The San Francisco call., 1899-12-04

The navy budget Of Holland for E99-i9oO
foots up to S6,62 ,010. OF which S2.S5soVo ~
for ship construction and S2,5S4O4O Tor pay
and pensions.
The French torpedo gunboat Ia Here.
recently built at Cherbourg dockyard, mas
passed through a twenty-four hours con-
tinuous trial. during which she AVERAGE
twenty knots, the engines developing -o0l
horsepower The four hours forced
draught trial had TO be abandoned owing
TO hot bearings. The vessel Is calculated
to make twenty-three knots with 'JoV
horsepower.
Hallebarde. French torpedo gunboat ot
300 tons, built by Normand Havre. real
lied a mean speed OF p knots during hye
hours under natural draught. and z''z
knots under forced draught during one
hours run. AS the boat is thirty teet
shorter and thirty-hve tons greater dis-
placement than boats OF similar type IN
England, the performance appears highiy
satisfactory.
The British third-class cruiser Barham
Of 1880 tons. built in 1859. has had her old
boilers replaced with Thornycroft water
tube boilers. At the three hours
trial she developed 1850 horsepower
and a speed OF 1924 knots. This
vessel when first built was
source OF great disappointment 20
the Admiralty. she was calculated 20
steam 1914 knots under forced draught:
after four trials and considerable altera-
tions she passed through the eight hours
trial February IT, 1891. with a mean speed
OF 17.S4s knots on 1914 horsepower. Bras
sys Annual credits the ship with 400
horsepower and 1s.6 knots speed.
The Turkish Navy Department has re-
covered a considerable amount OF the
treasure sunk of Smyrna in the battle OF
1770. The Russian admirals ship Tshesme
and other ships were sunk in waters 90
TO 120 fathoms in depth and the Greek
divers hired TO recover moneys and other
valuables lost have had hard task, for
which, however, they have received the
handsome sum Of $4,000 thus far. The
divers located the Russian ship and took
out 1900 golden ducats. 10000 golden
double ducats and a vast quantity of
other gold and silver coins. besides Jew
elry. Future operations will be carried
out on the sunken Turkish ships.
Holland is preparing to build a coast de-
fense vessel OF 1850 tons at Rotterdam.
Its dimensions are: Length. 322 feet;
breadth. "a feet; draught. II feet inches.
The engines Of $500 horsepower are 70 give
a speed OF 16 knots. and with $50 tons OF
coal radius Of action Of 5000 knots at
ten-knot speed is calculated. The ship
will have a six-inch all-around armor
belt two turrets OF ten inches and pro-
tective deck Of two and half inches. Tho
battery is composed OF two 9.4-inch. car
ried singly in turrets; four 50 inch quick
firers; four II Founders and eight Ia
Founders. The torpedo arrangement In
cludes two submerged broadside and one
above water torpedo tubes.
The system In sheathing ships in the
Russian navy is that introduced by
Grantham and differs greatly from that OF
White. which is used in the British and
American navies. Grantham's Is far more
| expensive and complicated in that IL en-
braces two thicknesses OF wood laid on
| vertically for the inner layer and covered
horizontally by the outer layer. and IL
also provides for longitudinal steel string
ers The White system is that Of one
thickness Of planking with heavy coat
| ing Of paint or marine glue on the metal
skin, the planking being securely fasten-
ed and tightly calked. The advantage
with this latter system Is its simplicity
and insignificant cost. besides the ability
10 effect local repairs without stripping
off large surfaces OF sheathlng. Still the
Russian Admiralty sticks TO Grantham .
/ system. giving as reasons: First. its In
/ hnitesimal cost; second. that the In
creased weight Of per cent diminishes
the speed only l per cent: third. that II
| properly done II entirely secures the steel
or iron skin against damp or rust, and
fourth. that the longitudinal stringers add
TO the general solidity Of the hull.