Rocky Ford enterprise., 1898-06-09


all their boasted self-sutiiclency. their
manifold mechanism. and their COM
plex provisions against accident or
mishap. are really helpless creations
the moment their coal supplies become
exhausted. Nothing could be more
pathetically distressed than n great
battleship wallowing aimlessly in
seaway. her powers of offense intact
but paralyzed, like her great body, for
want of energy or It's correlative. coal;
her great eyes blind for want OF cleo
trical force: her lungs fouled by taint-
ed air because OF her halted blowers;
her whole body either feverish or chill
led. as the weather dictated. for want
of circulation or proper respiration; and
her complement athirst for need OF
enough heat to transform that tantaliz-
ing sea water into drink. Such
thing is distinctly possible. and 1t is
against even the slightest approach to
a like condition that we have taken
ample means to provide.
The modern. heavy fighting craft
carries between eighty and ninety en-
gines Of various sorts, aside from those
directly occupied in propelling the
ship; and, under normal Circumstance
es. It is quite safe to say that at least
fifteen or twenty per cent Of all steam
generated is taken up in their service.
Most of them are vital to the fighting
efficiency of the vessel; but there are
a few Of them, such. for instance. as
the engineers workshop. the distillers.
and the refrigerating plant, which may
be termed auxiliaries OF secondary i'm
portance; and 1t is the purpose Of the
government to run these accessories
on half-time, SO to speak, and to leave
just that much more energy for other
more needful purposes. To this end.
We have fitted up the repair ship, the
distiller ship. and the refrigerator ship,
while to the colliers has been relegated
the common service Of supplying coal
to all craft distant from ready bases
of supply. and the engineer-in-chief
has done his utmost to make them cap
able.
Tho Repair Ship.
The repair ship. fittingly named the
Vulcan. was the well-known steamer
Chatham, of the Merchant and Miners
line. between Baltimore and Boston.
Into the ship has been placed some
thing like eighty tons OF tools and ma
chinery. and today the vessel is a YER
table floating workshop. There are
plate bending rolls. and punching and
shearing machines that can bite right
through an inch of solid steel. There
are lathes for turning castings of con-
siderable size. and planers, drills and
1,t, -
meet almost any need short of that de-
manded in the complete reconstruction
of a large engine. There are pipe cut
ters, bolt cutters, forges and grind
stones; and there is good-sized cupo-
Ia for the melting of sufficient metal
to make pretty heavy casting. There
are a number Of blowers to supply the
several forges and to draw foul air
from between decks and to send it
skyward through the red-mouthed ven-
tilators above. There are also evap-
orators and distillers of capacity
equal to a daily output of quite 10000
gallons Of potable water-several times
more than the needs of the Vulcan
could demand. A supplemental cleo
trio plant has given excellent lighting
hoSiiiliSo thiouSh
cipally in the workshops on what is
termed the third deck.
The purpose of this craft is manifest
She is to followsin the wake of fleet
her great coal capacity giving her a
wide radius of action, and she is to
supply fresh water to the other vessels
and to make then and there all possible
repairs which might otherwise take
the ships miles and miles away to some
naval station.
A broken spindle might relder help
less two great guns; but few hours
work on the Vulcan would remedy the
trouble; and even less time might
place the engines of one of our torpedo
boats in trim after a considerable
break. At the close of an engagement,
the wounded vessels could hasten to
her or she to them, and such work then
be done as to place them back in the
line of battle, once more formidable
menace to the foe.