The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-25
NAVAL REPAIR SHIPS.
Floating Shops to Patch Damaged Graft.

Repair ships WILL play very I'm
.portant part in connection with Uncle
Sans naval operations against Spain
Already one vessel for this purpose
has been purchased by the govern
ment, on recommendation by experts
cf the bureau Of construction anc
steam engineering, and two more vii
be bought. The one secured is the
,Ghalmette, good-sized and staunch
steamer well adapted for the purpose
contemplated. For this kind Of work
the style Of craft most suitable is
ship Of $500 to 1000 tons, with plenty
Of space between decks, so as to afford
room For the apparatus of a small
factory. She must also have large
coal capacity, SO that she may be able
to keep the sea for long time. Be
sides, the fuel is needed for distilling
water. which is an incidental duty OF
the repair ship.
Each one of these vessels will be a
navigable repair shop Of most com
prehensiye description. 1t will be
provided with heavy steam tools OF
the latest patterns for executing every
imaginable kind Of work in metal, and
It's equipment will include massive
cranes for hoisting weighty things
aboard. In It's hold will be carried
duplicates of pretty nearly every sort
of article that goes to make up mod
ern warship, from coil Of boiler
tubing to patch Of armor for mending
hole made by projectile. Inside,
between decks, the craft will be awhirl
with machinery, belts flying, engines
pumping, steam hammers pounding,
wheels revolving, and all the para
phernalia Of busy factory in active
employment.
Grimy mechanics will rush to and
fro or stand at forges, heating big bars
Of iron white hot or turning out objects
Of steel or brass which are designed
to serve as parts Of one piece of deli
cate mechanism or another. The
trouble is to say what will not be done
on board of these factory steamers,
which must be prepared to mend or to
replace anything that may be wrong or
missing above the waterline of bat
tle-ship or cruiser.
The Navy Department intends that
each one Of our fleets shall be provided
with repair ship Of this kind, whose
business it will be to accompany the
war vessels and to serve them on all
necessary occasions as a sort Of first
aid to the injured. Such floating
machine shop, however, will be
serviceable for good deal beyond
mere emergency work, though this is
what is required of it chiefly. 1t goes
without saying that in an engagement
on the seas, no matter how favorable
the result of the encounter to our
side, the American ships are bound to
suffer very serious damage. They
will be cut up to considerable extent
by the explosive shells Of rapid-6re
guns, and more or less in their internal
mechanism will be in need Of mending.
1t is under such conditions that the
repair ship will come into use, plug
ging shot holes, fixing up boiler-tubes, /,
mending engines, etc.
During an action the. repair ship
will avoid the thick of the fight. haug-
Ing on the skirts of it so as to c
available in case her services are
wanted at any moment. Suppose, for
example, that one Of the American
ships becomes disabled by an accident
to her steering gear and thus is rem
dered useless for fighting purposes.
The repair vessel, unless the engage
ment is so hot as TO render such a
movement impracticablc, will steam
I'D and take the helpless ship in tow,
pulling her away to distance and oat
of reach of the enemy S fire. Though
not herself a fighting craft, the float
ing machine shop will be provided
with half dozen goodsized rapid fire
guns, SO as to be able to put up some
sort of defense in case she is attacked.
1t might be that she would be assailed
by a torpedo boat, though vessels Of
this kind, being small and unprotected
by armor, would not be likely to take
part in general feet engagements on
the open seas. She could keep off
such warship foe by means Of her
rapid-f fire guns, and her spced-only
fast-golng steamers will be employed
for this purpose-will enable her to
keep out Of the way Of the biz war
ships.
An engagement on the ocean be-
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