New-York tribune., 1898-01-23

BINE SYSTEM BEING MADE on THE
sTuETTo-ADvANCE OF WORK on
THE BIG DRYDOCK.
Little OF interest beyond the regular routine
work and the advancement Of the drydock re-
pairs has occurred al the Navy Yard in the
last week The Massachusetts is the only one
- the fleet at the yard and she will not get
away before tie first Of next month. Workmen
are stlM hammering away al the Chicago. the
Atlanta and the Dolphin. the latter being In the
ttone dock hut the outward apI earancc OF the
vessels has undergone no change. A peculiar
feature Of the construction Of the Alarm. the
funny-looking ram which adorned the Whitney
BASIN for 50 long. and which bore the signif-
cant name of "Porters folly" was made plain
yesterday. when one Of her boilers was sub
tected % a hydraulic test. standing 4 pressure
Of eighty pounds 10 the square inch. This was
considered a -emarkab ble result as the doorplate
on the boiler bore the name Of John Roach &
Sons and the date 1873. How that small craft
held the four big boilers which were taken out
Of her 10 say nothing Of an enormous coil Of
steam piping and a big suIerheaier, is a prob
lem 70 those versed in the various ways Of get
ting UP steam arl packing lot Of machinery
into a small space They are nearly two-thirds
the size q the boilers which are TO be put into
the Chicago vessel big enough TO stow the
Alarm away In her coal hunkers. The test
made yesterday showed that they were we'll
built. and had stood firmly against the evil ef-
fects n dleness and rust.
EXPERIMENTS ON THE sTILETTO.
The little torpedo-boat stilettois rapidly hecom-
ing one Of the most important Of the small boats
o. the Navy. ana = now even more prominent
than some Of the big ones The reason for TINS
is that with this boat have been carried out ex-
peTlments which are expected 70 have wide and
powerful effect on all the ships Of the Navy
These experiments have been made TO determine
the adaptabillty Of liquid fuel 10 naval purposes
END have been declared complete success as
'ar as he small boats are concerned. whether
tie fue can be used on the large boats is as ye'
problem but as II can be used 10 advantage.
both In the line Of heat production and economy
OF space on the small ones. Il seems 70 laynel
who have looked into the matter that II VIII
not require much inventive skill 20 make wha'
gives saving IN The little fellows give much
larger saving in the boats which carry great
guns. In addition 70 the tests with oil as fueI
the stilet:o is now 10 be used as trial boat FOL
the turbine system Of propulsion Chief En-
gineer Melville having received authority tc
carry on the experiments. The turbine IN
vented by Mr.. Curtis is 10 be tried. ana Inc
experts are Of the opinion that 1t VIII give ehur'
satisfaction. The domestic turbine is SAID 10 O'
In a remarkable degree superior to the machih'
which has given such remarkable speed 70 Tor
eign torpedo boats. 1t is said 10 have TWO RAD
ical advantages over the Parsons turbine th'
chief or which is It's ability 10 reverse, the otne
being limited u going ahead or stopping lh'
American machine runs at the rate OF 90 rsNo
iutCns minute, and VIII differ from the Par
sons in The matter OF blades. the latter haVint
three blades on account Of the difficulty o
catching the water at high speed win ON!
two.
Captain Merrill Miller Of the Vermont ha
been iuyestiga ing certain alleged iTTegularitie
In the purchase Of supplies for the Marine Bar
rackf IN Flushing ave. The Captain, with Lieu
tenant Commander j. ID. j. Kelley, former1y % o
the Texas. as Judge advocate, has been consli
fpted court Of inquiry, and the sessions oeiof