The times., 1898-04-24
CUR NAVY.
1t is One cd the Finest and Rest
AnOat.

the United States has become most for
midable naval power Including the Ken
lucky and KeaTsarge, we have siXty-one
ships that are technically classed as YES
sells of war" which were constructed at
our own shipyardss, There have been add
ed to this NUM- Der fourteen fighting ships
built for other nations in England and
France and two at German yards. This
gives the United States seventy-fve of the
latest pattern fighting ships, mostly of
the armored cruiser type.
No nation in the world except Great
Britain has such a number of vessels Of
war, all new and of the most approved
designs, in their respective class.
We have now afoat five first-class bat
tleships, and in two months the Ken
lucky and Kearsarge will be added to the
list.
The finest vessel in the American fleet
of the battleship pattern is the Iowa. She
is 11,200 tons displacement. Her battery is
one of the heaviest on the seas. Sne car
ries four Pinch rifles. These guns are
IS feet long and nearly feet in diameter,
outside measurement at the breech, while
at the muzzle they taper off to inches
der is 425 pounds, which is divided into
three equal parts, incased in white fan
mel bags. 1t has been found that the pro
jectle gets the full force of the charge
by this subdivision of the powder, and 1t
burns slower, which is the reason for the
great length of the gun.
The powder Is brown, like confection-
ers chocolate; the grain is trihe over
an inch square I'm the heaviest guns,
like the 13 and 16-inch, prismatic, or six
sided grain powder is used) The armor-
smashing shell of this gun weighs S25
pounds. and the solid shot 300.
The increase in the powder charge of
our heavy guns since our late war Is
something tremendous. Gen. Gilmore.
when he shelled Charleston in 1864. at a
distance of eight miles, astonished the
world and inaugurated new era in long
range gunnery. He used 200 and 300 pound
Parrot guns. In the 200-pounder the pow
der charge was 80 pounds, and in the 300
FOUNDER, Go pounds. These were to 10
inch guns, and, at the tremendous eleva-
| tion of forty degrees that had 10 be given
| them, their muzZles blew off frequently
| after the twenty-ffth round, and they
We're liable TO burst after the 200th round.
The Iowa's eight S-inch guns will stand
| 800 rounds each without showing any dan
| ger signs, and the charge is 500 pounds of
| powder and a $50 pound shell, driven
| second when It starts, and l,S46 feet each
| second a mile from the gun. and when
| two miles away the shell is still flying al
the rate of 164S feet each second.
| This is what modern gunnery means.
| and is what viii happen off he Morro
within ten days, unless the unexpected
| intervenes. szfs
| The accuracytof these S-inch and 6-inch
| rifles was shown during a RECEIPT expert
| ment. Within the last week Commodore
| Schley's fleet went out TO sea to test Its
guns and give the men some incidental
! target practice. The target was a piece
| Of canvas ten feet wide by twelve long,
! stretched on frame and put on a buoy.
| Al r1ile distant the S-iuch guns cut it
| TO bits the first round. The 6-inch rifles
| 9-poundersAweTe even more accurate
| than the larger celibers.
! The American gunner is admittedly the
best afoat. as was shown in our war of
1872 and again when the gunners of the
| KearSarge weEe successful over those Of
the Alabama Ewfso had been trained on
what Europe Regarded as the finest gun
| merry school in the world-the British ship
| Excellent. E1ss-
Spain has but one battleship like ours.
Il is the Pelayo, Of 5000 ions. II is older
than any of ours. and rated TWO knots
slower Her best vessels are OF the ar
mored cruiser class such as the Vizcaya
and Oquendo, neither of which is equal TO
the New York or Brooklyn. while the Co
lumbia or Minneapolis could run away
from them on one-half head of steam.
So say the naval attaches of England and
Russia, on duty here with their embas-
sizes.
In addition TO the vessels already or
dered and building in the naval appropri4-
ton bill, now ready. four double-turreted
monitors are authorized. They are to be
Of the Puritan class, not to cost over
q, ,250. 600 each.
Besides the seventy-fve regularly
classified war-ships OF the navy there is
an auxiliary fleet Of fast ocean liners ac-
quired in the last ninety days. At the
head Of the list stand the magnificent
st. Louis and St. Paul of the American
line. These two vessels and sixteen Others
| of nearly equal tonnage are being equip
ped with batteries Of rapid firing l0t
pound rifles, eight to each Of the larger
ships, and six to those from 5000 to 400
tons, with an equal number of 5-inch OF
| 4 l-2-inch guns Of the rapid firing class
! as a secondary battery.
| The country may feel easy in regard tC
the matter of torpedo boats and torpedo
boat destroyers. The United States now
owns thirty-one torpedo boats proper
with about the same number of yachts
and fast small vessels that with small
alterations can be turned into an ad
mirable torpedo fleet There are six divi
sions Of these boats and destroyers. witt
from twelve to fifteen vessels to a divi
sion. The average torpedo boat Is from
sixty to Seventy-five feet long with
capacity for twenty-five to thirty knot!
! on hour. The destroyers are about twice
this size. Both torpedo boats and theil
destroyers are equipped with two 4 OF
r 5-inch rapid firing guns.
The Navy Department has Just com
= | pleted the equipment and details of ply
is=fr. To- 81
for the latest medical device for the ben
eft of the sick officers and men of tn
! fleets of Hampton Roads and Key West
| This is the ambulance ship Creole. Sh
= | has on board everything a first-clas!
: | hospital should have, including accommo
, | dation for from 700 to 800 sick or wounde,
men. Should the ambulance ship hecOm
overcrowded she will run into Key Wes
or up to Newport News and turn her sicl
| or wounded over to the hospitals ther
| for treatment. The medical staff will
consist of one full surgeon, DR.. Street @
the Navy, who is in charge; three pas
/ assistant surgeoS' and such number 0
assistant surgeons as may be required
The Creole will always be on hand il
= time Of action, and will be supplied wit
steam launches TO bring those needin
attention on board of her
1t is not yet certain what number @
( volunteers viii be called for or for wha
time. 1T is probable that the limit ma
be 200 co., with 600 in the first call Tn
mobilization plan includes from $4,000
So, 900 at once. The question of mObiliZin
1t such a force IL no longer discussed.
II has been agreed upon. The details of thi
IA organization and plans of campaign ar
now being revised and perfected In ol
i der that no masses of men may be gatf
cred into bodies where movements woul
J. not be free. when embarkations ar
~. q.
leans, Mobile, Pensacola and Tampa Th
| six comnanies of the TWentY-fifth Infar