The Portland daily press., 1899-03-08

Washington, March THE plans for
the three battleships authorized by the
naval appropriation bin, just passed, are
being woi ked out. The general features
of the ships have been defined subject to
the approval of the secretary. The bat
tleships will be q thousand tons larger
than the Maine and Missouri class, of a
total displacement of 10 800 tons making
them by far the largest ships in the
American navy about equal in dimen-
sions to the best type of battleships now
being constructed abroad under the new
practice. Though larger than the Maine,
the ships will be laid on almost the same
dimension. They will carry each four
twelve inch guns in turrets. This cali
bers is an inch less than the guns carried
by the Oregon, but by improved design
they will be almost equal in penetrative
po wer.
Tho eight inch guns of the Oregon type,
although they did very effective work at
Santiago and Manila, have been aban-
doned. But instead of eight inch guns
the new ships Will have sixteen guns of
inch calbre all rapid flrers and twenty
one FOUNDER. This battery rsprese nts the
ideal proportion between guns IS taught
by practice OF our own fleets during the
Spanish war and the Chinese and Japa-
nese vessels during the Japanese Chinese
war. The speed of the vessels Will be
| eighteen knots an advance of two knots
over the Oregon class, but just equal to
that Of the new Maine. For protection
against the enemy's shot, the battleships
will have one belt of armor seven feet six
inches broad, running clear around the
water line, three feet six inches above
and four feet below. 1t was originally
planned To have this armor l6 inches
| thick but the designers have Eow reduced
the thickness to i2 inches This change
was mace in order to strengthen the case
ments which Will be 12 inches thick, IN
stead of five inches Although there is u
noticeable absence of new features in the
designs of the tattleships, which fact
taken in connection with the small
amount Of progress reported in the de-
signs of the Maine class, may be an indi.
cation that our naval designers have very
nearly approached the ideal hattleship IN
their work The TACT that the navy de
partment is linn tied 10 1890 per ton, in
the purchase OF armor makes 1t impossible
to build thess ships in the absence of fur
be obliged TO content itself with the mere
preparation of detailed plans during the
coming summer.
The six cruisers of the unarmored type
provided for can, hJwever, be built, and
Chief Constructor Hichborn has already
been working out the designs upon lines
approved by the board of bureau chiefs.
II is the purpose of the navy depart
ment to place contracts for those ships Mt
the earliest possible moment. They rep
resent type of cru iser which would be OF
the greatest value Just now for our for
eign service. The plins call for vessels
of about 2GJ0 tons and the ships will be
improved Mar hleheads so to speak, being
$50 tons larger than ships of that class
and with better batteries and more coal
capacity.
ANGST important consideration is that
they will be sheathed with wood over the
steel hull ana fully coppered, enabling
them to keep the seas even in tropical
waters for many months without being
under the necessity of seeking IA dry dock.
The battery Will be made up of SIX 3
inch guns each ship. The cost Is expected
to te considerably more than that Gf the
Marblehead. which WAS 1914 oA0. for the
amount allowed by Congress was 81, l4h
sou each. This ditfeieIcs is accounted for
by the many Improvements made in the
Marblehead's Designs.