Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-03-25

of these battlesh.rs. though bv up
means the least. Save the Indiana
class, they carry TIL heaviest batteries
m accord with modern naval nractice,
ana VITO primary batteries fully equal,
20 tnat class, they mount secondary
guns. In such fashion as TO M. Ike p!le
cn1nn!nation almost unealu aEed in naval
eiFehltecture. The big rifles. four in
nLmb=r. ara mounted in TWO turre;s.
one sweeping the entire sea .r5 m dl-
as to command the sea from eth, r
.rrW straight astern. These are of t.
mn Galore, Yet uhe British navy con-
nnes It's guns TO Finch. In inches The.
ul1erene= SEEMS small Vet the Ameri-
can gun has about % per cent mora
power.
AZ this point in the armament of tbe
ships the American designers ~ w..
embarked IN q bold and euterurisin ;,
experiment, the result of w:,iy.h viii ha
a"a!trd with interest by the Whole
,i.af't:'iie world. Instead OF descending
ii,s 80 v.r move from the heavy primary
battery to The smait caiihre rapid fire
suns. as S dime in the ease of cruisers
II mas become the custom Of nn,-,l
arcNltects to interp,se a battery ~
sl!eu!uan caAbre guns, six or eight jnoh
nuts. 1or instance. and these are placed
~ s1 ,I. independent :urrets about
lhe snip IT occurred to the A,ns r;,,a n
ass!sners that if they could d!spansa
Wilh tine weighty and space con.l1,n-
.ifs machinery attached to thest, tnrra.s
such as the turning engines and ma,
e;EslerS, independent ammunition hnjs. 9
s-nSrs ara uhe IKE. that much more
engine power could be placed i'm tha
nun OF the ship and that much more
arTnor could be Carried. They solved
the problem by rgidly alta ching the
smaller turrets. each containing 1wo
n.l Ing rifles. to the top OF the big 49,
mem turrets The plan had another
advantage than weight saving. Theo-
Tetacally. it tended to TERRIBLE con
centration of the fire of the ship. Prob
ABLY the craft does not float that would
survive THE awful impact from the four
guns OF one OF these combined tu1-reet IS
upon one small section of its hull, and
because they are trained in unison their
pro1ect!les must strike close together.
With this saving in weight the de-
EiSnerS We're able to give splendid ar
arnlor is of HarveyfZed nickel steel,
OF American invention. and the best
IN the world up to this date, as is shown
by the many European efforts to equal
NOR protection to the ships. All of this
| turrets above. for a like reason, vary
m thickness frov eleven to MINE inches
10 make sure no stray shot strikes
the ammunition 'hoiets lending from the
magazines to the turrets, the former
are enclosed in tubes of hardened steel
fifteen inches in thickness Mounted i'm
this fashion. the guns are almost in
vulnerable from the S-inrh rifles noun
ted high in air with good range and
| capable of piercing the walls of most
arn,ored ships at fighting quarters, 10
the big 13-inch guns that can project
their armor piercing shot dozen miles
across the sea.
The combination battery is supple
mented by numerous auxiliary bat-
terry OF smaller guns perched on every
convenient point of the superstructnre
All are rapid fire OF machine guns, for
| the Navy Department has profited by
| the lessons taught i'm the China jap
anese war OF the terrible power of guns
OF thils type. About four motions suf-
| fees to load, discharge and reload one
OF these guns. and i'm rapiddty of fire
they are equal to three OF the ordinary
navy breecAlloadtng guns. The largest
are five inch calibre, fourteen in all
sheltered behind six inch steel wa!ls
and separated one from another by two
inch steel wallis to minimize the eff
fects of an exploding Shell in any COM
| pa rtment. Then there are six Founders
ONE Founders and Gatlings. mainly for
the warm reception of hostile torpedo
boats or to clear deck or am open
port hole or earth work. To Facilitate
this. some OF the machine gums are