The herald., 1898-07-24
ENGLAND'SLATEST BATTLESHIP

| The Albion, which will be launched this
] afternoon from the yard of the Thames
Iron Works and Shipbuilding company at
| Blackwell, is a frst-class battleship. She
is one of the Campus class, her length BE-
tween perpendicuars being 800 feet, and
her breadth "A feet. At a mean draught of
| 26 feet her displacement will be 900 tons,
| the vessels of this class being somewhat
| lighter than our biggest battleships. The
ship has a belt of Harveyized armor 6
inches thick and covering 1856 feet of her
length, the vertical extension being IA feet,
or feet above the normal water line and
feet below. The ends of the port and star
board sides of the belt are transversely
connected by armored bulkheads of steel
Harveyized plate, the thicknesses OF which
are u inches. 10 inches and inches. The
armored deck extends from stem to stern,
and starts from the lower edges of the arm
ored belt, forming, as 1t were, floor TO
the armored part in place of being what
might be described as a roof. Considera-
BILE curve is given to this deck, so that at
the longitudinal center 1t is feet inches
above the normal water plane. This re-
fers to the middle body; at the extreme
ends it dips down in the usual way. The
principal armament is carried in two bar
bettes which form the forward and after
ends Of the armored citadel. These bar
bettes are circular in plan and have IL.
inch Harveyized armor on the upper parts,
the lower walls, where the side armor sup
plies protection having 6-inch armor. The
main coming tower forward has 12-inch
armor, there being an observation tower IT
wit, I'M
bulkheads the main and middle decks are
protected by 19-inch and 1-inch steel. The
6-inch gun positions are classmates having
6-inch armor cupboard and two thicknesses
of 1-inch plates at the back to arrest splin-
tiers or language. 1t should be noted that
the main deck classmates give an arc of fire
which includes right ahead for the for
ward guns and directly aft for the after
guns, the angle of fire in each case being
12O degrees. The ends of the ship are pro-
tected by Pinch nickel steel plates.
The main armament consists of four 12-
inch forty-six-ton wire guns. These are
mounted within the barbettes on revolving
turntables in the usual way. There are &
inch Harveyized steel shields over these
guns. The twelve 6-inch quick-fire guns
are mounted in classmates as stated, eight
on the main deck and four on the upper
deck. There are also ten 12-pounder guns,
six 3-pounder guns, three of the latter be-
ing in the military tops, two 12-pounder
boat and field guns and eight .45-inch ma
chine guns, and six howitzers for high
angle fire. There are also four sub
merged torpedo discharges, the stern dis
charge, which was to have been fitted hav-
irg been taken out of the design. These
will take the 18-inch diameter torpedo, of
which eighteen will be carried, in addition
to which there will be five A-inch torpe-
does for boats use. The contractors foT
the machinery are Messrs. Maudslay, Sons
& Field. The main engines are of the now
usual inverted triple expansion type, hav-
ing high, intermediate and low pressure
cylinders of 30 inches, 40 inches and 50
inches in diameter respectively, the stroke
being feet inches. The screws are Il
feet in diameter. The boilers are of the
now universal Belleville type, there being
twenty in all. They will be pressed to 300
pounds per square inch, the steam tension
being reduced at the engines. The indi-
Gated horsepower is estimated at 1850,
which is calculated to drive the ship at
eighteen and half knots. The coal ca
racity is 1900 tons.
The launch will take place about o'clock
The Duke and Duchess of York will be
present, the duchess performing the
launching ceremony.-London Times, June
81.