The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-02-25
MIRACLES OF SCIENCE.
The Modern Warship Is One. of
Them.
CONSTRUCTED WITH GREAT CARE.

Specifications Must He Carried Out with
the incest Precision A Matter OF Dis
4 placement aud weight-Ths Battleship
Iowa ~ an Illustration.
| WASHINGTON. Feb. rs Especial. lit is
not easy for the landsman or the layman
to comprehend the enormous energy stored
up In q first class modern battleship or
cruiser. Nor is It easy for the uninitiated
10 understand why one Of these great bat
tleships or cruisers should cost such vast
sum OF money. During the last week or
ten days the newspapers have teemed with
statements about the construction Of ships
Of war, many Of them no doubt unintel-
ligible to the average reader who has never
had opportunity to go aboard floating
fortress and see with his own eyes her mag
nitude, the yastness and completely of her
machinery, the wonderful ingenuity dis
played by her designers and builders. Per-
| haps there Is no other mechanical con-
struction in the world which represents SO
many of the arts and practical sciences as
a modern war vessel. Metallurgy, chem
istry, explosives, electricity in all their
amazing development and combinations
| are found within the walls of a ship, along
| with engineering, both steam and con-
structive, ship architecture, and the very
highest form Of pure mechanics,
Displacement and Weight.
One of the peculiar features of naval de-
signing and construction is that every
ounce OF weight that goes into the great
ship must be calculated before q blow Is
struck or piece of iron or steel forged. Dis
placement and weights are the two factors
which the naval architect must always
have In mind Every plan and every de-
tail must bend to fit the two factors of
prime mportance-must fit, not merely
approximately but to the pound. 1t is an
exact science, this, and when it is not ex-
act IL Is a failure
Let us take as an example a vessel like
the first class seagoing battleship Iowa.
The Iowa Is the latest, largest and most
formidable, all things considered, of all
our naval craft. She is literally floating
island of steel, buoyant fortress carrying
guns OF vast dimensions and terrible pow
er. Try to fix in the mind her dimen-
sions. She Is 800 feet long. Take the
tallest building or factory chimney you
know, imagine the Iowa stood ON end and
compare the two. Or take as a basis of
comparison some building whose dimen-
sions you are familiar with. A building
800 feet long, 72 feet wide and "A feet or
three stories high is good deal of struc-
ture, Is IL not? Well, that Is the Iowa.
Remember that this huge structure Is !
built throughout of iron and steel. Once !
l stood with a landsman looking at one of |
these leviathans of the SEQ, and he said
1T has always struck me as odd that |
when modern man wants to build ship |
he selects materials which will not float. (
The savage took for his bodybuilding ma
terials things which could not sink. But |
man takes steel and iron, which are many
times heavier than water"
Why Steel Ships Do Not Sink.
1t does look little odd at first glance,
but OF course the explanation is simple.
Although sea water weighs only "a pounds
to the cubic foot and steel weighs 400 |
pounds, it Is easy to take cubic foot of
steel, roll or beat it out thin, form it into
a boat and make it carry upon the water
not only itself, but tons of weight besides.
This Is due to the displacement of water
secured by the form given the metal. This
Is the first thing the naval designer starts
with-the size and form of the ship. Then
he figures her displacement up to the de-
sired water line-so many cubic feet of
|
why it is necessary TO calculate with such
accuracy every beam, plate and bolt that
goes into her-the completed whole must
weigh just SO much, no more and no less |
Accordingly the weight Of every single
thing must be known in advance-the
armor, the turrets, the great guns, tho
steel decks, ribs and plates, the boilers and
engines, all the machinery and appliances
literally everything from the hundreds
of tons of coal carried in the bunkers down
TO the brass pegs upon which the captain is
to hang his uniform in his private locker.
Not only this, but the location Of every
pound must be known in advance and
reckoned with. A pound is merely a
pound at the very center of the ship
over the keel--but it is differ
ent factor to be dealt with the farther it is
placed away from the center, increasing in
Importance with the distance All this
must be taken into consideration, not only
in the construction, to get the necessary
strength, but in trimming the ship" SO
that she is perfectly balanced and her wa
ter line when launched and equipped shall
not vary hairbreadth from the theoretical
position.
The Battleship Iowa.
Still using the battleship Iowa as an H.
lustration, her total weight when ready
for sea was ii, 410 tons. Then it was de-
termincd the ship should have speed of
10 knots per hour and to produce the H.
600 horsepower required the bureau of
steam engineering demanded 1919 tons of
weight. Thus the weights were parceled
OUT, 915. 30 tons for the hull itself and
fitting; 1,O26 tons for the 40 guns and
their equipment; 1853 tons for boats, spars,
furniture, etc.; 1853 tons for electric light
ing, chains, anchors, etc. asia tons for
armor, and 625 tons for coal. This left
margin OF 231.5 tons for contingencies.
These facts give but faint idea of the
difficulties with which naval constructors
must contend. They must make no mis-
take, for mistakes ruin reputation, and in
a ship costing $4,000, 900, are pretty costly.
The wonder Is that human skill has reach
ed such state of Development such per-
feet mastery over materials and combina-