The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1898-05-27
COSTLY BATTLESHIP.
1T TAKES $500 A DAY TO RUN
ONE CT THESE VESSELS.

Tho Daily Expenses of the Navy Foot Up
$50, 900 Facts Which Explain Why
These Marine War Machines Cost So
Much to Maintain.
What is the average daily cost Of
maintaining first class battleship on
a war footing? One thousand FIVE
hundred dollars. A large sum of
money, but Insignificant when COM
pared with what the cost might be
in case Of action, when the conflict of
a single minute could sink the largest
ship, with her entire armament, and
require the expenditure of more than
s5,000,00 to replace her.
Reliable estimates cannot be made
when the fortunes Of war must be
taken into account, but the cost Of
maintaining our navy on its present
footing Immediately before the firing
of the first gun in actual conflict is
known. That cost is $4,000 for each
day.
For an interesting example of the
cost Of maintaining a battleship in
time of peace, when war is not even
threatening, have procured from the
records of the War Department the
cost of maintaining the New York, the
most expensive ship in our navy. The
cost for last year was 1891, ,065.60, or an
average of $1,0S6.29 per day. The va
rious items that go to make up this
total annual cost will apply for the
present purpose to our armored crui-
sers and battleships, though, of course,
varying according to constantly
changing circumstances, and now be-
ing increased by the war footing on
which our navy rests. Of the 1891, :
O65.60 spent by the New York in 1897,
$237, 1926 was for the pay Of the Off
GERS. crew and marines; rations cost
$35,542.6O; equipment, s6,S35.21; navi-
cation, $3,216.5S ordnance, $14,743.70;
construction and repair, S9,163.05;
steam engineering, s2S,26126. Then
there were incidental expenses, navy
yard repairs, medicine and surgery and
similar items.
The records show that the pay of the
officers, crew and marines of the New
York were greater than that of any
other vessel, while the rations, medi-
cine and surgery and coal accounts
were very much less.
The record Of the ill-fated Maine
is closed, though her memory is a liv-
ing inspiration, and this record shows
that the total cost Of her maintenance
for 1897 was s262,416.4S. The pay of
her survivors, and of those whose re-
mains are yet with her wreck, or have
found burial in Cuba and the United
States, was s159,126.6O.
One of these great battleships is a
floating citadel 1t is a town of five
hundred inhabitants, more securely
fortified and far better armed for Of
fence and defence than was any walled
and turreted city that has ever ex-
listed. Her steel walls can resist any
attack of guns less than her own.
When she meets similar ones then
comes Une tug OF war.
If our floating citadel is the Indiana,
for instance, we have steel walls $50
long with SO feet between them at the
widest point, holding engines of war
and propulsion of the most terrific
power, all under the control of the
highest human intelligence. This is
moving city of animate force, con-
trolled energy and inanimate strength,
that can be directed at will and its
10,288 tons moved at the rate of seven
teen miles an hour. propelled by 9,73s
horse power.
Powerful as it is, 1t must, so near
as possible resist an equal power
And what is necessary in defence is
better realized when we consider that
she may have to cope with guns that
| by the explosion of 800 pounds of pow
der, can throw single shot, weighing
| nearly ton, at the velocity of 1000
| feet per second This shot has strik-
ing energy OF $4,000 foot tons. One
foot ton is the energy required to raise
2,240 pounds one foot against gravity
Multiply that energy by $4,000 and
comprehend the result if you can.
No wonder that the maintenance OF
single ship to accomplish all that is
desired of it costs $500 each day.