The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-05-19

ISiuory QnOrSdH, uduSHter OIL senator MOI
gan, christened the ship for her native
state. The weather was beautiful( but
only few persons witnessed the cere-
mony. fear of Spanish treachery keeping
the gates Of the shipyard closed against all
! except about 200 invited guests and news
paper men. The ship can be made ready
for commission in year. If the armor is
delivered promptly.
The Alabama Is the first to be launched
of three battleships Of her type, the other
| two being the Illinois and the Wisconsin.
She presented marked Emergencies of de-
sign from the first three, the Oregon, In
diana and Massachusetts,. These differences
involve both the arrangements of the bat
terry and the disposition of the armor, as
well as a considerable increase of size and
| displacement. The first type had the
\ armor arranged In a water line belt and
| easement amidships, with the ends for
ward and aft belt-protected by submerged
armored decks and their batteries were
mounted as follows:
-Four 13-inch guns in two turrets, eight
S-inch guns in four turrets. one at each
corner of the superstructure, and four g.
inch guns mounted at the corners of the
casemate below the superstructure.
In the Alabama the water line armor is
carried clear forward. the protective deck
Instead of being submerged as in former
ships, Is raised to the level of the belt by
slopes at each side, the same as protected
cruisers. The 8-inch guns of the Indiana
type are done away with entirely, the main
battery of the Alabama type consisting OF
| four 13-inch guns in turrets and fourteen
6-inch rapid firing guns, of which ten are
| mounted on the gun deck, eight in broad
side between the turrets and two firing
| straight ahead forward Of the fore turret
| on the gun deck. Four are mounted in q
small redoubt on a casemate deck, two on
each side. The broadside 6-inch guns, in
| stead of being mounted to projecting spon-
sons. are mounted In recess ports in order
| to secure extensive train forward and abaft
the beam.
The general dimensions of the Alabama
class are as follows:
Length over all, 374 feet; breadth, Y feet;
freeboard forward, 20 feet; freeboard abaft
the after turret, 10 feet inches; draught,
q feet inches: displacement, 1870 tons.
The guaranteed speed is to be sixteen knots
and the estimated horsepower 10000.
The main battery has already been de-
scribed. The second battery consists of
seventeen 6-pounder rapid fire guns. six
one-pounder rapid fire guns and four gat-
hngs
The arrangement Of the boilers in the
Alabama class differs from that in the In
diana in being eight single ender boilers in
stead of four double enders, and in being
placed athwart ships afore and aft fire.
room instead of longitudinal with athwart-
ali n tn he ola
L Examinations Of the plans of the Ala
bama as compared with those of the ear
lier ships will show that the departure in
the details of construction are in the direc-
ton of simplicity and also the reduction of
the number of different calibers Of ammu-
milton required to be carried ON board, the
effective weight of fire in various positions
remaining substantially the same. Dis
pensing with the 8-inch turrets also clearly
reduced the weights to be carried high
above the water, which 1t is believed will
be an advantage in a heavy sea.
On the whole the armament, armor and
speed of the Alabama, with displacement
of II, 500 tons, compares favorably with the
latest type of battleships abroad with a
displacement Of Is 900 tons.
The maximum thickness Of armor on the
wdtct iiuc 10 4V77 IuCucbs tdptIiuB 10 S12
inches at the bottom Of the belt. The
casemate armor Is 81 inches thick and the
superstructure armor is of the same thick
ness. The armor of the 13-inch gun tur-
rets is 15 inches thick, except in the port
hole plate, which is II inches thick. Tho
armor of the barbettes on which the tur-
rets rest is IS inches thick. The thickness
Of the protective deck armor on the fiat
over the citadel amidships and also for
ward and aft of the amidship citadel is Il
inches. The coming tower is cylindrical
and ten inches thick. The total weight of
armor and bolts is 2720 tons and Of the pro-
tective deck armor sos tons. The weight
Of armament with normal supply of ammu-
milton, which is two-thirds Of the war sup
ply, Is S64 tons.
The builders say the construction of the
Alabama has been delayed over q year by
the failure of the last congress to provide
the necessary armor. Had prompt provis-
ion been made for the manufacture Of the
armor, the Alabama would at this time, In
stead Of being launched, b titting out for
serv1cA