The San Francisco call., 1897-01-25
NEWS OF FOkEIGN NAVIES.

Brazil has sold to Japan the fine cruiser
Almigant Barroza. recently built at Elswick.
She is 345O tons displacement, has speed OF
twenty knots and carries six 6-inch ana four
4.7-inch guns, all quick firers.
cruiser OF 1900 tons displacement has
been built at Foochow. She will receive her
armament OF rapid-fring guns at Por1 Arthur,
and is to be used as a schoolship for the pupils
of the Chinese Naval Academy at Tientsin.
The keel of the Canopus, battleship of Il, $50
tons. was laid at Portsmouth dockyard on
January 4. She and sistership, Goliath, be-
gun at about the same time at Chatham, are
to be completed in twenty months. and Will
be launched during the present year.
Russian cruiser called Swietland, the
third of that name in the Russian navy since
1854, has just been launched at Havre. She
is 336 feet inches by 43 feet in beam and
1928 tons displacement. The horsepower is
$500, of which a speed OF 20 knots is expected.
italian naval estimates have been grea tly
reduced of late years, and shipbuild1ng has
been practically suspended since 1891. The
expenditures nave been cut down from $24,-
100000 to $1S,600. 900, and all hope OF exc
cutting the naval programme begun In 1887
appears to be at an end.
At the Newski shipbuilding establishment,
st. Peters burg, six torpedo-boats are TO be
built during the present year. The boilers are
to be arranged to burn either coal or oil. The
stokers on boats burning oil have to wear
colored glasses to protect their eyes from the
intense glare of the burning fluid.
Two torpedo-boats, Furor and Terror, have
just arrived in Spain from the yard OF the
builders, J. & G, Thomson. Glasgow. They
are 220 feet by % feet and displace $50 tons.
Their speed exceeds twenty-eight knots and
their armament consists OF two 14-poun ders
and two 37-millimeter Hotchkiss guns
The Naval Construction and Arme ments
Company's works at Barrow-in-Furness has
been sold to Messrs. Vickers, Son & Co. at
Sheffield and henceforth both establishments
will be worked in connection. The firm will
thus be able to build, engine, and equip ships
throughout, using armor plates and guns of
their own obstruction.
The gun boat Presldente of San Domingo has
been refitted with new engines, and thor
oughly reftted by Frame, Aston & Co., Lon
DON On her recent trial trip the boat made
1897 knots. She is armed with seven Hotch-
kiss guns, and is fitted up to accommodate the
President and suite of the Dominican Repub-
lie.
The British dockysds built nine ships
during 1896, of 1870 tons displacement and
SO, 600 horses, which exceeds by 1920 tons the
output of 1895. Portsmouth took the lead,
with three ships of 26, 800 TONS of which one
cruiser of $500 tons was launched in ten
months and seven days from the laying of the
keel. The total value of the ships when CON-
pIeted Will be $21, ,43S 800. In addition to
new work the five dockyardS expended ST.
472, 600 in repairs to ships.
The cruiser Furious, $500 tons, was launched
at the Devonport dockyard December 3, her
keel having been laid June TO- 1895, and is to
be completed next July. The Furious is 800
feet in length, 81 feet inches breadth and
has mean draught of 81 feet. The speed un-
der natural draught, with 10000 horse power,
is to be nineteen knots. She has eighteen
Belleville boilers, placed in three water-tight
compartments, and the normal coal supply is
500 tons, which may be augmented to 1000
tons