The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1898-04-23
Three Great Battle-Ships.
From Harper's Weekly.

advancing toward the time OF Launching,
and by the fall they will be ready to be put
in the water These vessels are provided
for by act Of Congress approved June 10,
1896, the Illinois going to the Newport
News Ship building Company for 81, $685.
900, the Alabama, for 81, $50, 900, going
to Cramps and the Wisconsin, for 81
GA, $50, going to the Union Iron Works
Of San Francisco
The ships combine structurally the best
features of the Iowa and the Kearsarse,
having the high freeboard of the former
and the moderate draught Of the latter
As the vessels are sister ships, de-
scription of one applies equally to the
others, and the principal dimensions and
general features are-length OH load water
line, 36S feet; beam, extreme, Y feet 2.5
inches; freeboard forward, 10 feet 6 inches;
freeboard aft, 13 feet inches; normal
displacement, ,525 tons; draught at
normal displacement, % feet inches; load
displacement, II, $50 tons; draught at load
displacement, "a feet Z 5 inches; maximum
indicated horse power (estimated) 10, 900;
speed (estimated), 1 6 knots; normal coal
supply, 500 tons; total bunker capacity
1900 tons; complement, 400.
These ships are the most formidable
battle-ships we have yet designed, and in
the powers of offence and defence are the
equal, if not the superior, of many Euro
pean vessels of greater displacement.
The main battery will consist of four 3
inch breech- loading rifles, supplemented by
fourteen 6-inch rapid fire guns. The 13
inch guns are mounted in two balanced
barbette turrets of 15-inch Harveyized
steel-the defensive equivalent of twenty
two inches of ordinary steel-while the
face plates about the gun-ports are two
inches thicker These turrets turn through
arcs of 27O degrees, and all four guns can
be concentrated upon point about sixty
feet off the ships beam on either side.
Each one of these guns fires hardened
steel shot of 100 pounds, with an impulse
of 33, 627 foot-tons. 1t takes a vivid
imagination indeed to foresee the conse-
quences of four such shot planted on a
single point Nothing could withstand
that stroke within even the long range of
modern warfare.
The barbettes, within which are located
the vital mechanism for these guns, and
also their ammunition hoists, are Of hard
ened steel Is inches thick, and rise solidly
from the foundation Of the heavy protective
deck up to about four feet above the decks
on which the turrets lie.
The battery Of rapid fire 6-inch guns is
placed on the main and the upper decks.
-Four Of them, in two heavily armored cit
adels amidships, hold commanding positions
on the upper decks, while the remaining
twelve, also behind six inches Of armOr,
are divided into two batteries-four amid
ships and one well forward on each side.
Splinter bulkheads of steel an inch and Il
half thick separate the gun stations one
from another, and heavy shields prevent
the admission of shot through the ports.
These guns will have an individual rate Of
fire Of five aimed shots a minute, each shot
weighing 90 pounds and capable Of pierre
ing. undeformed, through a trife over
eight inches of steel 1900 yards distant,
\ secondary battery, consisting princi
pally Of sixteen 6-pounders, is disposed ad
vantageously ON the main-deck well for
ward. on the bcrh-deck we'll aft, and upon
the superstructure and bridges where
promising the most effective service against
torpedo craft and the exposed positions Of
an enemy's decks. These guns can be
fired quite ten times minute
Protection to the null is provided by Il
Il foot water-line belt-half under water
at normal draught-reaching from abreast
the after-turret forward to the stem.
From point abreast the after-turret to
another abreast the forward one this armor
has maximum thickness of l61 inches
thence it tapers gradually to 4 inches at
the stem. At each end of the heavy belt
athwartships bulkheads of hardened steel
II inches thick reach from side to side and
oppose raking fire. On top of these walls
rests the main body Of the protective deck,
% inches thick \ continuation Of this
protective deck, inches thick, runs slant
ingly to the bow and to the stern, to points
below water.
Above the water-line belt, throughout
the range of its heaviest part, the sides are
re re-enforced by 59 inches of steel, reaching
up to the upper deck, also running athwart-
ships like the thicker belt, and it is through
this armor that the amidship 6-inch guns
and the two torpedo tubes on each side are
worked \ complete band of cernpith
cellulose binds the ship from bow to stern
lust above the line of the water-line armor
belt
There are two armored fighting posi-
tions, the forward one being just below the
pilot-hOuse and abaft the bow tuTet, the
after one Just abaft the mainmast and up
in the superstructure. The forward one
will be 10 inches thick, and there the cap
tain will control his ship in action, and the
after one will be 6 inches thick. and Il
position for either the admiral or the signal
officer during conflict
The ships will have twin screws, driven
by two sets of powerful triple e-expansion
engines.
One great central electric power plant
will provide for the control of the turrets
and all ammunition hoists, while a supple
mentary plant will furnish the energy for
the electric signals and the great search
lights. Wood has been used sparingly,
and all of it will be re-proofed
The ship that can live against that
minutes broadside of $40 pounds of
hardened steel, hurtled by any one Of these
vessels and we'll aimed, must be stronger
than any of those yet fashioned.