Arizona republican., 1898-05-07
TYPES OF CRUISERS
How the Three Varieties May he
 Easily Distinguished.

lt
 coming that every one should have a.
 fair understanding of the types of yss- sells mustered in our defense and
 know, too. something of the duty cut out for each.
 Of the battleship and the monitor
 nearly every one mas proper concep- l tion, and, too, of the torpedo boat: | but of the three types of cruisers there is cnly confused general knowl- edge.
 The term cruiser used to apply. in i the days of sailing ships, to the fri
 gates, the type next most formidable to the old line-of-battle ships. and
 was intended to compass the speedier
 of the heavy fighting craft deelgatel I to the particular service of hunting up the enemy CT preying upon his
 commerce, and, with certain technical
 notifications, practically all Of our large, swift, unarmored vessels of the
 late war were so classified. The gun
 boat was then and now is the small
 vessel of moderate speed and gun
 power, unmarked for special service by any particular characteristics of
 either offense or defense.
 With us the gunbciat has a maxi mum displacement or total weight Of something just over TITO tons and a minimum of 839 tons, the Castine and
 Machlas representing the major ex- treme and the little Bancroft repre-
 senting the minor extreme.
 Of the simple or unprotected cruis- CT type we have three-the Detroit, Marblehead and Montgomery, each Of trifie over 2,O00 tons displacement. When these vessels were first designed they were officially known as gun
 boats, but the department wisely saw that a limit must be drawn somewhere, and, placing the gunboat limit of size to craft under 2,000 tons, the three
 vessels at once became dignifed as cruisers. Besides their promised speed
 and their fulfillment in reaching ever eighteen knots reasonably made them
 deserving of the title in conjunction with their pretty heavy batteries of
 rapid-fira guns.
 The simple or unprotected cruiser, in common even with gunboats, has no protection in the shape of armor for her "vitals," as her engines, her boilers and her magazines are called. She has a water-tight deck, though,
 of moderate plating, which extends from side ro side and from bow to stern, completely roofing over the ''vi tals." While not proof against even moderate shot, this deck prevents the admission of water below, which may
 come in through breaks in the plat ing above this deck, and in that ma terially aids in preserving the stabil1 ity of the craft if pierced by shell just above the water line, but near enough to admit water in careening So far as possible coal is placed above this dock and against the sides as a bull wark against the attack If an enemy, and while the coal remains there it l forms a good defense to guns ranging from One-pOunderS to SiX-pOunderS. The armored shields borne by some of the guns, or the armor placed about
 some of the gun ports is not consid- cred protection to the craft herself,
 and while either may be present on a simple cruise, the fact that her vitaIs
 remain undefended makes her an un- protected cruiser.
 The protected cruiser is the next advance upon the simple cruiser. Here, | again, we have a water-tight deck, but
 this time it is supplemented with coat of mail, and may range On the 1 flat portion from one inch to two and a half inches and vary on the slopes at the sides from one and a half to | four and three-quarters inches. This
 armor presents a affective front to shot passnig through the sides and l threatening the magazines and the
 motive power, and, of course, gives l the vessel the power of standing up before craft capable of dealing out certain destruction to the simple cruis- er Again, the coal is slowed along ! the sides and below the watertight and protective deck, and a new de | fense in the shape of band of eellu- | lose stands ready to take the first shock of attack and to plug automati- cally by it's own swelling all shot
 holes admitting water. Of course it l is not proof against explosive shell, | which may displace it rather than
 merely pass through it.
 Of the protected cruiser type the l Olympia is by long odds the most typi- l cal vessel in our service Aside from 1 her hull protection, the guns of her
 main battery, four eight-inch guns, 1 are mounted in two turrets, an all-
 around shelter unequalled by any ship
 of like class and size in the world, and some notion of what this and the ether phases of this 5,S00-ton ships | defensive qualities constitute may be | gathered when it is realized that she
 could stand up and give a good ac-
 count of herself against either the
 British Powerful or Terrible-ships of ! over 14,000 tons displacement.
 l The armored cruiser, represented in
 cur service by the New York and the
 Brooklyn, is the protected cruiser bet
 tered by slightly heavier armor on her
 protective deck, slightly heavier armor
 about her turreted guns, and the pres ence of a band of water-line vertical
 armor and plating of from three to four inches on her sides just above this heavy belt. This water-line ar ] I,aas. is plae6d aIaidSh inc and Eaaehas