The San Francisco call., 1898-06-06
NEWS OF FOREIGN NAMES.

A new netting against the attack of tor pedo boats has been tried in the British navy with satisfactory results The meshes are smaller and the rings thicker than in the Bullivant and other styles now rejected, and will be able to resist the shears of torpedo net cutters. As a pre- nmlnary the channel fleet will be supplied with this new netting.
 The Marshal Deodoro and Marshal Floriano, coast defense ships of 3162 tons, building in France for the Brazilian navy are fitted with the inclined turrets de- signed by Chief Constructor Hichborn, U. 5. N Considerable weight is saved by having the armored turret top incline at an angle whereby a thickness of inches will offer the resistance of 1O1s inches placed vertically.
 The difficulty of making the limited number of engineers suffice for the great number of ships in the British navy is be- ing overcome by the admiralty in the in- troduction of warrant rank to machinists. The plan has only been in operation since last January, but gives promise of success, and the machinists are filling the places hitherto held by commissioned officers. This leaves a surplus of assistant engin- eers available for duty in ships. A sim liar programme is proposed in the bill for the reorganization of the navy now be- fore Congress and is likely to become law.
 Attention was recently called in the House of Commons to the fact that twen- weight war vessels were in course of construction at private shipyards in Great Britain for foreign countries, and Arnold Foster desired to introduce bill making it obligatory upon the builders to relin- quish the ships to the British Government in the event of a demand to that effect. The Armstrong Company at Elswick. which is the principal builder of foreign war vessels, had, however, given it as their opinion that as soon as first pay ment had been made by the government for which ship was being built, the ves- sel became the property of that particular country and the builder had no right to turn the ship over to any other except with the consent of the contracting gov- ernment.
 European naval powers are paying much attention to armored cruisers and each country differs as to types and sizes. Since the New York and Brooklyn were built in the United States this class of vessels has been recognized as being of great value and France in the Entrecast- eauX made almost an exact copy of the New York, excepting the speed. which in the French ship is less than in the Ameri- can. Russia has built the Rurik and Ros- sia of 10,923 and F, ,130 tons and is building another of F, ,336 tons Great Britain is building four of 12,000 tons. and in France one of IF, FPS tons, with 16 200 horse power. is shortly to be begun. The ship is to be named the Suffren and will be AIS feet in length and a beam of 71 feet inches. Austria, on the other hand, does not run into mammoth dimensions, but contents rrrifh 1f horse power, to have speed of 20 knots.
 Armor-piercing projectiles in the British navy are put to very severe tests before being accepted from the contractor In the first place they must be of forged and hardened steel, annealed at least 1900 de- grees Fahrenheit after forging. Before the ballistic test the projectile is tested for initial strain by being cooled to 40 de- grees and plunged into water at 1S0 to PIP degrees and again cooled off to 40 de- grees. The next trial is by subiecting the interior of the shell to a hydraulic pres- sure of 300 pounds to the square inch The nnai test Is their ability to penetrate ar- nor, and two projectiles are taken at ran- dom from the lot to be accepted and fired with velocity of 1500 feet per second against steel plate in thickness one and one-eighth the caliber of the shot If two out Of three projectiles pass through plate and wood backing without material cracks or Reformation the lot is accepted. Other alternative tests are to penetrate a nickel-steel oil-tempered and annealed ar nor plate 41a inches thick for S-inch 5s4 inches for 10-inch and ' inches for a l2- inch shell. With a striking velocity of 900 foot seconds two out of three shells must pass through without breaking up or be- ing materially deformed