The record-union., 1897-09-15
THE LAKE NAVY.
ONLY ONE EFFECTIVE FIGHT
ING SHIP IN SERVICE.
Force Being Enlarged - Inland
Lake Cities Will Soon Have
More Protection.

J Government will have three vessels on
the great lakes that will be susceptible
of quick and easy conversion into eff
fective fighting ships. The fleet will
not be formidable enough to repel the
possible incursions of foreign foe, but
! will be superior to the vessels main
tanned by Great Britain on these
waters.
The enlargement of the fleet on the
inland lakes is very encouraging to the
! large cities - Buffalo, Erie. Cleveland,
Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee,
and Duluth. Until about six weeks
ago the lakes were virtually without
protection. The revenue cutter Andrew
Johnson had been relegated, leaving
only the side-wheel steamers William
+. Fessenden. the Perry, the Michigan,
and the steam propeller Calumet in ser
vice with about 5000 miles of coast to
protect nearly equal to the whole
length of the Atlantic seaboard. Con-
trolling the Welland Canal, the only
available channel for the admission of
vessels, England has ships on the At
lantic Ocean that could be sent to
destroy the lake cities.
At the present time the lakes have
only one boat that could be depended
upon to do any effective work. Subse-
quent to the close of the second war
with England, Great Britain and the
United States agreed to maintain one
and only one man-of-War each on the
lakes The Britons view the building
of these boats as violation of the
treaty restricting the number of ves-
sells, but last fall when it was said that
she was preparing to protest, govern
ment officials said that the agreement
should be abrogated. The treaty seems
to be regarded as detrimental to the
| interests of the United States. In re-
I ality this country has not got man
of-war on the lakes, nor has -4ngland,
the revenue cutters-the Michigan and
Petrel-having been regarded as men
of-war. Great Britain really had no
legitimate grounds for an objection,
but she viewed with alarm the building
of three vessels that could be quickly
converted into ships capable of put
! ting up a strong fight.
! The revenue cutter Walter Q. Gresh
am, first of the three of the new type,
has been in commission a few weeks,
and the Globe Iron Works Company of
/ Cleveland is now engaged on the con-
| structiOn of the other two, for which
an appropriation has been made. Dur
! ing her official trial trip the Gresham
attained a maximum speed of 1925
knots, equal to 2101 statute miles.
/ The regular armament of the new
vessels, as in the Gresham, will consist
of one 6-pound rapid-fire gun mounted
on the forecastle deck; but in case of
naval cooperation they are so designed
and constructed that each may carry
a main battery of six 4-inch rapid fire
guns and an auxiliary force of eight or
ten 6-pounder guns. So armed, they
would prove valuable dispatch boats.
blockaders, or effective commerce de-
stroyers, and in these steamers there
is to be also, as in the Gresham, a bow
torpedo tube, which can readily be
fitted with the mechanism for handling
and launching torpedoes.
Principal dimensions of the two new
cutters are: Length over all, 205 feet g.
inches; length between perpendiculars,
1873 feet: breadth of beam, extreme,
nodded, 80 feet; mean draft, 10 feet 9
inches; normal displacement tons, 927;
maximum indicated horsepower, 1000;
speed in knots per hour, 16 The boats
will be built of steel throughout, will
be rugged as fore-and-aft schooners,
and will carry a spread of steadying
sail only
Each vessel will have a single screw
of manganese bronze, 10 feet in dame
ter, which will be driven by a vertical,
direct acting, triple expansion engine,
having high, intermediate and low
pressure cylinders, respectively, of 70,
3715 and 56H inches diameter, with a
uniform stroke of thirty inches, and
turning speed of $50 revolutions a min
ute when developing the required indi-
Gated horse power of 1000 and inducing
the contract speed Of 16 knots Steam
at working pressure of 100 pounds to
the square inch Will be supplied in each
boat by four Scotch boilers of the re-
turn fire tube type, in diameter 1112
feet by 10 feet long. Each boiler will
have two 312-foot Fox corrugated fur
naces, and a structural popularity of
the boilers will be in the use of but two
steel plates in their longitudinal con-
struction, by which added strength
with a limited number of seams is Sc
cured. The boilers will be worked from
a common freroom and two large blow
ers exhausting directly into the ash
pits, will induce forced draught. By
this means the pressure under each
boiler will be under independent con-
troll, admitting of economical service
when RUNNING at cruising speed.
The normal coal supply will be about
225 tons, promising a radius of action
of 1000 miles at q cruising speed of 10
knots an hour. Steam steering gear,
steam windlass and capstan, an elec-
tric lighting plant and hydro-pneumat-
ic ajector for ashes are other modern
features to be provided in these ves-
sells There is, of course, ample room
in which to provide quarters for a COM
plement of about sixty persons aboard
each Of these vessels. The Captains
quarters will consist of a forward and
after cabin, two staterooms two baths,
four lockers seat berths and an office.
In The wardrobe on the berth deck,
there will be eight comfortable state
rooms, four locker-seat berths, two
baths, a lounging- and a dining
room. Forward on the berth deck there
will be four staterooms, for the steer
age officers together with q mess, and
ample space without for the accommo-
dation of the crew.
The protection of the lakes is sub
ject of widespread interest at this time.
when considerable attention is being
paid to the naval reserve The recent
visit of Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Theodore Roosevelt to Put-in-Bay, dur
ing an outing, aroused interest.
Although no official action has been
taken it is expected that the Govern
ment will continue enlarging its fleet
on the great lakes. The necessity for