The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1898-05-27
F6E! No 21..
NON eosIB ETS.
VESSELS THAT 10 NOT FiGffx
BUT HELP THE FIGHTERS,


without Them. no Battle Could be
Fought, or st 1t Could be Waxed
Only at the o. .st Disadva0fhke.
There Must be Golfers to car the
Coal TO Feed the Engines--Repair
Ships to 1end Breaks, Close Holes
and Replace Lost or Injured Parts.
A DistilIer Ship 60 Supply Pre-
Water and the Refrigerator to Ke6p'
Meat Fresh, and the sAinbul66ce
Ship for the Comfort and Safety Of
the wounded.
Washington, May 81, Special:
The finest of our fghtina jpe, with
all their boasted self-suff their
manifold nechanisms;.aNS
splex provisions III Inst IN az
mhhap, ore really helpless tll5 { g,
ent their COZ supplies become q
heusted 3 hing could. be more
4hetickl fSss6a s than - =, ifi st
battle Ship VA llowlhe nimi ~ Il
seaway her pow 6is sof "a Ian0es 8 -
sparaly lysed, 6ks 81 81 3 = 70 body ~
Mspt sof. anAs ttrf ~ ~
coal. ner great eyes blind f6l want
Of electrical force; her lungs feuled
by tainted air because of her halted
blowers; her whole body either few
erish or chilled, as the weather die
tated, for want of circulation or prop
er respiration, and her complement
athirst for need of enough heat to
transform that tantalizing sea water
into drink. Such thing is distinct
ly possible, and it is against even
the slightest approach to like con-
dition that we have taken ample
means to provide.
The modern, heavy fighting craft
carries between eighty and ninety
engines of various sorts, aside from
those directly occupied in propelling
the ship, and under normal circums
stances it is quite safe to say at leastN
IS or 20 per cent. of all steam gen,
Grated is taken up in their servi-
Nest of them are vital to the fighting
efficiency of the vessel. but there are
4 fe~ of them, such, for instance, as
!. .si,e engineers work shop, the distill-
ers and the refrigerating plant, which
may be termed auxiliaries of second
ary Importance, and it is the purpose
Of the Government to run these ac-
cesories on half time, so to speak,
and to leave just that much more
energy for other more needful pur-
poses. 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
capable.
THE REPAIR SHOP.
The repair shop, fittingly named
the Vulcan, vas 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
machinery, and today the vessel is a
veritable floating workshop.
There are plate bending rolls and
punching and shearing machines that
can bite through an inch of solid
steel. There are lathes for turning
castings Of considerable size, and
Plahers, drills and milling machines
bf compass enough to meet almost
any need short of that demand in the
complete reconstruction Of large
engine. There are pipe cutter, bolt
cutters, forges and grindstones, and
there is good sized cupola for the
melting of sufficient metal to make
a pretty heavy casting. There are a
number of blowers to supply the sew
eral forges and to draw foul air from
between decks and to send it sky.
ward through the red-mouthed ven-
tlators aboye. There are also evap
tratofs and distiller of a capacity
equal to a daily output Of quite TO-,
900 gallons of potable water---sev
eral times more than the needs of thu
tulcon oould domand A supnle