The San Francisco call., 1899-01-02
NEWS OF FOREIGN NAvIEs.


Eight submarine boats are in course OF
construction at the national doch-yaiuS
Of France.
A battle-ship to be named London was
laid down at Portsmouth on December 1.
She will be Of the same tonnage as Ine
Formidable, launched last November, put
will have a continuous belt from cltstoel
to stem.
More orders for war-ships by foreign
Governments have been offered to snip
builders on the Thames than the latteI
could accept Yarrow & Co. nave Iouhu
their business increased SO greatly as 10
oblige a removal to more commoulous
premises.
The Queen has sanctioned an increase
of officers in the British navy. One nag
officer is to be added each year, commenc-
ing with January, 1899; four captains IN
1898, five in 1899 and five annually there
after Commanders five each year com
mencing with 1885, The warrant officers
corps is to be increased at once as 1ol-
lows: Chief gunners and chief boat
swains from 20 to 100: chief carpenters
from IS to 20; carpenters, now 201, to 24O
and gunners and boatswains from 92O to
1150.
4
nails in SPAIN on December destroyed
$500 900 worth Of naval stores and f1t-
tings, among which were those belonging
to the Admiral Cisnero, an armored
crusier of the same class and type as the
Marie Teresa, Oquendo, Viscaya and Cris-
tobal Colon, destroyed off Santiago on
July 3 last by the American feet.
The keel of the battle-ship Venerable
will shortly be laid at the Chatham dock
ri will ha +ba frGt time in the his
tory of that yard that three ships have
been built on the same slip within pc
riod of eleven months.
The Japanese torpedo-boat destroyer
Murakuma Oarkening Cloud, one Of the
six boats built by Thornycroft, has made
a very successful trial, making 30A knots
for three continuous hours, the engines
developing $500 horsepower on 205 pounds
of steam and 3S9 revolutions. The Mura-
kuma is 210 feet In length, 19 feet inches
beam. displacing 275 tons when down
to her sea-going draught Of feet inches.
Her armament consists Of one l2-pounder,
five 6-pounders and two 1S-inch torpedo
tubes. There are three Thornycroft boil
ers, having collectively a heating surface
of 1850 square feet and 200 square feet of
crate. With matches open the boat is ca
pable of making % knots.
The sea fight off Santiago on July
last demonstrated the fact that the mill
tary masts are a source of great Danger
to the gun crews. and might even cause
the surrender of the ship in the event of
the masts falling on deck. On one Of the
Spanish ships the mast had fallen d1-
rectly over one Of the 6-inch guns, no
doubt disabling the crew. On another ship
the fallen mast lay across the heavy bar
bette guns, thus interfering with II not en-
tirely destroying their usefulness. In oren
deck vessels this question is a most seri-
Gus one and may lead to radical changes.
Fighting tops may be entirely discarded,
and the masts used solely for signaling
purposes in which event they can be
made much lighter and thereby greatly
improve the general efficiency of the ship,
especially in stress of weather.
The two ships building at Cramps' for
the Russian navy promise to be the most
efficient vessels of their classes on limited
dispIacements. The cruiser, which is to
be completed first will be 400 feet in
length, 80 feet beam and about 10 feet 6
inches draught, displacing $500 tons. She
will have two triple-eXpansion engines
and 80 Niclause water-tube boilers, deVel-
oping 20 900 horsepower, and a speed of q
knots on a trial of twelve continuous
hours. The armament consists entirely
of rapid-fring guns, and its caltber and
DISPOSITION is as follows: Twelve 6-inch
on the main deck of which four are on
each broadside, two aft on the poop and
two forward on the forecastle. There are
also twelve 3-inch and six 6-pounders dis
tributed all over the ship, and four tor
pedo tubes, one on each broadside and in
the bow and stern. The coal capacity is
14OO tons, and the complement 450 officers
and men.
Italian shipbuilders at Leghorn and at
Sestri Ponenti, near Naples, share with
Elswicks the honor Of turning out the
most efficient war vessels. Orlando
Brothers. at Leghorn, have recently COM
pleted in the short time Of eighteen
months duplicate of the Cristobal Colon
of 6SS2 tons. The ship was built for the
Argentine Republic and is named General
Belgrano. Seven of these armored cruis-
ers have been built in Italy, and the last
differs from the others only in her bat
terry. She has an all-round nickel-steel
armor belt of six inches maximum thick
ness, and the side armor amidships ex-
tends to the main deck, which, with the
bulkheads, forms complete citadel in
which the primary battery is carried. The
armament consists of two Armstrong
guns mounted in barbette on the main
deck, one at each end of the redoubt; ten
6-inch Armstrong quick-firers in battery
within the redoubt on the main deck; four
similar guns-two forward and two aft
on the main deck-firing on a line of the
keel; two 3-inch rapid-firers; ten 2A-inch,
eight 11a-inch MaXims, besides two land
ing mitraileuses; two Maxim-N -Nordenfelt
guns and four torpedo tubes on the
broadsides. The engines develop 5000
horsepower under natural draught and
5000 under forced draught, and on her
trial made 1900 knots on a displacement
Of 800 tons in excess OF the normal. I'm
der forced draught the speed is 20 knots
The bunker capacity is about 100 tons,
and capstans and ammunition hoists are
worked by electricity.
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