The times., 1898-05-08
OUR MODERN SHIPS OF WAR.
Complicated Machinery CrOwdinG
in Them From Stem to Stern.

(FTom the independently
While in one sense all warships are bat
tleships, the craft which bears that tech
nical name is a steel structure usually
about $50 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 45
feet deeps She weighs. with everything
on board about II 900 tons. Her engines
can propel her at about Is knots per hour.
Her guns, about forty-five in all. vary in
caliber from the huge l3-inch, throwing
a projectile of 1150 pounds. to the little
GatIng of .23-inch. throwing built
weighing about three-tenths of an ounce.
To protect her engines and her guns. and
to insure the buoyancy and stability of
the ship she carries steel armor varying
from to Is inches in thickness; and. IL
nally she is the abiding place of some
800 men.
Her chief characteristic is the predomi-
nance of guns and armor, as compared
with speed and coal-carrying capacity. In
which respect she is the opposite of the
cruiser.
The cruiser preys on an enemy's COM
merce. and swoops down upon his coasts;
therefore. she must have speed and en-
durance-speed to enable her to catch the
swiftest ocean greyhounds, and endur-
ance. which means coal-carrYing capac-
ity. enough to let her steam around the
world, If need be, without replenishing
her bunkers The Minneapolis, for exam
pie, can steam at Is hilOlS per AlOuis diLb
about half of her entire weight is that OF
propelling machinery and coal
The battleship on the other hand, IS
pure fighting machine. Her normal en-
durance is about 1000 miles In the Iowa
one-half Of the total weight is that OF the
ship herself, three-tenths is guns and
armor. and only two-tenths engines aid
coal. The cruiser IS not intended to fight
any vessel more powerful than herself.
She runs from a battleship. The battle
ship fights anything afioat.
Now, what sort of a structure is this?
huge steel honeycomb-frames and
ribs and plates and braces in every di-
rection. Look at the ineXtricable tanSie
OF them in the shattered Maine. No
more great eXpanse of deck with the tiers
OF guns :n diminishing perspective such
as one sees in the old wooden frigates
and 3-declers. But compartments every
where-212 Of them in the Indiana. Lit
tie steel boxes and big steel boXes-boxes
inclosng guns and boxes inciosing en-
gineS, and a box for the helm and laby-
rinthine passages in and out OF and
round them where daylight never gets;
and endless doors. doors, doors-35f wa
ter-tight doors and matches on the Indi-
ana, every one Of which somebody must
look after ana see closed when the ship
goes into action Else why cOmpart-
ments if you cannot keep them separate.
so that if water comes in from a ram
thrust or torpedo or shot. you. can con
fine it 10 one or two cells and 50 prevent
the ship from filling. There are more
compartments in some OF the smaller
cruisers-tthe Cincinnati has 4S7; but
cruisers run and batueships do not.
In this assemblage of cells is placed
jammed IS a better word-one of the
most complicated aggregatOns of mech
anism that have ever been brought to-
gether. There are from doe TO $50 steam
cylinders in the muItifarious engines; not
so many as In the cruisers, perhaps The
Columbia has 1S4; but the Columbia
keeps out of the way Of 13-inch shot The
battleship Iowa has 152. The New
IronSides. the most powerful fighting
vessel in our Navy at the close of the
war, had three.
What steam does not do electricity
does. There are wires everywhere The
dynam0s are running constantly. for the
closed steer boxes get no daylight and
must be uEhtci. while with equal con-
stancy the blowers draw out the foul and
force in the fresh air But on all sides
there IS machinery. Machines work the
guns: machines turn the turrets; ma
chimes manage the helm; machines pro-
pei and pump the ship and feed the boil
ers and drive the fires; machines hoist
ammunition. boats and anchors; ma
chueS find the position of the enemy;
machines transmit orders from the cap
tain TO every part of the structure; ma
chimes make the light; machines con-
dense the drinking water and cool it. ma
chimes. themselves propelled by other ma
chimes on board. 80 out under the water
to blow up the adversary.