sea-
going cruiser.
The dimensions of the Iowa are IS fol-
lows: Length on the load water $50
feet; extreme breadth y feet 21h inches;
moulded depth SO feet. AS inches; mean
draught "a feet: displacement on nor
NAL draught 1890 tons and full coal
capacity of 12,5O0 tons. The contract
speed was 16 knots, with a premium of
$4,000. 900 for each quarter knot in ex-
cess
Her water-line protection IS a belt of
Herveyized nickel steel with a maxi
mum thickness Of fourteen inches, taper
ing to six inches on the lower edge. The
heaviest armor is fifteen inches on the
main barbette. The armored coming
tower is 712 inches thick
the main battery Of the Iowa consists
Of foTr Pinch breech-.oading rifles in
the two main turrets; eight S-inch
oreech-loding rifles mounted in pairs in
the four terrets at the corners of hte
case-nate; six 4-inch breech-loading ri
f1es mounted in Sponsors or with shields
and p rapid-fire and machine guns
With the stability due to her great
beam she can fight with her whole bat
terry in any weather.
The Iowa's full war compliment is 512
Officers, seamen and marines. The con-
tract price Of the boat was 5000. coo |
Her maximum coal carrying capacity is
5000 tons and gives her a cruising ra-
dius of about is knots az the most eco
nOInical speed
The Iowa's contract IS the last Of the |
naval contracts making provisions for |
a premium Of $4,000 for every quarter |
knot OF speed made by the battleship in |
excess of that called for by the specifi- |
cations. Under similar contracts the |
Baltimore won s1o6.44l: the Yorktown |
SS9,Se5: the Newark s9s. .s57; the Philadel- |
phia. si00.0o0 the New York 5000. 600; the /
Columbia s35o.000; the Minneapolis s414.- /
600: the Indiana $4,000; the Massachu-
sctts 100000, and the Brooklyn $3.50, ,0ea.
or an aggregate Of s1,647,723 earned by
the Cramps.