The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-03-25

There are larger battleshps afloat on
the ocean than the twin sisters kearsarge
and Kentucky; there are even larger ar
mored cruisers in the British navy. such as
the splendid cruisers Powerful and Terri
BILE, yet 1t is doubtful whether any pru-
dent naval commander even leaving out
of his calculations that great factor repre-
scented by the superb fighting qualities o.
the American sailor, would care 10 venture
a hostile meeting with one of the steel
bulldogs OF the seas, for the new American
battleships embody in their design and
construction the highest development up to
this drte in offensive aud defensive warfare
as the great game OF naval STRIFE WOULD De
played on the coast line or the uMteu
States Into their broad huils are packed
all of the engine power, the armor ana Inc
ordnance that the highest scientific ability
Is able to concentrate i'll floating slruc-
ture that is able to seek a base OF opera
tons, a supply of fuel andt ammunition
and an opportunity to heal wounds re-
ceived in battle. Larger ships. those of
| deeper draft necessarily, may not enter Or
| attack our ports at fightirG range, and this
| consideration was always kept in mind by
| Chief Constructor Hichborn when the
| Kearsarge and the Kentucky We're planned.
| That is the explanation Of the fact--a new
one in naval design-that these ships with
| a displacement of II ,525 tons, draw only
| rs feet 6 inches of water, less than the
| armored cruisers New York and Brooklyn
| which would not combined be equal ID
| combat to one of the hattleshps Light
draft on heavy displacement Is only one OF
the many valuable qualities of the battle
| ships, though by no means the least. save
| the Indiana class. they carry the heaviest
batteries in accord with modern nava
practice. aud with primary batteries fullS
equal to that class they mount secondary
| guns in such fashion as to make the com
bination almost unequaled in naval archi'
lecture. The big rifles, four in number
| are mounted in two turrets, one sweepins
the entire sea from directly ahead, full,
half way astern. the other with equa
| range, placed so as to command the Sc;
from either bow straight astern. Thes
are of thirteen inch caliher yet the British
navy now confines its guns to twelve Inch
In inches the difference seems small We
the American gun has about % per cen
more power
At this point in the armament OF tn
ships the American designers have EN-
barked In a bold and enterprising expert
ment. the result of which will be awaited
with interest by the whole maritime world
Instead OF descending at one move from
the heavy primary battery to the small
caliber rapid-fire guns, as Is done in thu
case of cruisers, 1t has become the custom
of naval architecture to nterpose bat
terry OF medium caliber guns six or eight
Inch guns. for instance. and these ar
placed In smaller independent turrets abou
the ship II occurred to the American de
signers that II they could dispense wit
the weghty and space-consuming ma
chinery attached to th~ee turrets, such a
the turning engines and machinery, inds
yendent ammunition hoist shields and III
lille. much more enigma power could b
placed in the huh OF the ship AMI murl
more armor coald be carried. They solve
the nrchlem by rigidly attaching the smalle
turrets, each containing two eisht-lnc
rifles. to the top OF the big thirteen-inc
turrets. The plan had another advantag
than weight saving Theoretically. 1
tended to n terrible concentration Of n
fire OF the ship. Probably the craft doe
not float that would survive the awful I'm