Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-05-27
OUR MODERN SHIPS OF WAR.
Complicated Machinery crowding in Them
from Stern to Stern.
(From the independently

fffoln the independent
While in one sense all warships are
battleships, the craft which bears that
eGhncal name is a steel structure
usually about $50 feet long. % feet
wide, and i3 feet deep. She weighs
with everythins, on board. about ll,oo0
tons. Her engines can pfopel her at
about ID knots per hour. Her guns
about 40 in all. vary in calibrc from
the huge 13- inch. throwing "A projectile
Of l150 pounds, to the little Gatiing of
% inch. throwing a bullet Weighing
about three-tonths of an ounce. To
protect her engines and her guns. and
to insure the buoyancy and stability of
the ship. she carries Steel 2rmor vary
ing from to Is inches in thickness;
and. finally, she is the abadng place
of some 500 men.
Her chief characteristic is the pre-
dominance of guns and armor, as COM
pared with speed and coai-carrying
capacity, in which respect she is the
opposite of the cruiser.
The cruiser preys on an enemy's
commerce, and swoops down upon his
and endurance-speed to enable her %
and endurance, which means coal
carry ng capacity. enough to let her
steam around the world. IL need be,
without repieniShing her bunkers.
The Minneapolis, for example, can
steam al % knots per hour. and about
half of her entire weight is that Of
propelling machinery and coal.
The battleship. on the other hand, is
a pure fighting machine. Her normal
endurance is about 1000 miles. In the
Iowa one-half of the total weight is
that of the snip herself. three-tenths is
guns and armor and only tWo-tenths
engines and coal. The cruiser is not
intended to fight any vessel more pow
crful than herself. She runs from a
battleship. The battleship fights any
thing atoat.
Now. what sort of structure is
this? huge steel honeycomb-frames
and ribs and plates and braces in every
direction. Look at the inextricable
tangle of them in the shattered Maine.
No more great expense of deck with
the tiers of guns in diminishing per
Spective, such as one sees in the old
wooden frigateS and three -deckers But
compartments eyeryWhere-212 of them
IN the Indiana. Little steel boxes and
big Steel-boXes inclosing guns and
boxes lnclosing engines, and box for
the helm and labyrinthne passages in
and out of and around them where day
light never gets; and endless doors,
doors. doors, doors-354 water tight
doors and matches on the Indiana,
every one of which somebody must
look after and see closed when the
ship goes into action. Else why com
partments of you cannot keen them
separate so that if water comes in
form ram thrust or torpedo or shot.
you can contine it one or two cells
and so prevent the ship from filling
There are more compartments in some
of the smaller cruisers--the Cincinnati
has 4S7; but cruisers run and battle
ships do not.
In this assemblage of cells is placed
jammed is a better word-one of the most
complicated aggregationS of mechanism
that have ever been brought together
lhere are from 100 to $50 steam cylinders
in the multifarious engines; not so many
as in the cruisers, perhaps. The Colum-
bia has 1A; but, the Columbia keeps out
of the way of 1%-inch shot The battle
| snip iowa has lo2. The New Ironsides
the most powerful fighting vessel in our
navy at the close of the war had three
WHAT steam does not 10 electricity does.
There are wires everywhere The dvna-
mos are running constantly. for thu.
closed steel boxes get no daylight and
must Delighted. while with equal con-
stancy the blowers draw out the foul and
lorce IN the fresh air. But on all sides
there is machinery. Machines work the
guns; machines turn the turrets ma
chimes manage the helm
and pump the ship and feed the boilers
ana drive the fires: machines hoist am
munition, boats and anchors: machines
ma the position of the enemy; machines
transmit orders of the captain to every
part of the structure machines make the
light: machines condense the drinking
water and cool it: machines themselves
pf"peiioi by other machines on board
70 "u' Under the water TO plow up the
adversary.