Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-09-20
THE NEW sAITLesHlPs.
LARGER AND sPEEDIER THAN ANY
THING NOW IN THE NAVY.

The practical result Of the bidding for
the Maine, Missouri and Ohio, IL th't
three great establishments, the Cramps,
the Union Iron Works and the Newport
News Company, viii each have one ship
to build. The result Is to be considered
fortunate, not only because they are all
experienced builders OF the highest
capability, being, In fact, the only firms
that have ever constructed flrst-class bat
tleships for our navy, but because this
division Of the work will be likely to
give US the ships at an earlier day.
These bids were noticesbly close. The
San FranciscO's firms was the highest,
and It would therefore have been shut
out but for congress- percentage allow
ance In favor Of the Pacific coast yards,
which insured 1t one ship. The other
two would have gone to the Newport
News Company as the lowest bidder,
save that It only offered to build one,
having already three first-class battle
ships under construction. The Phila-
delphia arm, therefore, came In for the
third vessel. The only remaining bid,
that Of John n. Dialogue & Son, who
built the Princeton, WAS not only
too high, but was under the slow speed
class, which was virtually barred.
With this assurance Of competent con-
tractors, We find next guarantee Of Is
knots. Each firm offered to build either
l7-knot or an 1S-kn0t ship, and beyond
doubt the latter will be chosen. The
difference In price Is not great, and, 10
any case, comes within the limits fixed
by congress, while the difference In
possible efficiency is great. To show
the gain In this respect since 1890,
when our earliest flrst-class battle
ships were contracted for, We may note
that they were required to make only 10
knots, and that the Indiana only showed
an average OF 1851 on trial, the Massa-
chusetts l6. .al. and even the Oregon not
more than 1879. In foreign nsvies first
class battleships beating Is knots are
common, and some Of them reach Is l-2
or 10 knots. We are, therefore, only
keeping up with the times.
The time allowed for construction also
shows a great gain over our first group.
Two Of the new ships are to be COM
pleted In thirty-two months, and the
third In thirty-three months. OF course
this is not much of showing compared
with the English ship-buildlng, which is
the fastest known: but the Indiana did
not get into commission until five years
after It's building contract was signed,
and the Massachusetts, and Oregon were
delayed still longer.
The three new ships will be the lsrg-
est 10 our navy. The Indiana class dis
place 10, 2sS tons, and the kearssrge and
illinois classes II ,525 tons each while the
Iowa displsc.s II, ,ll0. The Newport
News ship IL to be OF l2,50O tons, the
San Francisco ship OF l2.200 tons, and
the Philadelphia ship Of II, $50 tons, while
IL duplicate of the ship which the
Cramps are building for Russia be sub
stituted, this would be the largest OF all.
Yet with this difference OF 1900 tons per
ship over the Indisns Glass, and the
great increase OF speed, implying costlier
machinery, the contract prices for the
new group will average much lees, being
g., $50 600. o., $50. 900 snd o. 500 900 for
hull and machinery, against s3, ,02O, 600
each for the Indiana and Massachusetts,
and %, lSO, 900 for the Oregon. There
are also no speed premiums to pay on
the new ships.