The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-25
THE NEW BATTLEsHIPs.
Description of the Two Powerful
Fighting Machines.

!
lucky; there are even larger armored
! cruisers in the British navy such as the
| splendid cruisers Powerful ana Terrible,
! yet it is doubtful whether any prudent ra-
| val commander. even leaving out of his
| calculations that great factor represented
1 by the superb fighting qualities of the
/ American sailor would care to venture
! 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 offensive and defensive war
fare as the great game of naval strife
! would be played on the coast line of the
! United States. Into their broad hulIs are
| packed all of the engine power, the armor
and the ordnance that the highest scien-
tSdc ability is able to concentrate in
floating structure that is able to seek q
! base of operation, a supply of fuel and
! ammunition and an opportunity to neal
| wounds received in battle Larger ships
| those of deeper draft necessarily, may not
! enter nor attack our ports at fighting
| range and this consideration was always
| kept In mind by Chief Constructor Hen
born when the Kearsarge and the Ken
| NNNhS were ptdiAleu i nat Is the eNRt9na-
| ton of the fact-a new one in naval Ge-
| sign-that these ships, with a displacement
| OF Los tons, draw only % feet inches of
water, less than the armored cruisers New
York and Brooklyn, which would not COM
! bined, be equal in combat to one of the
battleships. Light draft on heavy dis
placement is only one of the many valu-
able qualities of the battleships, though
by no means the least. Save the Indiana
class they carry the heaviest batteries in
accord with modern naval practice, and
with primary batteries fully equal to that
class they mount secondary guns in such
fashion as to make the combina ton 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
command the sea from either bow straight
astern. These are of 13-inch cali5er.
yet the British navy now confines its suns
to Pinch. In inches the difference
seems small yet the American gun has
about p per cent. more power.
Al this point in the armament of the
ships the American designers have en-
parked i'm bold and enterprising expert
ment, the result of which will be awaited
with interest by the whole maratime
world. Instead of descending at one
move from the heavy primary battery to
N-AS SiiAeii-NetlibtI tdpiu-hAS guns d. iS
done i'm the case of cruisers, it has become
the custom of naval architects to inter
pose battery of medium caliber guns, six
or eight-inch guns for instance, and these
are placed in smaller independent turrets
about the ship. 1t occurred to the Amer
lean designers that If they could dispense
with the weighty and space consuming |
machinery attached to these turrets, such
as the turning engines and machinery, in
dependent ammunition 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 be car
ried. They solved the problem by rightly |
attaching the smaller turrets, each con- |
tanning two S-inch rifles, 20 the top
of the big lS-inch turrets. The plan
had another advantage than weight-sav-
ing. Theoretically, it tended TO a terrible |
concentration of the fire of the ship
Probably the craft does not float that |
would survive the awful impact from the |
four guns of one of these combined tur- |
rets upon one small section of its hun,
and because they are trained in unison |
their projectiles must strike close together. |
With this saving in weight the designers
were able to give splendid armor protec- |
ton to the ships. All of this armor is of
Harve yized nickel-steel, of American in |
Vention. and the best i'm the world up to
this date, as is shown by the many Euro
ptdH euOIAS 10 SQudl II ny OtueI processes
of manufacture. Moreover, it is skilfully
disposed, so as to make every ounce of
steel count for the protection of the crew.
The big turrets are seventeen inches thick
in front, diminishing in thickness to ff-
teen inches in the rear, where they are
less liable to be struck because in action
the guns are supposed always to be turn
ed towards the enemy. The smaller tur-
rets above for like reason, vary in
thickness from eleven to nine inches. To
make sure no stray shot strikes the am
munition hosts leading from the maya
zines to the turrets the former are en-
closed in tubes of hardened steel fifteen
inches in thickness. Mounted in this fash
ion the guns are almost invulnerable from
the S-inch rifles mounted high in alI
with good range and capable of piercing
the walls of most armored ships at fight |
ing quarters. to the big 13-inch guns
| that can project their armor- piercing shot
dozen miles across the sea-
The combination battery is supplemented
by a numerous auxiliary battery of small
Ter guns perched on every convenient
point of the superstructure. All are rapid
fire or machine guns, for the navy de-
partment has proflted by the lessons
| taught in the Chiuo-Japanese war of the
terrible power of guns of this type. About
four motions suffices to load, discharge
and reload one of these guns, and in ra-
the ordinary navy breech- loading guns.
The largest are 5-inch calibre, four
teen in all, sheltered behind six inch
steel walls and separated one from another
| by 2-inch steel walls to minimize the
effects Of an exploding shell in any COM
partment. Then there are six FOUNDERS,
one Founders and Gatlings, mainly for the
warm reception of hostile torpedo boats
| or to clear a deck or an open portfolio or
! earthwork. To facilitate this some of the
machine guns are placed high in the mill
| tary tops where they can rain bullets down
| below. To protect the hull which carries
| all of this offensive power. 1879 inches
of armor is placed along the sides, dip
| ping four feet below the water line, and
numerous heavy bulkheads are disposed
! to prevent any shot that may enter from
J traversing. The engines. the vitals of the
| ship, are covered by an arched steel deck
| two and three-quarter inches thick. placed
1 on an angle calculated to defect and throw
| upward any projectile.
Under that deck lies 10000-horse power
| of boilers, engines and other machinery
| ca Dable of pushing the vast huh through