Sistersville oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1896-1901, 1898-03-16
WAR PREPARATIONS
The Purchase of the Brazilian
War Ships Confirmed.
USEFUL ADDITIONS
To the United States Navy,
Either in War or Peace.
USEFUL ADDITIONS
They are Very Formidable Vessels and
Very Speedv-FOrtifcati Guns TO
be Mounted ON Disappearing Carri.
ages.

washington, ~. -, hdiCu
Conditions appear to be quieter on
the surface at the navy department
today. Probably this was because
Secretary Long, Capt. Crownin-
SHIELD, chief of the navigation bu-
reau, Engineer-in-chief Melville,
and other leading bureau officials OF
the department, were called to the
capitol during the forenoon to in
form the appropriations committee
of the needs of the naval service in
the matter of legislation. In the
various bureaus, however, there was
hum of industry, and the work
progressed as necessarily and stead
lily as for the past two weeks.
The recruiting branch of the navy
department is naturally one of the
biggest branches of the service just
Tow. 1t is in the temporary COM
mand of Captain Hemphlll during
the absence in the south of Captain
Hawley and he was busy today with
Representatives of the railroads en-
gagged in arranging for terms for
transportation of recruits to the sea-
board and of sailors already in the
service from one port to another
made by the commission of new
ships. A problem that confronts
the recruiting Office is to procure
the necessary force of enlisted men
for manning the two ships which
have been purchased from Brazil,
the Amazons and the Admiral Breu.
The officers of the navigation
bureau are making all arrangements
for the speediest possible delivery
of the two ships on this side OF the
Atlantic. 1t probably will require
about 25o men for each ship and
the question is whether these men
shall be hired abroad in England
under special arrangements for the
one trip or whether regular crews
shall be sent out from the United
States to bring them home. The
first method is undoubtedly the
quickest, but it will not be available
lin case there should be an open rup
ture before the completion OF the
two ships
The two Brazilian vessels will De
extremely useful additions to the
United States navy. They areSteel
sheathed aud coppered, with twin
screws, and will be the first Of the
cruisers in Our navy to embody that
most useful feature of naval con-
lstruction, sheathing, fox which
Chief Constructor Hichborn has
worked earnestly for many years.
| He finally succeeded in having
some Of the smaller gun boats con-
structed on this principle. The
Amazonas is rated at $500 tons
displacement, with an indicated
horsepower under natural draught
al :, 500, which is calculated 10 de-
velop twenty knots speed. Thus
while the ship is about the size of
the Charleston, she is much faster.
| Her armament is also much more
formidable, not so much in calibre, |
for the main battery is made up Of
six six-iuch guns, but these guns
as we'll as the 4 ! inch guns are of
what is known as fifty calibres
length, giving them unusual range
and power. In addition they have
ten 6-pounder quick firing guns, |
six one-pounders, four Maxim ma
chine guns and two boat or field
guns. The torpedo tubes are three
in number. The total capacity IS i
$50 tons. giving the ship an efec.
tive steaming radius OF s, 900 knots,
most valuable feature. inasmuch |
as it would enable the ship to cross
and recross the Atlantic without