The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-04-09

OUR NAVY IN 4 NUTSHELL
The strengtA, speeA Ana Number 81
United states hattie ships.
Chicago Times-Herald-
The United States Is the hfth naval
Britain. Francs, Russia and I;a-y rank
ahead In the order named Germany and
the United States are about tied.
Our present effective fighting force
consists of four battle ships OF the first
class, one battle ship OF the second class,
two armoeed cruisers. eighteen cruisers.
fifteen gun boats. six double turreted
monitors. one ram. one dynamite gun
boat. one dispatch boat. one transport
and eight torpedo bots
The Iowa weighs nearly 1000 tons. and
as twenty tons Is the average load or
freight car and twelve cars is good
load for locomotive engine, 1t would
take fifty locomotives to haul the great
steel structure.
chunks the size Of caramel. A Charge
for the biggest guns weighs 800 pounds
and Is hoisted TO the breech by derrick,
the powder being sewed up in bur.ap
bags.
Armor plates are tested by firing steel
projectiies Weighing from 100 TO 1850
pounds at them from guns charged with
500 pounds of powder and at a distance
OF about city block.
Our battle ships have . speed OF from
fifteen to seventeen knots an hour. Cruis-
ers make nineteen to twenty-four knots.
while the monitors can travel only five
to seven knots.
The biggest guns In the navy are forty
nine feet long. big enough for man to
crawl into; four feet in diameter at their
largest part ard weigh 1880 pounds or
tfereabouts.
There are six rear admirals in active
service. The Offices of vice admiral and
admiral. are untitled, so there is no head
Of the navy excepting Secretary Long
Barnacles form on the hun of ship,
impeding its speed. A six months cruise
will decrease the speed of a ship Is per
cent. and IT must go into dry dock.
Sixty-one merchant vessels belong to
the auxiliary navy. These ships are SUBJ
sidized and by contract must be given
to the United States on demand.
Some Of the guns In the navy can fire
a shot twelve miles, farther than man
can see. for the guns are aimed and
sighted by machinery.
The amount expended by the navy de-
partment In 1897 was $s4, S.. 5a6. This Is a
larger sum than has been expended in
any one year since 1885,
In a battle the woodwork and a.. arti-
cles OF wood are either slowed below or
thrown overheard lest the men be in
jured by splinters.
The origin OF the navy department may
be said. to date from October ID. 1s75.
when congress authorised the equipment
Of two cruisers.
The fastest vessels In the navy are the
torpedo boats Porter and Dupont, each
of which can travel 27.5 knots an hour.
Battle ships cost from two and one
half million to three and three-quarter
million dollars and cruisers from 100000
to three million dollars. A good torpedo
boat costs over 100000
Battle ships are for the heavy work;
cruisers are commerce destroyers, monf-
tors are usefu. only for coast defense.
The Indiana could lie outside Sandy
Hook and throw 1,a0-pound shots into
New York at the rate of four a minute.
Those artists who show smoke In their
pictures OF naval battles are wholly
wrong. Smokeless powder il used.
AL Of the cruisers are named in honor
OF cities. and the battle ships. except the
Kearsarge. in honor of states.
The '.grog' ration was abolished in 1863.
ana since then the crew has been forbid
den to drink while on duty.
Marines are the police on board ship.
mutiny among the sailors.
Tho guns of a battle ship can carry
from six to twelve miles. hurting a shot
weighing half a ton.
Only 60 per cent of the enlisted men
are Americans. and a smaller percentage
yet are native born.
ProjectileS thrown by naval guns are
shaped much as the bullets shot by the
ordinary rife.
A big battle ship has on board an cleo
trio plant capable Of lighting town OF
5000 inhabitants.
The boilers Of the Iowa have a heating
surface OF eight acres and hold thirty
tons OF water.
treat Britain has 2e4 torpedoes and tor
pedo-boat destroyers: Uncle Sam has only
eight.
Five hundred and twenty-six men and
forty officers are required to man the
cruiser New York.
Battle ships are covered with armor Of
nickel steel from FIVE to seven inches
thick.
We have four armored battle ships
the Indiana, Iowa. Massachusetts and
Texas.
A submarine torpedo boat to be known
as the Plunger is now under construc-
ton.
At present the total enlisted force OF
the naval militia Is $50 officers and men.
Behind the heavy armor there Is a pad
ding of either corn pith or cocoa husks.
1t costs $500 every time one Of the big
guns on board ship Is fired.
rhe Brooklyn and the New York are
our armored cruisers.
Sailors are paid from $3.50 to $ii.5o per
month and board.
An act OF congress In fsI2 abolished
fiogging In the navy.
The American navy has practically all
been built since 1883.
A captain in the navy ranks with coll
cnel I'm the army.
The oldes, iron vessel is the Michigan,
built in 1SA
Five battle ships are now under con-
etruction.
We have the only ram-the Katahdin.
The ships are painted white.