The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-03-24


ships the American designers have en-
barked in a bold and enterprising expert
ment. the result of which will be awaited
with interest by the whole marine world.
Instead of descending at one move from
the heavy primary battery to the small
calibre rapid-fire guns, as is done in the
case of cruisers. it has become the custom
of naval architects to interpose battery
of medium calibre guns, six or eight
inches for instance, and these are placed
in smaller independent turrets about the
ship. 1t occurred to the American design
ers that if they could dispose with the
weighty and space-consuming machinery
attached to these turrets, such as the
turning engine and machinery, indepen-
dent ammunition hoist shields and the
like. much more engine power could be
placed in the hull of the ship and much
more armor could be carried They soivco
the problem by attaching the smaller tur-
rets, each containing two eight-1nch guns,
to the top of the big thirteen-inch turrets.'
The plan had another advantage than
weight-saving. Theoretically. it tended
to 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
turrets upon one small section of it's hull
and because they are trained in unison
their projectiles must strike close to-
gether.
With the saving in weight, the design
ers were able to give splendid armor pro-
lection to the ships. All of this armor ii,
of Harveyized nickel-steel, of American
invention. and the best in the world up to
this date. as is shown by the many Eu
ropean efforts to equal it by other pro-
cesses of manufacture. Moreover, it is
skillfully 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 thick
ness to fifteen in the rear, where they are
less liable to be struck, because in acslvll
the guns are supposed always to be turned
toward the enemy The smaller turrets
above, for like reason, vary in ,nick-
ness from eleven to nine inches. To make
sure no stray shot strikes the ammunition
hoists leading from the magazine to the
turrets the former are encased in tubes
of hardened steel fifteen inches in thick
ness. Mounted in this fashion, the guns
are almost nvulnerable from the eight
inch rifles mounted high in air, with good
range and capable of piercing the walls
of most armored ships at fighting quar-
ters to the big thirteen-inch guns that can
project their armor-piercing shot dozen
miles across the sea.
The combination battery is supple
mented by a numerous auxiliary battery
of smaller guns perched on every con-
venient point of the superstructure. All.
are rapid-fire or machine guns, for the
Navy Department has profited by the les
sons taught in the China Japanese war of
the terrible power of guns of this type.
About motions suff1ces to load, discharge
and reload one of these guns, and in
rapidity of fire they are equal to three
of the ordinary navy breech-loading guns.
The largest are five-inch calibre, fourteen
in ALL sheltered behind six-inch steel
walls and separated one from another by
two-inch steel walls to minimize the eff
feet of an exploding she'll in any COM
partment. Then there are six-pounders,
one-pounders and Gatlings, mainly for the
warm reception of hostile torpedo boats
or to clear deck or an open portfolio or
earthwork. To facilitate this, some of
the machine guns are placed high in the
mill .ry tops, where they rain bullets
do, below To protect the hull, which
ca &. es all of this offensive power, 161s
inches of armor is placed along the sides,
dipping four feet below the water line,
and numerous heavy bulkheads are dis
posed to prevent any Shot that may enter
from traversing. The engines, the vitals
of the ship, are covered by an arched
steel deck 2s4 inches thick, placed on an
angle calculated to defect and throw up
ward any projectile
Under that deck lie 10000. horse power
of boilers, engines and other machinery
capable of pushing the vast huh through
the water at the rate of at least sixteen.
knots a good speed for a freight train
on land, and besides there are no less than
eighty smaller engines to hoist anchors,
pull up boats, drive dynamos and other
wise help the crew. The big turrets swing
noiselessly and quickly by electricity, the
largest application yet made of electric
power in this way, and everywhere in
the ship, from ,winches and ventilators to
lighting and telephone, the electric fluid
plays useful part.
The Kearsarge and Kentucky are 1868
feet in length 72 feet 5 inches beam and
90 feet 6 inches draft. They carry nor
mally A10 tons of coal, but may take
aboard 1910 tons, and 511 officers, sailors
and marines are required to navigate each
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