Arizona republican., 1898-03-25

! ways, ndklnS one OI the pT6CCloSI launchings ever witnessed at the yards of the Newport News Shipbuilding company.
 As the marine monster glided down the ways on her brief maiden trip the enthusiasm of the assembled 1 thousands found vent. The crowds assembled on the stands and grouped on roofs, mastheads, scaffolding, tele- graph poles and other points Of van 1 tage, screamed with enthusiasm, the i secretary of the navy and party waved their handkerchiefs and hats, and the adjacent waters were dotted, let loose their ear-splitting whistles
 When the anchors of of the big ship had been dropped and she had come 1 to halt in midstream, the distin- guished party on the christening stand was served with refreshments and a number of felicitous speeches were made, among the speakers being Gov 1 ernor Bradley of Kentucky. Half an hour later, with ceremonies the coun ] terpart of those already witnessed, the i big KearsaI ge, sister ship to the Ken : lucky, was auspiciously launched, the duties of sponsor being performed by Mrs. Elizabeth Maynard Winslow, wife of Lieutenant Winslow, U. s. N. whose father commanded the famous 1 first Kearsarge when that vessel sunk the Alabama in European waters
 The Kearsarge and Kentucky are navigable fortresses of a formidable type, and each will cost the govern ment S2,5OC 900. The dimensions of one apply equally to the other, and 1 their general data are:
 Length on load water line, 36S feet; i beam, extreme, 72 feet 5 inches; draft, on normal displacement, 23 feet 6 ! inches; normal displacement, Il ,525 1 tons; maximum displacement, ammu- milton and stores on board. 12,325 tons; maximum indicated horse power ] (estimated), 10000; maximum speed required by contract, 16 knots; nor nal coal supply, 40 tons; maximum coal supply, bunkers full 1,210 tons; l complement officers, seamen and ma I
 rines, 511.
 The novel characteristic of these ships is their exceedingly moderate i draft of water-but 25 feet when full laden-by which they may enter prac- tically any harbor of importance along our coast line, something denied to most of the armored cruisers of all other nations. The offensive advan- taga possessed in this single feature cannot be overvalued. The power to meet an enemy will be centered effec- 1 lively in the twenty-two guns form ing the main and auxiliary batteries, and these will consist of: Main bat tery, four 13-inch and four Sinch; auxiliary battery, fourteen 5-inch rap ] id-fire rifles. For the purpose of re- sist1ng torpedo boat attack and enfi- lading the open decks or unprotected gun stations of an enemy, twenty G. pounders, six 1-pounders and four Cat lings will keep up destructive nit railleuse. Four torpedo tubes, two on each side amidships, will complete the offensive phase of the ships.
 The 13-inch and S-inch guns are housed in two two-storied turrets. The i S-inch guns are in the upper half, which is fixed rigidly to the lower half. | The whole structure has total swing 1 of 270 degrees, and all four guns are pointed in the same general direction i and swung from side to side by the one great turning gear, engaging the lower half The design has been seri- ously questioned here and abroad, and i there is a prevailing opinion that the experiment will never be repeated I Tn S-inch guns are sheltered behind walls, generally inches thick, but augmented to Il inches at the front | The 13-inch guns are covered by 15 inches of hardened steel also, except at the front, where is an added thick | ness of inches. To pierce the walls of the lower turret shot would have to strike them from a distance of l. 800 yards with all the pent-up energy equal to bearing that shot quite thir- teen miles.
 The auxiliary battery of fourteen D inch rapid-fire guns is mounted in the superstructure on the main deck This superstructure, where it faces an en- emy, is composed of hardened steel inches thick, and no explosive 6-inch shell could ever get through that bull wark Each gun station is separated from the adjoining gun by 2-inch wall of steel, that the effect of pene- trating shot and bursting shell may
 be localized. Each of these guns has a service rate of speed of quite six aimed shots a minute, and as each shot weighs 50 pounds, a little arith- metic tells the story. The 6-pcunders are mounted in part on the berth deck