The Princeton union., 1898-08-25
ADDITIONS 70 OUR NAVY.
lnfanta Maria Teresa and Cristobal Colon.
Excellent War Ships That Will Add
Greatly to Our Effectiveness Af1oat.
The Albany Coming.

The command Of the sea, the first
lord OF the British admiralty stated last
year, was passing to cruisers rather
than to battleships. This may be so
to limited extent, for it depends rath-
er on what the words battleship and
cruiser signify.
AS has been repeatedly told in the
Herald, battleship is vessel which,
tor her size, carries the heaviest arma-
ment and the thickest armor possible,
subordinating speed and .coal-carrying
capacity to secure these ends. An ar
mored cruiser, on the other hand sac
rihces certain amount of gun power
and protection in order to reach
high speed and to stow large guam
tity of coal. But the dividing line be-
tween these two types of armored
fighting ships is decidedly arbitrary,
each nation classifying it's ships to
suit the fancy Of the committee that
decides upon their construction.
For. instance, when the old Maine
was first laid down she was called by
our navy department an armored cruis-
'er. At that time it was proposed to
equip her with masts for sail power.
Later it was decided that instead of
the spars there should be military
masts, and thenceforth the Maine was
known as battleship.
Battleships and Cruisers
The new battleships of England of
the Canopus class are to- carry 12-inch
guns and armor only six inches thick,
but the speed, with natural draft, is
to be 1872 knots, and the coal capacity
is $500 tons.
Germany's latest designed battle
ships mount 9.2-inch guns as the heay-
lest pieces in their main batteries.
In our navy the Texas is denominat-
ed second-class battleship, but the
Spanish ships Of the same size and ap-
proximately the same armament and
armor are classified as armored cruis-
ers. This is a distinction, therefore,
without a difference, and is not al
ways recognized, even among naval
men, the Infanta Maria Teresa being
often spoken of as a second-class bat
tleship.
This vessel and the armored cruiser
Cristobal Colon, now that they are
both to become American men-of-war,
are particularly interesting to us.
First, because having been won in war.
they represent the fruit of conquest,
the reward Of victory and the glory
OF the United States navy; and second,
because, be they called armored cruis-
ers or battleships, they are type of
ship our naval officers are very de-
sirous Of seeing added to our service.
The 1nfanta Maria Teresa.
The Infanta Maria Teresa was built
by Sir Charles Palmer's Anglo-Spanish
company at Bilboa, Spain.
The following are the dimensions
land other particulars of the ship:
Length between perpendiculars, $40
feet; greatest beam, IS feet 2 inches:
mean draught, 21 feet inches; dis
placement, 1000 tons.
Her hull is built of mild steel and
is we'll subdivided by double bottom
and watertight bulkheads. She was
launched at Bilboa on August 80, 1890.
and completed her steam trials off Fer
rol In September and October of 1893
With natural draft 1858 horsepower
was developed and a speed of 1875
knots, whereas only 18 knots were stip-
ulated. With forced draft, in four and
a half hours trial, the mean horse
power developed was 1888 and the
speed was 20.5 knots.
The two sets of vertical triple ex-
pansion engines of the ship were de-
signed by an English engineer. The
diameters Of the cylinders are AZ, 6s
and 90 inches and the stroke is 4e
inches. The steam generating plant
consists Of four double-ended and two
single-ended boilers. In addition
there are two separate boilers for the
auxiliary machinery, comprising over
fifty separate engines, which are stu
ated in the engine and boiler COM
partments.
The Teresa's Protection.
The Teresa Is protected by an armor
belt II inches thick and 5 feet 6 inches
wide, extending for distance of 315,
feet Of the length Of the ship at the
water line, from feet above it to 1S
inches below it, and having a backing
of teak wood, to which it is bolted.
The armored or protective deck,
placed at certain height above the
water line throughout the greater part