Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-08-11
WARSHIPS REPAIRED
THS WORK OF FIXING THEM UP DONE
"WHlLE YOU WAIT"

The Vulcan Is A Floating Machine shop
Fully Equipped To Repair Any Damag.
Done to Sampson's Fleet-Carries Tooli
and Machinery Worth $500 900.
/ The queerest vessel in the United
States navy, if not, indeed, the queer
est afioat, is the aptly named Vulcan
She is literally floating machine shop
thoroughly equipped with all the tools
and appliances to be found in any shop
ashore where the work of repairing
machinery to vessels is done. She
may not win as much popular glory
as her armed sisters, she may not pre-
| sent so gay an appearance, and she
may not do such deeds of daring but
she has her mission to fulfil, and she
will not be found wanting.
The real heroes of war are not al
ways to be found on the quarterback.
Did you ever think of the men buried
away down in the sitting bowels of the
ship, the men who see nothing of the
battle, but upon whose efforts the ac-
ton of the ship entirely depends ?
| That's the way it is with the Vulcan.
Her labors will probably be unpraised
and unsung, but they will be none the
| less valuable for all that.
| Her mission is to remain with the
| feet and repair any damage that may
be done to the other vessels. For this
| work she is thoroughly prepared. Her
| equipment includes nearly hundred
| tons of tools and machinery valued at
$780, 900.
| If you have ever visited naval re-
transferred to shipboard, you can get
a fairly good idea of what the Vulcan
looks like. There are plate bending
rolls and punching and shearing ms-
chimes that can bite through an inch
of solid steel. There are lathes for
turning castings of nearly any size,
there are planers, drills and milling
machines of compass enough to meet
almost any demand, and there are
blowers to supply the several forges
and to draw foul air from between
decks and send it through the ventila-
tors above. She can even make small
rapid fire guns.
forges and grindstones, and good
sized cupola for the melting of suffi-
cient metal to make a heavy casting.
A supplemental electric plant has given
excellent lighting facilities throughout
the ship, but principally in the work
shops situated on what is termed the
third deck
a nd
tillers of a capacity equal to a daily
output of quite ten thousand gallons
of water, several times more than the
needs of the Vulcan could demand
She has two steam cranes, with ten
foot arms that will lead to the hoist
ing drums amidships and to the cranes
to the matches. These cranes are
specially designed for removing
weights from the men-of-war and for
transferring machinery to the disabled
ships. And, lastly, there is a mag
nificent little foundry for manufacture
ing castings up to certain size.
or course, skilled men are required
chinery, and the best machinists and
mechanics in the service have been
assigned to the Vulcan to perform the
work for which it has been fitted out,
and this brings to light condition
of affairs quite as unique as is the ship
herself. There is no mechanical plant
in the country that admits of such a
variety of accomplishments as this
one. The variety of departments gives
the Vulcan more chief petty officers
than any other ship known. A dozen
such officers is the usual complement
for a war ship but the Vulcan, out of
her entire crew of two hundred men,
to wear double breasted short coats
and officers caps.
No vessel that has yet started out
for war has carried such a large COM
plement of well-trained and educated
men. The repair ship has on board
some Of the finest engineers in the
country, and among the number is a
providence millionaire and college
professor, who entered the service of
their country as soon as it was known
that the United States was to have
floating machine shop.
Chief machinists. expert boilermak-
ers, moulders, brass finishers and elec-
tricians: copper-smiths, carpenters,
joiners, ship -wrights, plumbers-all
have the rating of first class pet
ty officers. The Vulcan's cap
tain is Lieutenant Commander
Ira Harris who has been general
manager of the Chicago Drop Forge
and Foundry Company, and of like
concerns in Kansas and Cleveland, o.
The chief engineers are Gardiner
Sims, the head of the Armington G.
Sims Engine Works, of Providence, r.
l., who has thirty of his best mechan-
les aboard, and Professor Aldrich, Of
the University of West Virginia, one
of the best electrical experts of the
country. Frederick c. Nelson. son of
Medical InSnectOr JOhn T. Nailcop