The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-04-04
THE BATTLESHIP IOWA.
She is Expected to Develop n Speed
Of II Knots.

The battleshiD Iowa, on the way to
Boston to take her trial trip. is now at
the Brooklyn yard for the double pur-
pose OF testing the new dry dock and
having her hull scraped and painted in
order to secure the best results on her
trial trip, says the New York Times.
She will be tloated into the dock on
high tide at S O'Clock this morning Ac-
cordinS to the programme ~nounc
ut the yard, she will leave for Boston
Saturday afternoon. On Monday she
Will steam over the official course from
Cape Ann, Mass, to Cape PoIpoisc, Me.
On Tuesday there will be a general
o~verhauling Of the ship and machinery,
and on Wednesday, the trial will take
place. At a recent trial the battlcship
attained a speed OF 1925 knots. Her
contract obligation is 16 knots, and for
each quarter knot over the Cramps will
receive a bonus of $40, 900. Hcr builders
believe she will reach II knots over the
navy course. This is the last Of the
warships for which a bonus will be Of
fered.
The Iowa left her pier at the Cramps
shipyard, Philadelphia, at ! O'Clock
Monday morning. The usual difficulty
Of getting over the shoals near Reedy
Island involved a delay until 6 O'Clock
in the evening, and the intervening time
was utilized in the adjustment OF her
compasses. She anchored at the Brown
shoals, five miles inside the Capcs, at
II O'Clock Monday night, and at 6
O'Clock the next morning weighed an
Choir and pointed her nose to sea.
The capes were rounded half an hour
later, and the Iowa made for the south
west .lightship, off Five-fathom Bank.
The morning was by the
speed tests, and at 1916 O'Clock she
headed up the coast, doing a steady II
knots all the way to Sandy Hook. Here
a pilot was taken aboard. and the Iowa
entered the harbor. About two-thirds
OF the way up the main channel and
Just outside the Narrows the first diff
Guilty Of the trip was encountered, and
that was a tNifling one. The Iowa's
~Starboard bow struck can buoy No. 6 4
glancinE blow, and the anchor chain OF
the buoy became cntangled in the pro-
Deller blades. Tt took an hours work
to get the buoy free. n then she was
east adrift. No damage was done to the
Iowa.
The Iowa was given three runs be-
tween the lightships off Fivc-fathom
Bank yesterday morning. This is a dis
lance OF 11.125 knots, and the trials were
made under forced draught. with ordi-
nary coal. The speed obtained on the
f1rst and second legs was 1880 knots, an
hour, but on the third she spurtcd up
20 1919. The sea was rs smooth as an
inland lake, and there wa no vibration
whatever.
The Iowa is admitted to be the mos,
formidable battleship in the nayy. She
IS described as a s~ea-Soing battlcship,
to distinguish her from coast line bat
tleships, such as the Oregon. Massachu-
sets and Indiana. Her dimensions are:
Length. 800 feet; displacement, 1l,Al0
tons; coal capacity, 1,7SO tons. On her
water line she has a belt Of ar1nor IA
inches thick, 10 inches above and 3
inches over the engines and boilers
The armament consists of four l2-inc
guns in barbettc, 4 secondary battery OF
eight S-incll guns, six 4-inch quick-fring
guns, twenty ~6-pounders, six 1-pounders,
four Calling guns and six torpedo tubes.
men,