Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-25

but may take aboard 1102 tons, and 511
officers, sailors and marines are re-
quired to navigate each Of them.
The plans on which the vessels were
constructed are a combination of the
battleships Iowa and Massachusetts
type, they are considerably larger, and
by the arrangement of the gun mounts
in the forward and aft turrets. the con-
centrated fire from their rifles will
pierce the armor Of any ship that floats
at some miles distant The ships are
equipped with many improvements
which are not to be found in any other
vessels. The torpedo outfits in these
ships have not, as in many others, been
placed in the bow and stern These
outfits We're tried in the other vessels,
and not only proved unsuccessful, but
dangerous, and the government spent
more than $15000O removing them. Both
vessels will mount more and larger
guns than any ship now in commits
sion, and will be so arranged as to give
the ships broadside fire of wide eX-
tent, the strains and pressures being
equally distributed.
The main batteries in the ships will
contain four 13-inch and four 8-inch
guns of the most modern pattern. These
guns will be mounted in two two
story turrets of hardened steel. one
placed forward on the forecastle deck,
the other aft. The guns will have a
radius Of fire of nearly 270 degrees. The
8-inch guns will be mounted in the up
per or smaller turrets, While the 49,
inch guns will be placed in the lower
turrets. They will revolve simultane-
ously. The secondary batteries will
consist of IA 5-inch rapid-fire guns of
the latest type, with an auxiliary bat
terry of 26-pounders, six one-poun Ter
rapid-tire rifles, four Gatlings and one
field piece The 5-incgl guns are mount
ed seven on each side, behind a solid
steel wall six inches thick, on the spar
deck. They are separated from each
other by dividing walls of steel six
inches thick, to prevent a bursting shell
or damage to one gun from affecting or
spreading to another. The six-pounders
are mounted on the berth deck and on
the superstructure above the 5-inch ri
tles Their only protection is the steel
shields carried on each gun mount
The one-pounders and the Gatlings are
mounted in the fighting tors of the mil
itary masts. In addition to these, the
vessels will be fitted with four broad
side torpedo equipments placed two on
each side abaft the turret lines. The
upper turrets, in which the 8-inch guns
are mounted, are nine inches thick, in
creased at the openings to II inches.
The lower turrets are is inches thick,
excepting at the front, where the face
plates are two inches heavier, To pen-
citrate the turrets a shot must strike
squarely with a driven force Of 10000
foot-tons. One of the important fea-
lures of the vessels is the battery Of
5-inch guns. Each of the rifles will
have a rapidity of six shots a minute.
These guns are intended to destroy the
lighter armor of an enemy and riddle
the unprotected parts with high eXplo-
sive shells
The vessels will be heavily armored.
The hulls are protected by a hardened
steel armor belt placed on the water
line between the two turrets. 1t is
71a feet wide. From the after end Of
the belt, running ia feet forward, the
armor has a thickness of 1872 inches at
the top and 91a inches at the lower
edge, which is four feet below the water
line. Two bulkheads athwardship, one
forward and one aft, turn inboard at
the ends of the heavy armor. They
terminate against the heavy barbettes
which rise from the protective deck,
and on which turrets are mounted.
The forward bulkhead is 10 inches
thick while the one aft is two inches
thicker. A protective deck runs the
whole length of h ships from bow to
stern. Over that portion of the ships
in which the engines and boilers are