The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-05-30
ANOTHER WAR ENGINE.
Battleship Illinois Will Be Launched
June 10.

Newport News, Va, May S0.-Work on
the frame of the battleship Illinois IS pc
she will be ready for launching on the
10th of next month.
of the mightiest fortresses af1oat. Accord
ing to the terms of the contract she WouId
not be ready for transfer to the govern
ment for about a year, but it is consider
ed probable that an arrangement VIII be
an enemy several months earlier than
that ,,,,..o,a ono 81, Fol
lows: Length on load water line, 1868 feet;
beam, extreme, 72 feet 5 inches; draft on
normal displacement, % feet inches; nor
NAL displacement, n,525 tons; maximum
displacement s All ammunition a91 nsteS
horse power (estimated) 10000; maximum
SpIG0 coal supplv. 40 tons: maximum coal
supply, bunkers full, 1,2l0 tons; compile
The power to meet any enemy will be
centered effectively in the twenty-five
guns forming the main and AUXILIARY, pat Pat,
battery, four 13-inch breech-loading rifles
iIiarv battery, fourteen 5-fnch rapid fire
For the purpose of resisting torpedo
boat attack and enfilading the open decks
or unprotected gun stations of an enemy;
twenty 6-pounders, six 1-pounders and
four Gatling guns will keep up a destruct-
i've fire. and woe to the venturesome small
tighter The 13-inch and S-inch guns will
be found in two7story gun turrets; 1 me
The whole structure will have a total
will be pointed in the same general direc-
ton and swung from side to side by the
great turning gear engaging the lower
The S-inch guns will be sheltered behind
augmented to eleven inches at the. front.
The 13-inch guns will be covered by M
at the front. where there is an added thick
ness of two inches To pierce the walls
strike them from a distance of 100 yards
will all the pent up energy equal to car
rying that shot fully thirteen miles
rapid fire guns will be mounted in the su-
sgu 1IT viii be composed of hard
ened steel, six inches thick, and 1t Is as
ever Ti RI get ,'' through ire that buiwark Each
gun station will be separated from the adj
Joining gun by a two-inch wall Of steel
shot and bursting sheel may be localized.
Each of these guns will have a service
minute The 6-pounders will be mounted
aft. The rest Of them will be placed in
the superstructure above the singh guns,
range of fire. The 1-pounders and the
GatIings will be placed on the bridges and
up in the military tops. To feed all these
guns the Illinois will carry 500 tons of am
The water line region of the sides will
be protected from attack by a broad band
of 1612-inch armOr running along the sides
tapering thence to 4 inches at the stern.
This belt is ~ feet wide and under nor
water line. AT the extremities of the
thickest part athwartship bulkheads will
turn inward and end against barbettes or
heavy tubes of 15-inch steel. which will
rise from the protective deck, and will
shield the ammunition hoists and turning
gear of the turrets. The forward bulk
head will be 10 inches thick and the after
u. A protective deck of hardened steel
2A inches thick will rest on the floor walls
formed by the thwartship bulkheads. and
the inner edge of the inlaid side armOr.
Under the protecting shelter of this heavy
roof and many feet of coal will lie the en-
gines, the boilers, the magazines and the
shell rooms-the "vitals," in fact, of the
ship.
from stem to stern and back of the 5-inch
armor, which will protect the sides amid
ships from the heavy armor belt up to
the main deck, and automatically plug all
tive deck covering the vitals will be run
slantingly to the bow and the stern. and
murderous ram which will lie just below
Two sets of triple-expansion engines,
each in its own watertight compartment,
will actuate the twin screws, While five
great boilers, each sustaining a pressure
of $50 pounds of steam, will supply the en-
turn the screws 100 times a minute.
The turrets will be turned and con-
will bring the ammunition from it's store
rooms to the breeches of all the large
guns-the 6-pounders and less excepted.
Each mast will be fitted with it's own sig
nal outfit, and the lower half of each mast
will form a vast wind pipe down which
fresh air will be drawn to the depths of
the craft
Eighty-odd auxiliary engines will reduce
the tax upon the muscular energies of the
by handling and lowering the boats, rails
ings the anchors, loading the coal, dis
charging the ashes, bringing the shot,
shell and powder from the depths below