The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-04-13
Our Navy in a Nutshell.

N'o''J u vi IuC SCNOu0
class, two armored cruisers, Is cruisers,
ID gunboats, six double turreted moni-
tors, one ram, one dynamite boat, one
dispatch boat, one transport and eight
torpedo boats.
The Iowa weighs nearly II. 900 tons,
and as ~ tons is the average load of Il
freight car and II cars is a good load
Tor Il locomotive engine, it would take
80 locomotives to haul the great steel
structure.
The powder used is brown and in
chunks the size Of a caramel. \ chargc
for the biggest guns weighs 800 pounds
and is hoistcd to the brccch by IL der
rick, the powder being scwcd up in
burlap bags.
Arlnor plates are tested by firing
steel rrojcctilcs WEIGHING from 100 to
800 pounds at them from guns charg-
cd with 800 pounds Of powder and at
Il distance Of about il city block.
nn. hat.l"sh;rs have Il sliced 0f
from - to II knots an hour. Cruisers
make ~ to ~ knots, while the mont
tors can travel only five to seven knots.
The biggest guns in the navy are -
feet long, big enough for a man to
crawl into: I feet in diameter at their
largest part and weigh 30, 800 pounds
or whereabouts.
There are six rcar admirals in active
service. The Offices Of vice admiral
and admiral are untitled, 50 there is no
head Of shc navy excepting Secretary
Long.
B~arnaclcs form on the hull Of Il ship,
impeding its speed. \ six months
cruise will decrease the speed Of Il
ship IL per cent, and must go into
dry dock.
Sixty-onc merchant vessels belong
to the auxiliary navy. These ships
are subsidized and by contract must
be given to the United States on de-
mand.
Some Of the guns in the navy car
fire a shot 20 miles, farther than a man
can see, for the guns are aimed and
sighted by machinery.
The mount expended by the navy
department in 1897 was $34, 361 $40.
This is a larger sum than has been cx-
pended in any year since 1866.
In Il battle the woodwork and all ar
ticlcs of wood arc either slowed below
or thrown overheard lest the men be
injured by splintcrs.
The origin Of the navy department
may be said to date from October 13,
1775. when Congress authorized 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.
Battleships cost from = $500, 900 to
$780, 600, and cruisers from $500, 600
to 3 1000, 900. A good torpedo boat
costs over STU, UUO.
Battlchips are for the heavy work;
cruisers are commerce %destroycrs; mon
isors are useful only for coast defense.
The Indiana could lie outside Sandy
Hook and throw 1%,200.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. Smokclcss powder is
used.
All Of the cruisers arc named in
honor Of cities, and the battlcships,
except the Kcarsage, in honor of
States.
The "grog' ration was abolished in
1888, and since then the crew has been
forbidden to drink while on duty.
Marines are the police on board
ship. Originally they were employed
to prevent mutiny among the sailors.
The guns Of a battlcship can carry
from Is to II miles. hurting a shot
weighing half a ton.
Only 10 per cent. Of the enlisted
men are Americans, and a smaller per-
ccntage yet are native born.
Projcctilcs thrown by naval guns
are shaped much as the bullets shot
by the ordinary rifle.
\ big hattleshir has on board All
electric plant capable Of lighting Il
town Of 5000 inhabitants.
The boilers of the Iowa have ii heat
ing surface of eight acres and hold 80
tons Of water.
Great Britain has 294 torpcdoes and
torpcdo-boat dcstroycrs. Uncle San,
has only eight.
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