The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-05-04
RUSHING WORK
ON ALABAMA
One of Uncle Sans Finest New
WarShipS Nearly Ready.
FIGHTING STATIONS OF STEEL
The Hull viii Be Protected by Water-Line
Belt of l6 Inches in Thickness-1he
Crew viii Number Five
Hundred Men.

Philadelphia, May 3.-Under orders from
the war department work is being rushed
on the Alabama. Now on the ways at
| Cramps shipyard, she is rapidly approach
ing completion, and when finished will be
one of the king pins which uphold the
| honor of the American flag.
The Alabama will be different from the
batteships Indiana and Massachusetts,
with which those who have seen the North
| Atlantic squadron are familiar. The double
deck turrets that mark the battleshp ordi-
| narily will be missing The smokestaoks
will no longer be arranged fore and aft,
but according to the style of our English
cousins athwartship. This will remove
| the somewhat topheavy appearance which
has been considered the one drawback to
| the graceful outlines of the Indiana, the
vessel that Fighting Bob" Evans termed
the finest fighting machine afloat.
| Heretofore there has been marked diff
| ference between the cruiser and the battle
| ship, even to the Impractical eye, but this
difference, barring the smokestacks, will be
greatly lessened by the absence of the
double turrets. 1t is declared by naval eX-
| perts that the Alabama will be a beauty,
| and it is further claimed that as a. speed
maker she will outclaSS the Iowa. The
general dimensions and principal features
| of the Alabama are as follows: Speed, II
| knots an hour Length of load water line
| S6S feet Extreme beam, 72 feet 30 inches
| Freeboard forward, 10 feet 60 inches Free
| board aft, Is, feet inches. Normal dis
| placement, 11,525 tons. Mean draught, %
feet inches. Horse power, 1900. Capaci-
| ty of coal bunkers, 1900 tons.
Armament of the Monster
Her armament is simple, as will be OBJ
served from the following: Batteries
main, four 13-inch breech-loading rifles;
| IA 6-inch rapid fire breech-loading. Sec
ondary battery. II 6-pounder rapid fire
guns; 1-pounder rapid fire guns; ma
chine guns 1 field gun. The four above
water torpedo tubes are pac I'd two on
| each broadside amidships and will fire
through an arc of GO degrees. The four
13-inch guns are mounted in pairs in two
balanced barbette turrets of Harveysized
armor 10 inches thick, augmented on the
slanting faces by two more inches.
Two of the 6-inch rifles will be placed
amidships on each side, firing through an
armor citadel of steel. Below on the main
deck, behind the casemate armor amid
ships, four more of these 6-inch rifles will
constitute broadside battery. Forward
of these guns one on each side, with six
inches of arnor plate for protection two
6-inch rife Parrots will be located The
secondary battery is pli ced in such por-
tions of the ship as neeG it most. The ar
hull at the water line. It's mean depth is
7h feet This belt will extend from the
stern to abreast the after barbette, and
will maintain a maximum thickness from
that point forward.
From the top of the side belt up to the
upper deck the sides will be protected by
5ls inches of hardened steel, backed, below
the maindeck, by belt of cornpith cellu-
lose and full coal bunkers Athwartship
bulkheads II inches thick will run inward
to the barbettes from each end of the
thickest part of the side armor, and on top
Of the four walls, formed, a fiat pro-
tectve deck 2314 inches thick will rest
Relow. and within the space embraced by
this heavy steel box will be placed the en-
gines boilers, magazines and shell rooms.
Has Two Fighting Stations
Slanting decks, running from the top of
the heavy, athwartship bulk heads to the
stem and stern, will form the continuation
of the fiat protective deck. This deck
will be propelled by two triple expansion
engines, each in its own watertght COM
partment, having cylinders. 335, 81 and rs
inches in diameter. Eight boilers two in
compartment, provide a working pres
sure of $50 pounds. Blowers in the fire.
room maintain forced draught.
The Alabama will boast of two fighting
stations. One of them will be just beneath
the chart house and will be of steel ten
inches thick The cost of the Alabama will
be fully S100O000 less than the government
anticipated when it advertised for bids it
would be necessary to pay. She will, too,
be one of the first ships finished, built I'M
der what is called a non-speed bounty In
other words, no matter how fast she goes,
the makers will not receive a penny extra
in the way of bonus.
Despite this fact, it is declared that she
will be the best-finished and the most COM
modius in point of accommodations for
officers and crew of any of the vessels of
which the government is the present pro-
prietor. The number of men she will carry,
exclusive of officers and including marines,
will be 500. Although her speed is estimated
at II knots, those who have been watching
her construction are of the opinion that she
will do much better than that, though that
is fairly fast speed. Said official of the
Cramps to me the other day:
"Keep your eye on the Alabama We have
turned out some crack vessels for the gov
eminent, but there is one which will bear
watching. Mark you, she Will create
great sensation when she gets into running
TRIM as did her famous old namesake that
flew the Stars and Bars. In my opinion,
when completed the Alabama will be the
best battleship ever Built In appearance
/ do not think she will be equal to some
of the other ships of war, but when 1t comes
to speed and utility and conflict give me the
Alabama. She is like -one of them girls
that never would shine in the butterfly So
ciety, but who knows how to look after her
home. 1t will be great day for shipbuild-
ing in the United States when she is
launched"
b The Cramps are reticent as to the prob
able length of time which will be necessary
to consume in completing the Alabama, but
1t Is certain that they are pushing work
on her very rapidly
Energy