Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-12-15

lest armor and most powerful arma-
ment for vessels of their class. it was
evidently the intention to provide for
vessels more powerful than those of
any other nation in the world.
The unfortunate provision by which
the contracts for the vessels were
made subject to an agreement as to the
price of armor while it delayed the
work served one good purpose in MAX
ing it possible to combine with them
the two battleships provided for by the
act of June Z, 1900. The bureau of
construction and repair, in the designs
for these five vessels, has fully carried
out the evident purpose of congress
and the plans now approaching com
pletion represent five of the most pow
erful battleships ever projected.
The vessels appropriated for in 1899
are required to be sheathed and COD
pered, whereas those of the later ap-
preparation have been held by the navy
department not to be covered by the
provision as to sheathing, and the
bureau has, therefore, designed two
classes of vessels, one sheathed and the
other not sheathed. The designs have
been further complicated by the d c-
sion of the board on construction to
fit three of the vessels with the super
posed turret. similar to those on the
Kearsarge and Kentucky, and to pro-
vide the other two vessels with what
has been designated the quadrilateral
arrangement of the S-inch guns of the
main battery.
The general dimensions and chief
characteristics of the sheathed and
coppered vessels are:
Length on load waterline. .. 495 feet
Breadth extreme at load water
line. 800. ....... -. ZIG TT. 10 in.
Trial displacement, about $4,000 tons
Mean draught at trial displacc-
ment, about. t.......' .........24 feet
Greatest draught, full load,
about ..... ........ .....26 feet
The general dimensions of the un-
sheathed vessels are:
Length on load waterline E. ..435 feet
Breadth, extreme. at load water
line. -. ............. rs IT. 21a in.
Trial displacement, about ..14,600 tons
Mean draught at trial displace-
ment, about ..... ... ........24 feet
Greatest draught, full load,
about ....... -. -. ...... 90 feet
In the $4,000 tons, represented in
each of these vessels. the many antago-
nistic qualities essential to a perfect
fighting machine have been compro-
missed and incorporated in proportion to
which experience seems to have point
ed out rs the most desirable and eff
cient To begin with, they will have a
speed of az least nineteen knots, which
compares most favorably with anv ho'
tleships under construction abroad, as
well as any in the projected stage. AS
all the vessels previously designed by
the bureau have shown excess of speed
over that called for it may be expected
that this figure will be exceeded by
from a quarter to a half a knot.
The vessels will be propelled at this
high speed by twin screws driven by
two 4-cylinder, triple-expanson en-
gines of about $4,000 indicated horse
power, having a stroke of four feet,
running under conditions of maximum
speed at about one hundred and twenty
revolutions a minute. The steam nee
essary to this power will be supplied
at pressure of 250 pounds a square
inch by twenty-four BabcoX & Wilcox
straight water tube boilers. placed
four in each of six Independent water
tight compartments
Each ship will carry four 12-inch
guns, forty calfbers in length, mounted
in pairs in Hichborn balanced turrets
having an arc of train of 270 degrees
one forward and one aft in each YES
sci. OF the S-inch guns forty-five cal
ibers in length, which will be carried
on each of the three sheathed vessels
four will be mounted in turrets of the
Hichborn type, superposed upon the
12-inch turrets, and four in two turrets
amidships, having an arc of train OF
1S0 degrees; and in the two unsheathed
vessels all eight eight-inch guns will be
mounted in four independent turrets,
having an arc of train of las degrees
placed two on each side at the ends of
the suDerstructure, thus forming a
quadrilateral. In each vessel there
will be broadside of II six-inch rapid
fire guns, so calibers in length. mount
ed six on each side on the main deck
each with an arc of train of 10 degrees
and each will also have 12 14-pounders
and 12 three-pounders mounted in
commanding positions and having very
large arcs of fire. In the two lower
tops there will be four automatic one
Founders and in the upper tops, -four
single-shot one-pounderS.