Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1898-06-16

The finest OF our lighting ships, with
all their boasted self-suflciency, their
manifold mechanism. and their COM
pick provisions against accident or
mlshap, are really helpless creations
the moment their coal supplies become
exhausted. Nothing could be more
pathetically distressed than o great
battleship wallowlng almlessly In a
seaway, her powers of offense intact
but paralyzed like her great body, for
want OF energy or It's correlatlve, coal;
her great eyes blind for want of cleo
trlcal force; her lungs fouled by taint-
ed air because of her halted blowers;
her whole body either foveriSh or chill
led, as the weather dictated, for want
. OF circulation or proper respiration; and
her complement athlrst for need OF
enough heat to transform that tantallZ-
Ing sea water into drink. Such q
thing lie distinctly possible, and 1t Is
against even the slightest approach to
a like condition that we have taken
ample means to provide.
The modern, heavy fighting craft
carries between eighty and ninety en-
glnes OF various sorts, aside from those
directly occupied In propelllng the
ship; and, under normal Circumstance
es, II is quite safe to say that at least
fifteen or twenty per cent Of all steam
generated Is taken up In their service.
Most OF them are vital to the fighting
efficiency of the vessel; but there are
few Of them, such. for instance, as
thu engineers workshop, the dlstillers,
and the refrlgerating plant, which may
be termed auxillarles OF secondary i'm
portance; and 1t Is the purpose of the
government to run these accessories
on half-time, 80 to speak, and to leave
Just that much more energy for other
more needful purposes. To this end,
we have fitted up the repair ship, the
dlstlller ship, and the refrigerator ship,
while to the colllers has been relegated
the common service OF supplying coal
to all craft distant from ready bases
of supply, and the engineer-in-ch
has done his utmost to make them cap
able.
Tho Repair Ship.
The repair ship, fttingly named the
Vulcan, was the well-known steamer
Chatham, of the Merchant and Miners
line, between Baltimore and Boston.
Into the ship has been placed some
thing like eighty tons of tools and ma
chlnery, and today the vessel Is O. YER
liable floating workshop. There are
plate bending rolls and punching and
shearing machines that can bite right
through an inch of solid steel. There
are lathes for turning castings Of con-
siderable size, and planers, drills and
milling machines Of compass enough to
meet almost any need short Of that de-
manded in the complete reconstruction
Of a large engine. There are pipe cut
tiers, bolt cutters, FORCES and grind
stones; and there is a good-sized cupo-
la for the melting Of sufficient metal
to make a pretty heavy casting. There
are q number Of blowers to supply the
several FORCES and to draw foul air
from between decks and to send 1t
slsyward through the red-mouthed ven-
tilators above. There are also evap-
orators and distillers Of a capacity
equal to a daily output of quite 10000
gallons Of potable water-several times
more than the needs Of the Vulcan
could demand, A supplemental cleo
trio plant has given excellent lighting
facilities through the ship, but prin-
clpally in the workshops on what is
termed the third deck.
The purpose Of this craft Is manifest.
She Is to follow in the wake Of fleet
her great coal capacity giving her
wide radius Of action. and she is to
supply fresh water to the other vessels
and to make then and there all possible
repairs which might otherwise take
the ships miles and miles away to some
naval station.
A broken spindle might render help
less two great guns; but few hours
work on the Vulcan would remedy the
trouble; and even less time might
place the engines Of one Of our torpedo
boats in trim after a considerable
break. At the close of an engagement,
the wounded vessels could hasten to
j her or she to them, and such work then
y be done as to place them back in the
line Of battle, once more formidable
menace to the foe.