Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1898-05-13
4 Fixhfinr Boat.

When one takes into account the
fact that the ships which annihilated
SPANS fleet at Manila are not among
the really formidable vessels of the
American navy, there will be little fear
of the result OF q fight between SPANS
prize boats and the fleets under COM
mand Of Admiral Sampson and Com
modore Schley.
There is in the United States. navy
one boat which alone could fight the
whole much vaunted, overvalued, self
confident Spanish navy. This vessel,
boat, warship, RAM, or whatever yon
may call it, Is the Katahdin, and is the
deadliest weapon ever invented. It is
absolutely impregnable to fire, and
even dynamite glances of It as It
would off q lady's hat pin. When
stripped for action it lies almost on
the water line and its entire rigging
can be removed. Positively the only
point visible is one solitary turret
which must be hit squarely like bulls
eye, or else the people inside would
not know they had been struck.
The ram Katahdin is SO deadly that
it is almost barbarous. The British
navy at n time refused to accept
such q hostile instrument Of battle and
would not allow one to be built. Fin
ally, however, it did, and turned ont
the British ironclad C%amperdown,
which vas much Of the same shape.
although it lacked many Of the works
of the Katahdin. The Camperdown
came in contact with the steel sides of
the great battleship Victoria, with the
result that the Victoria was instantly
sunk, with all on board. The Camper
down received injuries which sent her
into dry dock for months.
The Katahdin, like the Camperdown,
can deliver q blow that will sink any
cruiser, but superior to the Camper
down, it will not injure itself. That
has been demonstrated by experiments
of the Katahdin, which has been run
into docks Of solid wood, rammed
against steel covered posts, driven into
steel walls, and subjected in every way
to the severest tests known to the
navy-and always without injury to
herself.
A British naval official, commenting
on the Katahdin, said that she was
we'll worth the building, even though
she should destroy herself, "for'' said
he, "the Katahdin cost only 100000
and q cruiser costs 100000. It is
worth while by mathematical compu-
tation, any day in the week, to destroy
q 100000 cruiser with q 100000
ram"
The Katahdin wa designed by Ad-
miral Ammen, of the United States
navy, who had such faith in her that
he made no provision for a battery of
any description. Since building, how.
ever, she has been mounted with four
rapid-f1re six-pounders. These are
intended, however, only for defense.
She has high speed and such maneuver-
ing powers that, as she dashes at an
enemy, she IA turn aside to avoid the
she'll.
The gunner abroad the cruiser who
is aiming at the Katahdin must CON
stantly change his aim. The ram APP
proaches 80 rapidly that at each fire
the gunner must change the angle of
the gun. At the same time he must
turn it from side to side to catch the
She, meanwhile, is driving
straight at the cruiser. When she has
approached to within twenty feet, she
hurls her weight Of 100000 pounds at
the enemy's ship and it is safe to
predict that the future of that ship is
not worth writing.