The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-03-29

two waTships; |
There are larger battleships afioat on |
the ocean thar the twin sisters Kear- |
sarge and Kentucky; there are even |
larger armoged ruise in the British |
navy, such as the splendid cruisers |
Powerful and Terrible, yet it is doubt
full whether any prudent naval COM
mander, even leaving out Of his caicu-
lations that great factor represented by
the superb fighting qualities OF the
American sailor would care to venture
a hostile meeting with one Of these
steel bulldogs OF the sea; for the new
American battleships embody in their
design and construction the highest
development up to this date in Often
sive warfare as the great game of
nava strife would be played on the
coast line OF the United States. Into
their broad hulls are packed ali Of the
engine power, the armor and the ord
nance that the highest scientific abil-
ity is able to concentrate in a floating
structure that Is able to seek a base OF
operations, a supply of fuel and anu
milton and an opportunity to heal
wounds received in battle. Larger
ships, those of deeper draft neceSSar-
lily, may not enter nor attack our ports
at fighting range and this concidera-
ton was always Kept in mind by Chief
Constructor Hichborn when the Kear-
sarge dlfu Iu6 hSlIIuChy were p1d&1llCu.
That is the explanation of the fact-a
new one in naval design-that these
ships with a displacement of 11,525 tons,
draw only % feet 6 inches of water,
less than the arInored cruisers New
York and Brooklyn, which would not
combined be equal in combat to one of
the battleShips. Light draft on heavy
displacement is only one of the many
valuable qualities of the battleships,
fh01lp~h NV ,os rnaon y tho 10oc t Save
the Indiana class, they carry the heav-
lest batteries in accord with modern
naval practice, n with primary bat
teries fully equal Ito that class they
mount secondary guns in such fashion
as to make the cOmJbinatiOn almost
unequalled in naval architecture. The
big rifles, four in number, are mounted
in two turretS, one sweeping the entire
sea from directly ahead, fully half way
aStern, the other with equal range,
placed so as to the sea from
either bow straight astern. These are
of thirteen inch caliber, yet the Brit
ish navy now confines its guns to
twelve inch. In inches the differences
seems small, yet the American gun has
about 25 per cent more power.
At this point in the armament of the
ships the American designers have en-
banked in a bold and enter T~ising ex-
pertinent, the result of which will be
awaited with interest by the whole
maratime world. Instead of descend
ing at one move from the heavy pri-
mary battery to the small caliber
rapid fire guns, as is done in the case
of cruisers, it has become the custom
of naval architects ito interpOse a bat
terry of medium caliber guns, six or
eight inch guns for instance, and these
are placed in smaller Independent tur-
rets about the ship. 1t occurred to the
American designers that if they could
dispense with the weighty and space
consuming machinery attached to
these turrei ,, such as the turning en-
gines and machinery, independent am
munition hoist shields and the like,
that much more engine power could
be placed in the hull of the ship and
that much more armOr could IDe carried.
They solved the problem by rigidly
attaching the smaller tuTrets, each
containing two eight-inch rifles, to the
top of the big thirteen inch turrets.
The plan had another advantage than
weight-saving. Theoretically, 1T tende
to a terrible concentration of the fire of
the ship. Probably the craft does not
loaf that would survive the awful nm
pact from the four guns of n of these
combined turretS upon one small sec
tion of it's hull, and they are
drained in unison their projectleS must
strike close together.
With this saving in weight the de-
signers were able to give splendid ar
NOR protection to the ships. AM of this
armor is of Harveylized nickel-steel,
Of American invention, and the best
in the world up to this date, as is
shown by the "a European efforts
to equal it buy other processes of man
ufacture. Moreover, it is skillfully dis
posed, so .as to make every ounce of
steel count for the protection of the
crew. The big 'turTets are
inches thick in front, diminishing i'm
thickness to fifteen inches in the rear,
where they are less liable to be struck
because in action the guns are suppos-
ed always to he turned towards the
enemy. The smaller turretS above, for
a like reason, vary in thickness from
eleven to nine inches. To make sure
no stray shot strikes the ammunition
hoists leading from the magazines to
the turrets the former are enclosed in
tubes of hardened steel fifteen inches
i'm thickness. Mounted in this fashion
the guns are almost ~invulnerable from
the eight inch RIFLES mounted high in
air with good range and capable of