The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-04-01
NAVY.
rlrh In strength Among Naval Power,
9th, World.

OF III. World.
Chicago Times.Heraid. The United
States is the Afth naval power in the
world. Tho nayies OF Great Britain,
France. Russia and Italy rank ahead In
the order named. Germany and the
United states ore about tied.
our present effective fighting force
consists OF four batac:shlps OF tho
e,st class. m battle.shlp OF the sec.
ond class. two arnored cruisers. elsh-
teen cruisers, fifteen gunboats, six
double .turretcd monitoes, n ram,one
dynamite boat, M dispatch boat, one
transport dnG eight torpedo boats.
Tho Town weighs neatly $4,000 tons.
and as twenty tons Is the average load
~ n freIsht car and twelve cars Is a
Food load for a locomotive engine. It
would take fifty locomotives TO haul
me great steel structure.
Tho powder used Is brown and In
chunks the size OF a caramel. a charge
for the biggest guns weighs five hun
d,ed pounds and is hoisted to the
brecch by q derrick. the powder being
EfWCu up III bhAAsp oNhH'4 -H.".l. g. Hnfn.
Amor plates are tested by firing
steel proIectiles Weighing from one hun
ired 10 1900 pounds ut them from guns
charged with i've hundred pounds OF
rowdcr and at a distance OF about a
city block.
our battle ships have q speed OF from
Nt:ecn to seventeen knots an hour.
cruisers make from nineteen to TWEEN
iy-tour knots. while the monitors can
travel Only five TO seven Knots.
The biggest guns In the navy are for
ty.uine feet long. big enough for n man
10 crawl into: four feet In diameter at
their largest part and weigh 1885, 500 lbs.
>: thcreabouts.
There are six rear admirals In active
service. The Offices Of vice admiral and
admiral are untitled, so there Is no
head OF tho Gavy excepting Secretary
Long.
ylrnacies form on the hull OF a ship,
inpeding Its speed. Ask months cruise
will decrease the speed OF a ship 10 per
cent, and It must go Into dry dock.
Slxty-one merchant vessels belong to
the auxiliary navy. These ships are
subsidized and by contract must be
given TO the United States on demand.
Sone Of the guns in the navy can fire a
shot twelve miles, farther than n man.
can see, for the guns are aimed and
sighted by machinery.
The amount expended by the navy
department In 1897 was s34.5 61. 5l6. This
Is a larger sum than has been expended
In any year since 1866.
In a battle the wood work and all ar
tlcles OF wood are either slowed below
OF throw overheard lest the men be In
tured by splinters.
The oriain Of the navy department
may be said to date from October, 10,
1iT5, when Congress authorized the
equipment OF two cruisers.
The fastest vessels in the navy are
the torpedo boats Porter and Dupont,
each OF which can travel 27.5 knots an
hour.
BattIe-ships cost from 10000 0O to
ts.75O,O0O. and cruisers from $500. 900 to.
tS,OOo,eo0. A good torpedo boat costs
over 800, 900.
Battle-ships are for the heavy work:
cruisers are commerce destroyers: mon-
!;ors are useful only for coast defense.
The Indiana could lie outside Sandy
Hook and throw 1,200-pound shots into
WV Nsh ~ III tukG"Ol lOut Il lltlIbutt.f
Those artists who show smoke In
their p!ctures.of naval battles are who'll
" wrong. Smokeless powder is used.
All Of the cruisers are named in hon
or Of cities, and the battle-shlps. ex-
cept the KearsarEe. in honor of states.
The "Gros" ration was abolished in
1862. and since then the crew has been
forbidden to drink while on duty.
Marines are the police on board ship.
Originally they we're employed to pre-
vent mutinS among the sailors.
The guns Of a battle-ship can carry
from six TO twelve miles. hurting q shot
Weighing halc a ton.
Only 60 per cent. Of the enlisted men
are Americans, and n smaller percent
age yet are native born.
Psojectiles thrown by naval guns are
shaped much as the bullets shot by tho
ordinary rifle.
\ big bat,ie-ship has on board an
electric plant capable OF lighting a
town OF 5000, inhabitants.
The boilers, Of the Iowa have a heat
Ing surface OF eight acres and hold
thirty tons of water.
Great Britain has oo4 torpedoes and
torpedo boat destroyers. Uncle Sam has
only eight.
Five hundred and t~wenty-six men and
forty officers are required 20 ma the
cruiser New York.
Ba;tie-ships are covered with armor
Q: nickel steel from FIVE to seven inches
ihi-k,
Ne have Your armorcd battle ships
ne Indiana, Iowa. Massachusetts, and
Texas.
y submarine torpedo boat 10 be
known as the Plunscr is now under
construction.
the naval militia Is 3,Os. officers and
men.
Behind the hear.- armor. there is a
padding o. either corn pith or cocoa
husks.
II costs $500 every time one OF the
his guns on board a ship is fired.
The Brooklyn and New York are orr
armoTed cruisers.
Sailors are paid from 80 so TO So 80
per month and board,
An act of Congress in 1872 abolished
:iogEing In the navy.
The American n has practically all
heen built since 1883.
captain In the navy ranks with a
colonel IN the army.
Tit oldest iron vessel is the MichI-
gan. built In 1874.
fiV battle-shlps are now under con
strnction.
We have the only ram-the Katahdln.
How to Look Good.