Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-12-30
THE BIGGEST BATTLESHIPS
They are 10 he OF Ii,00O Tons DE-
placement aud 60 Coat $1,000
900 Zach.

New York. Dec. 3o.--A special 20 the
Tribune from Washington says; De-
signs for the greatest battlcrhips ever
projected for the American navy were
agreed upon by the naval board OF con-
struction today, after several months OF
discussion over the important questions
OF battery armor speed. coal capacity
and displacement The three now ver
sels--to be called the Georgia, th2 New
Jersey and the pennsylvanln--wlG equal
In formidahility the finest line oil ba ne.
ships yet laid down by any fo.eiBa
power. and. with the addition OF tyn'-
cal American improvements. VIII sur
pass In fghtlng force any ships now
anoat
The salient features Of the design con-
template a displacement n npproxi-
mately 1900 tons as compared with the
Oregon's ll.O00, or the new Names ~. q
300. .Thc spced IL to be "at least 10
knots" with a coal bunker capacity OF
1000 tons.
There will be two suporlmposed tur.
retr, one fore and the other aft, each
containing two i2-inch and two s-lnch
guns Of the new elongated bore and
high. smok.lcss powder velocity. The
remaining guns Of the main battery Will
consist OF twelve siX-lnch quick fire In
broadslde. This arrangement OF bat
terry has been finally adopted Instead
OF an alternative plan which provided
for -four ia-iuch runs In turfets and
sixteen siN-lnch broadside. which had
been put forward to avoid the expcdlent
uf suporinposcd turwts. The twO-story'
turrcts, which are dlsiinctlvely Amer
lean innovation. ~ applied TO the Kcar-
cargo and the Kentucky. are REGARDED
aa no longer OF doubtful success, and
It 10 known that foreign governments
are preparing To- adopt ther. 60 ~ NJ
the CONCENTRATION aud angle Of fire tncy
secure, which Is unapproached by any
other cxpedlcnt.
The board also definitely determined
upon the use OF the most modern
Kruppized nrmnr for the new vCaselA
It's precise distribution to be decided
upon after the chief constructor has
made sufficient progress with the ac.
tual plans 60 determine the proper ar
rangemcnt OF weights. The armor
problem has been the most dinlcult 70
solve, ana TO tvs cause u attributable
the delay In planning the ships. Tho
act authorizing the vessels was APP
proved on March . OF this year. and II
stipulated that no contract should be
made for any portion OF the vessels un-
I'll contract was made for the arinor
Congress having limited the cost OF
armor TO the ridiculous price OF $500 a
ton. It was evident from the beginning
that no satisfactory ship could he built
under such restriction, and for that
reason the plans have been discussed
with unusual elaboration.
AZ the weight OF afrnor entering Into
these ships was a very large Item, the
question Of the adoption OF Krupp or
tinfocer Harveylzed material was ex-
tremely important, THE can be
readily appreciated from the fact that
roughly 5000 tons of the former 1.-THE
approximate weight required for each
battloshlpl II equivalent, as regard,
resistance 90 penetration, to 1000 OF the
latter. The adoption. therefore, OF the
material treated by the Krupp process
meant that 1000 tons Of weight would
be available for distribution among
other vital characteristics OF battleshlp
weight OF propeiling machinery
tspeed), armament. coal carrying ca
pacity and draught.
The total cost OF each OF these three
ships when ready for sea viii exceed
s7,0O0.000 each. They Will cruise seven
thousand miles stralghtaway, and
there Will not be three ships of similar
offensive and defensive strength In the
feet OF any possible enemy.