The San Francisco call., 1899-07-24


900, of which s1.7750O0 is for the personnel
and 81 $50, 900 for new construction, ord
nance, torpedoes, etc.
The BellevilIe boiler is used in a French
ships of war. 27 Russian, 80 British.
Japanese, 2 Austrian and one each in the
Spanish, Argentine, Chilean and Italian
navies.
The Argentine vessel Of war lost last
month on the island of Blanca, in the
Camerone Bay, was the Villarino, an ord
nance transport of 1000 tons and alleged
to have a speed Of twenty-five knots
A British gunboat named the Gwendo-
line has been launched and commissioned
on Lake Nyanza. She is 13O feet in length,
ten feet longer than the German gunboat
Wiseman. which was hitherto the only
war vessel on this African lake.
During the approaching British naval
maneuvers 11S war vessels and about 25000
men will participate. One of the principal
objects of the maneuvers is to exhaust
lively study the value of torpedo-boat de-
stroyers, Of which fifty-four are to be
engaged.
The Majestic. British battleship, took
on board recently at Portsmouth dockyard
1880 tons of coal in fourteen hours. Her
previous records were 161 and 172 tons per
T,
ing was done from one side only the per-
formance is excellent.
To guard against gas accommodating and
exploding in coal bunkers on board snip
the British Admiralty has issued orders
to the channel feet that bunkers are TO
be opened three hours daily for six days
after coaling Thereafter they are TO be
opened for periods twice week
Retirement ages Of officers In the French
navy were changed during the last days
of NJ. Lockroy's administration, and are
now as follows; Vice admirals at %, rear
admirals changed from 62 TO 20, captains
from 60 to 65; commanders 5S to 5O ana
lieutenants from SO to 45. This law is to
be gradually carried into effect, reaching
the last two grades in 1907 A new rank,
corresponding to that of lieutenant COM
mander in our navy, has also been eS-
tablished. and $50 heutenants taken from
the head of seniority have been selected
to become '1ieutenants de vaisseauma-
jors."
The performance of the Japanese tor
pedo-boat Akebone was six runs over
the measured mile, during which the
highest speed was 31226 knots and the
lowest 31.08, making an average of 31.159
knots. The vessel was launched April
"a and made her trial ten days later.
One regularity about the construction
of the Akebone is that in the riveting of
the upper strakes the heads Of the rivets
are not countersunk, but left projecting
over the plate. This supports the plate
and tends to stiffen it against any inclina-
ton to buckle which latter is quite likely
to happen in boats of that type where the
thickness of plates has been reduced to
the utmost limit of safety.
Several types of water-tube boilers have
been tested In the German navy. notably
the Niclausse (French), the Schultz Ger
mani and the Thornycroft (English), and
the latter has been adopted for the ships
under construction. The experience with
the new style of boilers has been costly
and caused several accidents and much
ANNOYANCE on board German naval YES
sells The cruiser Hertha, for example,
which accompanied the yacht Hohenzol-
lern UP the Mediterranean when the En-
peror visited Palestine, could not keep up
with the yacht, notwithstanding the
Hertha was rated at twenty-one knots
speed. against the Hohenzollern's eighteen
knots One stoker died from exhaustion
and several sailors were incapacitated
during the voyage owing to lack of air
supply in the frerooms. The Hertha was
finally taken to Genoa, where, at an ex-
pense of 500 900. the most glaring defects
were remedied. Another case is that OF
the Gazelle, fitted with Niclausse boilers.
Her trials were unsatisfactory and the
entire arrangement of her boilers has now
to be reorganized, which will take at least
six months and cost many thousand dol
lars. The chief complaint and defect ap-
pears to be excessive heat in the frerooms
and lack of ventilation. 1t is presumed
that the Navy Department will have the
latter important factor in efficiency thor
oughly studied out in the installation Of
the Niclausse boiler in the battleshiD
Maine and likewise in the Raleigh In the
latter ship the heat in the fireroom ran
up to 40 degrees, making it uncomfortable
for the firemen and engineers.