Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-04-29
We HAVE A NAVY.
And the Navy Of No Country Save Great
Britain Can Equal Il.


the United States has become a most
formidable naval power. Including the
kentucky and kearsarge. we have 81
ships that are technically classed rs
vessels of war which were con-
structed at our own ship yards. There
have been added to this number a
fighting ships, built for other nations III
England and France, and two at Ger
man yards. This gives the Unted
States - of the latest pattern hghtins
ships, mostly of the armored cruiser
type.
No nation in the world except Great
britain has such a number of vessels
of war. all new and of the most ap
proved designs in their respective
class.
We have now atloat five tirst-ciass
hattloshins and in two months the
Kentucky and Kearsarge will be added
to the list.
The finest vessel in the American
fleet of the battleship pattern Is the
Iowa. She is II 200 tons displacement
Her battery is one of the heaviest on
the seas. She carries four Finch
ipAiE1f
nearly five feet in diameter, outside
measurement, at the breech. Whlle At
the muzzle they taper off to six inches
thickness of steel. The charge "i
powder is 425 pounds. which is divided
into three equal parts, encased In Wnl'e
flannel bags 1t has been found that
the projectile gets the full force OF the
charge by this subdivision of the pow
der. and it burns slower. which is the
reason for the great length of the gun.
The powder is brown. like contec-
TONERS chocolate, the grain is trlfle
over an inch square. Un the heaviest
guns. like the Is and l6-inch, prismatIc,
or six-sded grain, powder is u5ed)
The armor-smashing shell of this gun
weighs SO pounds, and the solid shot
900
The increase in the powder charge
OF our heavy guns since our late war IS
something tremendous Gen Gilmore.
when he shelled Charleston in 1851,
at a distance of eight miles, astonished
the world, and inaugurated a new era
in long range gunnery. He used 200
and SEQ pound Parrot guns. In the BOO
FOUNDER the powder charge was 30
pounds. and in the 300 FOUNDER. So
pounds. These We're and 1o-inch
guns, and at the tremendous elevation
of 40 degrees that had to be given them,
their muzzles blew off frequently after
the 25th round, and they were liable 20
burst after the 200th round.
The Iowa s eight S-inch guns will
stand 500 rounds each without showing
any danger signs. and the charge is 50
pounds of powder and a $50 pound
shell. driven through the air at a rate
of 2l50 feet per second when it starts,
and 1S4S feet each second mile from
the gun, and when two miles away the
shell is still flying at the rate of 1913
feet each second.
The accuracy of these S-inch and
6-inch rifles was shown during a recent
experiment. Within a short time Com
modore Scheley's fleet went out to sea
to test its guns and give the men some
incidental target practice. The target
was a piece of canvas 10 feet wide by
Il long. stretched on a frame and put
up on a buoy. AT a mile distant the
S-inch guns cut it to bits the first
round. The 6-inch rifies-100- Founders
were even more accurate than the
Ia ger caliberS.
The American gunner is admittedly
TIC best atIoat, as was shown in our
war of 1872. and again when the gun
ners of the Kearsage We're successful
over those of the Alabama, who had
been trained on what Europe regarded
as the finest gunnery school in the
world-the British ship Excellent.
Spain has but one battleship like ours
1t is the Pelayo. of 5000 tons 1t is
knots slower. Her best vessels are OF
the armored cruiser class, such as the
Nizcaya and Oquendo. neither of which
is equal to the New York or Brooklyn,
while the Columbia or Minneapolis
could run away from them on one-half
d head of steam. So say the naval
attaches Of England and Russia. on
duty here with their embassies.
In addition to the vessels already
ordered and building in the naval ap-
preparation bill. now ready four double
turreted monitors are authorized. They
are to be of the Puritan class. not to
cost over $1.250.oo0 each.
Besides the - regularly classified
WarShip of the navy there is an aux
Iiary fleet of fast ocean liners acquired
in the last 80 days. AT the head of the
list stands the magnificent st. Louis
and st. Paul of the American Line.
These two vessels and Is others of near
ly equal tonnage are being equipped
With batteries of rapid firing 100-pound
rifles. eight to each of the larger ships.
and six to those from 5000 to 1000 tons.
with an equal number of 5-inch or 4l2-
inch gums of the rapid firing class as 8
secondary battery.
The country may feel easy in regard
to he matter of torpedo boats and tor
podo boat destroyers. The United
States now owns 81 torpedo boats
proper. with about the same number OF
yachts and fast small vessels that with
small alterations can be turned into an
admira Bile torpedo feet. There are six
divisions of these boats and destroyerS.
with from II to Il vessels to division.
The average torpedo boat is from 60 to
- feet long, with capacity for % to
30 knots an hour. The destroyers are
about twice this size. Both torpedo
boats and their destroyers are equipped
With two finch or 5-inch rapid firing
guns.
The navy department has just com