The herald., 1898-12-23
TO SUCCEED THE vESUVIUS
A Ship to Be Built That Will Be Nor,
Formidable Than Her Predecessor

The navy department is about to make a
supplementary call upon congress for an ap-
preparation for a powerful warship de-
gned especially to carry dynamite guns
The new ship will be the most formidable
craft of her kind the world has ever seen.
In destructive power it is estimated that
she will be the equal of three full-sized bat
tleships.
The plans have been fully prepared and
are now on file in the navy department.
Secretary Long is so fully convinced of the
possibilities of a vessel designed expressly
to carry dynamite guns that the new craft
will be regarded as especially fathered by
him. The greatest secrecy has been main
tanned concerning this new engine of de-
struction and it is only during the past week
that the essential features have been found
out
The one thing which the Vesuvius demon
strated more than anything else was her
unsuitability to serve as gun platform
for dynamite guns. The guns never had a
proper show on that ship. The little We
suvius is all right as sprinter-she can do
better than twenty knots an hour-but she
is notorously unsteady ship.
The new dynamite ship will be pre.emi-
nently steady craft, and to make doubly
sure of this her lines have been copied from
those of the Texas.
The principal dimensions of the new craft
will be: Length, 800 feet; beam, 65 feet,
and draught, l6 feet. The engines will be
capable of working up to 5000 horse power,
which it is expected, will give sea speed
Of nineteen knots per hour. The new craft
will nj hc doop in fba = H. IT..
as, but she will be ten feet longer, the addi-
tional length being utilized to sharpen her
ends. The horse power, too,' will be in ex-
cess of that of the Texas engines. With
displacement of about 1900 tons less than
the Texas the new ship is expected to be
most efficient craft in stealning
In general appearance the new dynamite
vessel will have the hull of the Texas com.
bined with the upper works Of the late
Spanish cruiser Cristobal Colon There will
be two, tunnels, with one mast placed be-
tween them, and one military top. All the
guns of the secondary batterr, with the
exception of some six-pounders forward and
aft on the main deck, will be carried on this
central superstructure. In examining the
plans the one feature which is more striking
than any other is the presence of the dy-
Mantle guns. Two of these terrible weapons
were carried, one forward and one aft.
Each gun is placed in an armored barbette,
which in turn is covered by steel hood or
shield Of ~ inches Of Krupp steel. The
armor for the barbettes proper will consist
of ten inches of Krupp process plate. Ten
inches Of this armor is regarded as the
equivalent of sixteen inches of the Harvey
lied plate which has heretofore been used
The new dynamite guns have length Of
fifty-fve feet. In design they will be slight
ly different from those previously used, and
will more closely resemble modern artillery.
The powers Of the gun have been greatly in
creased, and it is authoritatively stated
that a shell can be fired from one of the
new guns distance of nearly four miles.
1t is proposed to take the present dynamite
guns in the Vesuvius out of that vessel