The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-05-30
OUR MODERN SHIPS OF WAR.
Complicated Machinery Crowling in
Them from Stem to Stern.
From The Independent.

FROM inc lnucDCnutl!l'
While in one sense all warships are
battle ships, the craft which bears that
technical name is a steel structure
usually about 35Ofeet long, 20 feet wide,
and 43 feet deep. She weighs, with
everything on board, about 1000 tons
Her engines can propel her at about 10
knots per hour. Her guns, about 40 in
all, vary in Calibre from the huge l3-
inch. throwing a projeCtile of l,l5O
pounds, to the little Gatling Of .23
inch, throwing bullet Weighing about
thrce-tenths OF an ounce. To protect
her engines and her guns, ana to in
sure buoyanCy and stability of the snip.
she carries steel armor varying from
to IS inches ia thickness; and, finally,
she is the abiding place of some 500
men.
Her chief characteristic is the pre-
dominance of guns and armor, as COM
pared with speed and coal-carryinS ca
pacity, in which respect she is the OPP
posite of the cruiser.
The cruiser preys on an enemYs
| commerce, and swoOps down upon ms
| coasts: therefore, she must have speed
| and cnduranCe-spCCd to enable her 10
| catch the swiftest ocean grey-hounds'
| and endurance, which means coal-car-
rying capacity, enough to let her steam
| around the world, If need be, without
replcnishing her bunkers. The Minnea-
| polls, fer example, can steam ' ~ per
| hour, and about half Of entire
weight is that of propelling machinery
! and coal
The battleship, or the other hand, is
| n pure fighting machine. Her normal
! endurance is about 1000 miles. In the
| Iowa. one-halr of the total weight Is
that of the ship herself, three-tenths
| is guns and armor, and only two
tenths engines and coal. The cruiser
| is not intended to fight any vessel more
powerful than herself She runs from
! battlCship. The battleshlp hgh'S
anything atloat.
Now, what sort of q structure is
this? a huge steel honeyComb-franres
and ribs and plates and braces in every
| direction Look at the i1eXtricable
| tangle Of them in the shattered Maine.
| No more great eXpanse of deck with
the tiers of guns in diminishing per-
| SpoctiVp, such as one sees in the old
| wooden frigatCs and three-GeCkcrs. But
| commandments eVervwhere-272 of them
in tie indiana. Little steel boxes and
| big steel buNeS-boNes irClOsing guns
| and boxes inClCsing engines, ana box
| for the helm and llbyrinthtne pas
| sagas in and out Ot ana around them
where daylight never gets; and end
| less doors dCCrS, dOOrS-31l Water-tiGht
doors and matches on the Indiana
every one Of which somebody must look
after and see closed when the ship goes
into action Else why compartments
if you cannot keep them separate, sc
that if water comes in from ran.
thrust or torpedo or shot. you can con.
fine il to one or two cells and 50 pre-
vent the ship from filing. There ar,
more compartments in some Of tn
smaller CruieeIS--thc Cincinnati has
4S7; but cruisers run and battleship'
do not
IN this assemhlaCc of cells IS placed
iammed is a better wora-one OF the
mos complicated agGregations of me
chanism that have ever been hrough
together. There are from hundred t'
a hundred and fifty steam cylinders II
the multifarious engines; not SO man!
as in the cruisers, perhaps. The Co
lumbia has Isl; but the Columbia keeps
out of the way Cf 13-inch shot, Th'
battleshir Iowa has 152. The Ney
Ironsides, the most powerful tightint
vessel in our navy at the close Of tn
war had three.
What steam does not do clectricit.
does. There are wires everywhere
Tho iynamos are running constantly
for tie closed steel boxes get no day
LIGHT and must be lighted, while witt
equal constarcy the blowers draw Gu
the foul and force in the fresh air. Ru
on all sides ,hcre is machinery. Ma
chimes work the guns: machines tur
the tuuTets; machines manage tn
helm, machines propel and pump tn
shin and feed the boilers and driv" tn
, fires; machines hoist ammunition
boats. and anchors; r,achines find tn
position Of the enemy. machines trans
nit orders from the captain to ever
part Of the structure; machines max
the light; machines condrnso In
70 drinking water and cool it; machine
themselves propelled ry other ma
, chimes ON board, ga out under water |
blow uu the adversary.