New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-01-10
NAVAL PROGRESS ABROAD.
HOW SPAIN is AuoMENrING HER FLEET.

sTATIONS-wHAT ENGLAND FRAME
AND OTHER NATIONS ARE DOING.
rsY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE1
Washington JAN "a report from the once OF
Naval Intelligence giving notes on naval progress
.hro,d from the date OF the issue OF the regular
Annual TO the present time. has appeared. herc-
after by direction OF the Secretary OF the navy
Information from abroad Is to be pubIished from
time TO time and not held back until the emu Vi
each year and published In one volume. az mas
been the practice heretofore. Secretary Heroer,s
lac, "a that this information. being OF much In
terest ~ the naval service. should be lad before
officers at the earliest possible date ai'er "s 'c
ccip, The little volume when mas just oee"
issued contains notes on foreign ships' 'oIpe'o-
boats ordnance and armor. The chapter on on'p'
and Torpedo-boats was prepare" W
H. NJ. WitzeII. t..
Naturally especial interest attaches 10 wha'
Spain has recently done In the way OF augment
inc bsr fleet Lieutenant Wtzell says that the
snanish Government has bought OF the cohtracto'S
AnsaIdo & Co. near Genoa. the armoreu
Giuseppe GarIbadi. which was laid down LOT VI.
italian Government Spain has renamed the 'essei
tho Cris;obal Colon. She Is to he dehVereu d.
barcelona early next month she IL o,'
q 100 tons displacement. Her length IL 90 -
beam 30 feet and draught y rect i"c"eS ''o
has two propelIers and her indicated horSe-po"e'
Is "a O0u Her battery comprises two -'-ce"','"e'o
,,eos and fen 1j-centimetre and four l2-cehumc'e
randi firing guns: also ten 57-millimetre ana zen
37-mlmetre guns of the same charao'e'' g. .o
four smaller pieces Her estimated spec" 10 ~
knots Her coal supply IL Goo 'o"s' ,,. a.
Spain has contracted with the same i.a',' ~
,r III. construction of another vessel OF the same
,vpe NJ the Caribaldi. The new snip VIII DC '''eu
the Pedro AragOn. Under orders 10 hu''' ~.
completion she IL TO be delivered III 'p@' 49,,
nor, I'm fifteen months These cruisers are y, .'o
came general type as the new Argentine vessel III.
l.uf
scotch boilers they are to have sixteen po"e'' VI
the Bec,ille type. SPANS TWO 'o'pe'o ,
being built by English company nav,
named the Audaz and the Osado. Two similar .es 'a
sels authorized in the Spanish buuse' 'o' ~
have been ordered from the same hri'
s, nos launched AT her own dockyards TWO
,a, y.sses within the last three months. -" vi"
successful effort has been made 10 iau.o" VI.
r,ored cruiser Princcsa de Asturas' A"o'"'
,emp, IL 10 be made. Activity continues a. az
SPANISH naval stations. Vessels are oei'e ~"
along rapidly. and large quantities Vi o'"'''N
terial have been made ready for use
A, IN naval progress In other countries, the re-
mort GAYS that Argentinas torpedo-boat, the santa
re has developed speed OF $50 kho's U" 49,, 49,,
three hours trial The Austrian 'oipe
Magnet which has displacement OF oi' 'o"''
,r,n,eoxnansion engines OF 5000 Indicated horse-
,owor and four boilers, has deVe'oPeu ~
speed of % knots in a three hours tr'a| H"o'"e
,,r,., ,orn.do- boat the Natter, attained speed
OF o6j knots. ,ua, IN
The first of three protected cruisers o"''"''e -
England for Brazil has been launched an" name
the Rarozo A CHILEAN torpedo vessel the |>u'"i'" a.
simpson has disappointed naval offcerS Vi 'lae
co,,n,rv The best speed she has made Is only 10
knots under forced draught In SIX hours ha'u'. 81
draught trial her mean speed was ITO Deh'',a'n
bos onproved plans for coast-defence vessel Oh
1000 tons displacement. to Re named the iieriui
Tralle It's construction VIII soon Do oesu" ~ ~
ROYAL Dockyard. at Copenhagen
france has issued proposals for the construction
at n private yard OF one protected cruiser oI o''"
tons. disbursement and speed Of % Knots. ohe IL
N huid two sheathed cruisers OF 2ioo tons as
nIacement ha wing a speed OF 2O5 knots Inc pa,'ic
shin St Louis. sister ship OF the 'harema"sc' mas
been launched In a preliminary ha'u'al "i""s"'
trial the Brieux has developed ',2lo horsepower
II was proposed to rearm certain French VESSELS
hut II has been decided TO change the battery OF the
ReouaIn only, the expense Of the other changes
be,np considered too high for the advantages
gained.
Great Britain Is to build five new vessels OF inc
Canopus class They are TO be named the Campus
the Ocean the Goliath. the Glory ana the A'"'oh
and have two sets Of trpe-expansion engines, cap
able Of developing 1850 collective horsepower
steam 10 be furnished by twenty boilers OF me me
Beeve type. new cruser TO be nsm sir sne
sions viii be- Length 800 feet: beam &c feet: mean
low dT pavs Steel Iees deck running
tire length. with maximum thickness OF Two
inches over the engines She will carry eight iour
inch rapid-frc guns eight three-pounder iotchks s
guns and two Maxim machine guns and Is to haze
Two fourieen-nch torpedo tubes. In recent trlais
the Venus made 1872 knots and the Vs1SrG 9hs
1859 knots The Heroine trny ,h Is 80 oe so'o
Portugal has opened bids for the OF
9u n and one seagong tug of 400 tons. Turkey
has completed repairs to the Abdei kader ana t t
launching.
ORDNANCE AND ARMOR.
In a cbap,er OF Notes on Ordnance and Armor,
Ensign / ~ Everhart gives some instructive In
formation az to experiments made abroad IN rusing
holes In face-hardened armor Ensign Everhart
saws that experience In Europe proves that orui-
nary drilling tools useless for this purpose AT
first the attempt made to keep the Plate soit
| in the wake Of the hole by means Of patches. but
this was not wholly successful. Now the hard face
Is sof.ened by electric arc. and the holes bored
with an electric drill 1t has been found possible
fusng it with an electric arc. The carbon is fixed
|. In a holder which can he moved up toward the
f,ted above the carbon TO screen the eyes Of the
ToknF the IS Sotsd ie to- dining
| machine worked by small motor, the machne
osini magnets excited by the same current
| that drives the motor. This form Is convenient
driiiins the holes in the soft steel after the hard
skin has been pierced The DYNAMO used TO pro
at eighty volts. Nearly all of the current Is re-
| uured In the work the positive pole OF the
| dynamo Is connected to the armor plate and, the
negative lS-i6-inch carbon The holes formed
by the ca rbon about IA inches In diameter ana
| are fused to "A depth of about II. inches. although
the hard face extends only TO depth OF = men n
| from the surface of the plate. The time taken 10
| flse such "A hole with current or 30 amperes AT
| eighty volts is abou, forty-hve seconds.
| Ensign Eyerhart describes a newly invented
! Hotchkiss automatic machine gun. whHh ne says -
attracting much attention in Europe wher re-, !, -
being tried Dy, several Governments The emilia
! Government has the gun actually In service. The
gun belongs to that class In which portion OF the
| gas developed by the explosion OF the powder,
charge Is utilized to operate the breech-acton ana
| feed the mechanism. and more particularly to that
| class In which motor piston, In perpetual engage
ment with a power accumulation, Is operated by th.
! gases resulting from the explosion The design or
| the gun produces simple and efficient mechanism
whereby, WHEN a reciprocating motion H. gwen 10 a
| certain part OF II. by the action OF the powder
gases and "A spring or other mechanical means en-
| ployed. all the operations OF loading firing, ex-