Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-06-02

fighting will live to make some other
craft fight or run away.
II would be folly for cruiser to at
| tack n battleship. for the reason that the
| battleship is supposed to be invunerabie
| to the attack of the guns that cruiser
usIaily carries. On the other hand IT
| woukl be absurd for a battlcship to
chase a cruiser that was beyond gunshot
distance for the cruiser would walk
| away from the battlcship IN a trial OF
| .peed This is the principle upon which
Modern vessels of war are built. Where
| nr,nor is lacking, speed is there. so that
| The advantage of the numbering battle
| ship may be offset by the cruisers speed.
| A battlcship is Il floating fort, Il mass
| of steel protected all round with plates
| Of the hardest metal procurabc. Around
| her most vulnerable points are iS-inch
;rrnor plates Of iIarvoyizcd steel; her
deck is Il steel casing from three 20 five
| inches thick. Her guns are placed in re-
| volying steel turrets. the metal of which
is from Is to Is inches thick. The guns OF
| Il battlcship are the heaviest made She
| is big floating fortress against which
| Tho guns of small calibcr would be use
| less. She cannot make much speed.
| therefore she must be able to defy any
thing that may cone aspinst hct except
| n Vessel Of her own class, relying solely
| upon her guns ana her armor to keep
| ;tloat ana send The other fellow to the
| bottom.
| Resides the turrets. wherein are the big
| DdttitSlliD mas Whit are k1ipWIi
| as secondary batteries. in which are gums
| of lighter calihcr. Nothing must be left
| to chance. and a battlcship that has only
| it's own strength TO look to for protection
| must be fitted with small guns to sink
the dreaded torpedo boat, against whose
| attack the great l3-inCh rifles might prove
| too slow and pondorouS.
| Take away this secondary battery leaV-
| ing only the great guns in their turrets.
and, with the deck nearer the waters
| edge, the hattlcShip becomes monitor,
a class of vessel that experts maintain
| is more useful than battlcship for
| coast defence purposes The monitor is 4
| poor vessel in Il rough sea and can only
| make Il speed of about - miles an hour,
| but she il 4 hard vessel to hit, presenting
| q very small mark by reason OF her low
| frcehoard, and possessing, with her big
| guns, tremendously effective means of Of
| fCnSc.
| \ cruiser is armored with but three or
| four inches of steel. She carries guns of
| lighter Calihcr than the batticship. the s.
| inch rifle being about the maximum SlZe
| of her armament. 4 battltship With its
| 13-iuch guns, could settle the fate Of Il
| cruiser with one bfoadsidc. while the
| cruisers guns would Dc harmless against
! the ba,tlcship's thick hide but the cruiS-
| or can make - miles au hour to the bat
| tltsbip's N. 80 that an alert comma ndcr
| is safe from the big fellow heavy guns.
| FdSten even than the armorcd cruiser,
| and lighter as TO gun metal, is the pro
| tcCt@d CruiS, r. which usually carries one
| heavy tIght-iuch gun and several four
| inch ANA lighter rapid-tirc guns The ar
morcd cruiser is protected u- to ncr deck
| init little, but the coal that is stored
around the most vulnerable parts pro-
| tects the vessel. She can maxi speed
! several miles an hour faster than the
| armorcd cruiser. and so has her running
abilities 10 count on in Il meeting with a
| more powerful ship.
| Guuhoats ana torpedo boats Hrc tho
smallest types Of war vessels The gun
t 4E,... I.t