Evening star., 1900-12-08
Description of Our Three Latest Pro-
tected Cruisers.
IMPROVEMENTS ON THE OLYMPIA
viii Be Able to Give and Take
Pretty Hard Knocks.
Fitted UP AS FLAGSHIPS

appropriations for ships but 1t certainly did
when provision was made last June for the
construction of three protected cruisers
tacitly understood to mean three improved
Olympias."
Our war with Spain. where the fighting
simulated closely ne-of-battle conditions.
certainly showed that only armored craft,
and only those pretty stoutly clad with
heavy steel, cou4d be expected to stand up
against well-managed enemy. Without
detracting one bit from the battle of Ma
Mia bay. it is thoroughly understood thai
very bad gunnery on the part of the Span
iards alone accounted for the immunity of
fleet and that absence of death and in
jury among men that seems even now
scarcely less than miracle. Substantially
unguarded save by thin protective decks and
Intervening buiWarkS of coal, a couple OF
well-directed shots from any one of the
larger vessels of the Spanish squadron could
have destroyed or seriously damaged any
one of our feet, and that with a list of
dead too appalling to contemplate. But
the glory of the Olympia could not be
gainsaid. and Congress. in moment OF en-
thuSia9rn, determined to perpetuate the type
IN three more ships of larger dimensions
and more modern battery power, and the
Charleston, Milwaukee and ST. Louis are to
represent the improved class.
ArmOred and Protected Cruisers.
To the layman all cruisers are alike, but
to the naval man there is a vast deal of diff
ference. The armored cruiser is a speedier
version of the battle ship, carrying lighter
armor and lighter guns; the protected crui-
ser-no matter what her battery and speed
may be-is the armored cruiser substantially
stripped of all armor defense for the hull
proper. She is like a dragoon stripped of
his metallic helmet and cuirass-able to give
blows but not able to take them Such
ships. had not the more progressive men,
bers of the Navy Departments board of
construction seen fit to make some radical
changes in hull protection. resulting in
what may well-nigh be called second-class
ermored crusers-a type of ship distinctly
new to our navy.
Instead OF the peace-time mission of nau
teal police and the wartime service of
scouts and commerce destroyers. we shall
have in these three vessels ships that will
b. able to stand a good deal Of banging
without serious harm, while being able to
get In close enough to deal with rtainty
blows that would knock out any craft be-
longing legitimate!y to the order of SIM
Pile protected cruisers. We cannot be said
t. have originated the type the Charleston
represents, but We can claim the distinc-
ton of making an advance upon the order
abroad and of having developed three very
promising ships when sentimental claSS1-
fCation seemed to relegate them to a serv-
ice Of no great dignity in war time.
The New Ships.
The Charleston perpetuates the name OF
the cruiser lost last year off Kamiguin Is
land, the ST. Louis revyes the name Of
the old wooden sloop-of-war st. Louis
famous because of the Martin Koszta affair
at Smyrna in 1S53-an instance OF txcep-
tionally courageous conduct In the face of
grave odds, while the milwaukee is new 10
the navy list. .-a--
To the reader with mind for figures.
and to all with good sense of distances
and magnitudes. 1t may be OF interest to
know that each Of these ships will be 424
feet long at the water line. and OF greatest
beam, at the same place. OF 66 feet-in
other words. good square long and as
wide as the average street from house to
house When ready for sea, with II stores
and equipment aboard. these ships will
represent a total weight of something over
10000 tons, generally termed dlsplace-
ment;" and at that time will require 251a
feet OF water to float them BY the terms
of the contracts they must make at least
of something over twenty-five statute miles,
and 1t is expected that the ships will &C.
yelop quite twenty-three knots
Powerful Engines.
That the ships shall be able to do all
that, they are to be propelled by two big
1s-foot propellers. each to be driven by Its
own powerful triple-expansion engine-the
two developing no less than 2l.OOO Indicated
horse power when the screws are revolving
1873 times minute. That means that the
nowerful steel arms of the driving piston
rods must thrust in and out from the mus
cular shoulders Of those eight cylinders ss
often as 266 times minute-at each stroke
representing moving mass OF many tons
The power behind those gigantic shoulders
is 70 be supplied by sixteen water-tube
boilers of the most approved pattern, ar
ranged in four separate water-tight COM
nartmeuts and able to supply constant
feed-hour in and hour out-of steam at
an explosive pressure Of $50 pounds to every
square inch of boiler tube and feed pipe.
The white-hot mass OF the furnace beds
will represent a total area of quite 1,4U
square feet-a good-sized city house LOT.
and two big blowers In each fire room will
add their driving breath to the natural
stacks To feed these boilers each ship
will be able to carry in her coal bunkers no
fewer than 1.5OO tons of fuei-enough. so ii
Is computed to carry the ships across the
Atlantic at an 1S-knot clip. and there and
back at a cruising jog Of 1o knots an hour.
Rapid-Fire Guns.
The fighting get-up of the vessels will be
OF the distinctly rapid-fire type-the larges:
guns being able to fire quite six times a
minute The main battery will consist OF
IA 6-inch breech-loading rifles of the new
long pattern. and the secondary battery OF
Is long 14-pounders-guns peculiarly our
cWn-a dozen 3-pounders. II 1-pounders, =
8-inch field guns for landing parties. ma
chine guns and couple of small automatic
pieces There will be nc torpedoes The
6-nch guns will be mounted on the main
deck at the four corners Of the superstruc
ture In sponsors and singly in the open
forward and aft of the superstructure. and
on the gun deck Immediately below the
sponsoned guns on the main deck and amid
ships In recessed ports so constructed that
the two guns on each side there may be
turned inboard within the side line of The
hull for better stowage in bad weather.
Well Protected.
To guard the ''vitals" of the Charleston
and her sister ships from the attack of
foe similarly armed. the water-line region
throughout the reach Of the engines. boil
ers and magazines is guarded by a belt
seven and a half feet wide and four inches
thick. At deepest draft this belt is still
fifteen inches above the water-line Above
this belt for distance of LIB feet amid
ships, and reaching up to the main deck