Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-05-15

amidships, four more Of these 6-inch
rifles will constitute a broadside battery.
Forward of these guns, one on each side,
with six inches of armor plate for protec-
ton, two 6-inch rifle parrots will be To-
Gated. The secondary battery is placed
in such portions of the ship as need it
most. The armor belt, sixteen and a half
inches thick, will protect the hull at the
water-line. Its mean depth is seven and
half feet. This belt will extend from
the stern to abreast the after barbette,
and will maintain a maximum thickness
from that point forward to the forward
barbette. gradually tapering to four
inches at the stem.
From the top of the side belt up to the
upper deck, the sides will be protected
by five and a half inches of hardened
steel. backed, below the main deck, by
a belt of cornpth cellulose and full coal
bunkers. Athwartship buikheads twelve
inches thick will run inward/to the bar
bettes from each end of the thickest part
of the side armor, and on top of the
four walls, so formed. a fat protective
deck, 2.31 inches thick, will rest. Below,
and within the space embraced by this
heavy steel box, viii be placed the en-
gines. boilers. magazines. and she'll
rooms.
Slanting decks, running from the top
of the heavy, athwartship bulkheads to
the stem and stern will form the con-
tinuation of the fat protective deck.
This deck will be four inches thick aft
and three inches thick forward. The
ship will be propelled by two triple ex-
pansion engines, each in its own water
tight compartment, having cylinders
SS.5. 81, and rs inches in diameter. Eight
boilers, two in a compartment, provide
yi,,e, Of
ers in the fire-room maintain forced
draught.
The Alabama will boast Of two fight
ing stations. One of them will be just
beneath the chart-house and will be of
steel ten inches thick. The cost of the
Alabama will be fully a million dollars
less than the government anticipated
when 1t advertised for bids 1t would be
necessary to pay She will, too, be one
of the first ships finished, built under
what is called a non-speed bounty. In
other words no matter how fast she
goes the makers will not receive
penny extra in the way Of bonus.
Despite this fact, it is declared that
she will be the best finished and the
most commodious in point Of accommo-
dations for officers and crew of any Of
the vessels of which the government is
the present proprietor. The number of
men she will carry, exclusive of officers,
and including marines, will be 500
Although her speed is estimated at
seventeen knots, those who have been
watching her construction, are OF the
opinion that she will do much better than
that, though that is fairly fast speed.
Said an official of the Cramps 10 me the
other day:
Keep your eye on the Alabama. We
have turned out some crack vessels for
the government, but there is one which
will bear watching. Mark you, she will
create a great sensation when she gets
into running trim, as did her famous old
namesake that flew the Stars and Bars
In my opinion, when completed, the
Alabama will be the best battleship ever
built. In appearance, / do not think she
will be equal 10 some Of the other ships
of war, but when it comes to speed and
utility and conflict, give me the Alabama.
She is like one of those girls that never
would shine in the butterfly circles of