The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-06

er belt, six or eight feet of coal, and
| sloping belt of steel six inches thick,
the total resistance Of which is calcu-
| lated to be equal to a solid horizontal
armor plate fifteen inches thick
| A cruiser is not supposed to fight
with battleship because it could not
| accomplish anything with its S-inch
| guns against the 1S-inch armor of it's
| heavier rival, while one well-directed
shot from the 13-inch guns of battle
| ship or monitor would probably sink
any armored cruiser afloat For this
reason the cruiser must be faster than
the battleship, so that she can run
away, and the weight that is saved in
the armor belt and big guns is there
| fore put into the engine room. The av-
erage speed Of an armored cruiser is
about twenty-four miles an hour, and
the best types of this class in the navy
are probably the Brooklyn and New
| York.
Some vessels, like the Spaniard Viz
| caya, are about half away between a
battleship and a cruiser, having the
heavy guns of the former and the speed
! of the latter. The Vizcaya, although a
cruiser, carries 11-inch guns with a
12-inch armor belt, and has a speed Of
twenty-three miles an hour.
The next step in reducing armament
and increasing speed produced the pro-
tected cruiser, which carries no armor
belt, but retains the protective deck,
upon the sloping sides of which Is stor-
ed the coal. The turrets disappear al
together, and there is usually only one
S-inch gun, the battery being principal
ly made UP of 4-inch rapid-fire guns
and 6, 4, and l Founders. AS this class
of vessel is not able to cope with the
armored cruiser, it must be faster, for
the general principle holds good that
the weaker the vessel becomes in point
of offensive weapons or defensive arm
| or, the greater the necessity that she
should be able to run away. The best
types of the protected cruiser in the
| navy may be found in the Columbia
and Minneapolis, which have a speed Of
about twenty-seven miles an hour
The weakest class of all is composed
of the unprotected cruisers, which have
neither armor belt nor protective deck,
and carry only light batteries of rapid
fire guns. When these vessels are slow,
like the Detroit, they are intended for
long voyages and for duty in foreign
countries and are of little use in a sea
fight. The very fast unprotected cruis-
erS, like the American line steamers
st. Paul and st. Louis, attach little i'm
portance to their armament and rely
for protection upon slowing the coal
behind the place occupied by the arm
or belt in other vessels All the beauti-.
full wood work which was so much adj
mired in these vessels has been ripped
out to make room for these coal bunk
ers, which are sufficient to protect them
from anything but the heaviest guns.
On account of their extreme weakness
as fighters, these cruisers are necessar-
lily the fastest Of all the large vessels,
and can run away from anything. For
this reason no concern was felt for the
Paris by those who know the principles
which govern the safety of modern YES
sells.
The various types of cruiser are not
expected to fight with any but vessels OF
their own class, which they may en-
counter in the discharge of similar du-
ties, such as securing the seas as the
advance guards of the slower line-of-
battle, preying upon or escorting mer-
chant vessels, blockading ports, and
acting as conveys for troop ships. Gun
boats are simply light-draught cruis-
ers, and are intended for use in shallow
waters and rivers
Torpedo boats, as their name implies
depend entirely upon the torpedo as a
weapon of attack and they carry M
guns except a few very light calibre
rapid firers to keep off small boats
Their success depends on their ability
to approach a vessel very rapidly
launch their torpedo, and retreat be-
fore they are detected and sunk. Speed
is their great requisite, and torpedo
boat like the Porter can steam thirty
two miles an hour. Naval experts con-
slider their bark worse than their bite
because with the modern system OF
lookouts and searchlights and the ac-
curacy and rapidity of the secondary
batteries, it is impossible for torpedo
boat to get within range without ex.
posing itself to instant destruction, an6
after a torpedo fleet has once met with
serious repulse it would be impossi
Bile to get the crews to go into actor
again.
The torpedo boat destroyer, contrary
to general belief, does not carry an.
heavy guns, but depends on it's grea
speed and it's ability to cripple a ter
pedo boat with it's six-pounders while
keeping out of range of the enemy's
tubes. All torpedo boat destroyers car
ry torpedo tubes themselves, so tina
they can be used against the enemy!
battleships or cruisers if the occasion
offers The fastest boat in the navy i!
1,o Dol which, oa1 OF y,
thirty-four miles an hour.-New Yorl
Sun.