The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-04-22

is The hrafsArs- the must powerful vessel
in our navy ANA. ON cuaai U.sr~il,e.ucnts.
does she s.irpa>s ia fighting qualities amy
hatileship OF the Other great SEA Powers
The peculiar distribution of her battery
and the uniqueness OF The class design have
excited wide difference OF opinion within
ana without the navy. but since her trials
during the last week this cl.l.Il las hr,u
made most iisisInntly 10y tIrr advocates.
Putting ASIDE for the moment al ,or-
siderati"ns save those affecting gun euor-
giles, let her be compared With tae historic
ships ina; defeated the Spanish sqnadion
in The action off Santiago any mad, 4 quick
ending TO the WAR.
The main battery Of the keat~t;ge IS
composed of four ;Iirtern-iich aud lour
eisht-inyh guns and % fourteen live-iuch
rapid-fire pieces: that ut the Iowa Is made
UP of four twelyr-inch and eight -ig.t-iuc!l
guns and OF six rapid-iire pieces. Hence the
kealsirge carries an equal number o. The
heaviest guns. Il less number of The inter-
mediate caliper and many more %: the rap
id-;ire type. The apparent disadvantage Of
the loss in .isht-inch guns Is said 10 be
outweiehted by the intensity Of action Sc
cured through the employment Of 50 many
of the smaller quick firing class. Such Il
large battery woull OF course demand :.
very liberal suppl Of ammunition and a
resultant increased weight Of structure.
ba. the reduction of weight gained by The
abandonment OF The four tight-iuch guns
and their two turrets enabled the design
srs to increase the magazine spaces and
Ammunition and have something 10 spare
for the extension of otiIeT important quail
ties.
These striking differences in battery. or
armament, as it Is called, says J. u. Jer-
rold Kelly. commander United States Navy,
in the New York Herald. are accomplished
by equally marked variations in the meth
DDS adopted 70 carry it. On board the Iowa
the twelve-inch guns are mounted in pairs
within single turre;s. built on the fore and
aft line of the ship; the pair mounted eight
inch are protected by turrets disposed at
the four angles of a central armored citadel
constructed amidships within the space sep
arating the main turrets. The same gen.
eral arrangement was adopted in the Ore
gon class. berause this installation was sup
posed to give a very powerful ''end-on'' fire
of six heavy guns. 1t was discovered, how
ever, that this concentration could not be
secured in practice. because The blast OF
the cisht-inch affected the crews in the
lower turrCts. IL was finally decided that
the guns could not be trained with safety
nearer than ten degrees TO the longitudinal
line of the ship, and hence the "eni-on'
fire really became a bow and quarter dis
tribution.
When the designs of the Kentucky and
the Eearsarge were under discussion these
defects were pointed cut, and remedies
were suggested. Certain experts, Indeed.
went further and asserted that such an ar
arrangement of the eight-inch guns, both AT
home and abroad, was not only dangerous,
but wasteful OF important weight-and it
may be well TO remember here that the
proper distribution Of weight is the prac-
tical question controlling warsbip design.
1t was declared, moreover, that four tur-
refs, each mounting two guns, had TO be