The age-herald., 1900-07-08
THE BATTLESHIP OREGON
When Built and the Cost of Hull and
 Machinery

The probabilities are that the battleship Oregon will prove to be total loss. Storms will likely come before she can be got off the rocks.
 The Oregon, says the New York Sun, is
 first class battleship, and was one of the
 three provided for by the act of Congress
 of June 30, 1890. She was built by the
 Union Iron Works in San Francisco, and
 the designs, which were made by Lewis
 Nixon, provided for ship of 10,2SS tons dis
 placement, with a gross tonnage of 53S9
 and net tonnage of 4,32S. She is 34S feet
 in length on the load water line, @ feet and
 inches in extreme breadth, with a mean
 draught of 24 feet. She is fitted with twin screws and triple-expansion engines, which
 have developed a maximum indicated horse
 power of Il 1,111
 The Oregon when she was built was more
 heavily armored than any other ship in
 the navy, except her sister ships, the Mas sachusetts and the Indiana. She carries
 on her sides a belt of Harveyized nickel
 steel, IS inches thick. Her largest guns are
 mounted in 15-inch turrets and she has
 four smaller turrets, two on each side, for S-inch guns. She has a protected deck and she derives additional protection about the
 water line from the employment of 15, ,S14 cubic feet of a preparation of cocoa fibre, which will absorb eight times its weight in water.
 The contract price of. the Oregon for hull and machinery alone was $S,lS0,0O0. She was launched on October 26, 1893, and her com plement thirty-two officers and 40 men, besides the marine guards. The hull of the Oregon is double, the outer shell be- ing three and a half feet from the inner shell, each being water tight and a com plete ships hull in itself. series of gird- CTS are rveted to the frames which con-
 meet the two shells, cutting the double
 bottom into a series of small compart-
 ments each one watertight. These cells
 constitute a sort of protection below wa ter against collision or even against tor pedoes.
 At the outbreak of the Spanish war the Oregon was lying off San Francisco and her commander received orders to proceed to Cuba to join the Atlantic squadron, un- der Admiral Sampson, as speedily as pos sible This trip was the most famous ever taken by any American war vessel, and the remarkable run of the Oregon on the oc- casion was commented on all over the civil lZed world and was a tremendous adver tisement for American ship building inter- ests.
 The Oregon left San Francisco on March
 19, and after stopping at several ports in
 South America on the way for coal, arrived off the Florida coast at Utica Light on the night of May 24. Her commander reported to Washington and oredrs came back to
 proceed to Hampton Roads if in need of repairs, otherwise to Key West. There was no hesitation on the part of Captain Clark of the Oregon as to which course to 1 take. He proceeded to Key West at once, arriving there on the morning of May 26 He afterward reported that not more than l $5 had to be spent on repairs after this long run. The Russian government ordered sev- l eral vessels built on the Oregons plans Although the contract with her builders called for only a speed of 15 knots an hour the Oregon attained a speed of 6.7S on her trial trip, and it is said had at times since I then done better than + knots. lt .s