The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-05-19
THE OHIO LAUNCHED.
OContinued from Flrst Page.l

from the side belt to the upper deck, and
is worked from the center of the forward
TO the center of the after barbette At
the ends of this casemate arnor dag
onal armor nine inches thick extends from
the sides of the vessels to the barbette
armor.
In the casemate thus formed are
placed ten of the 6-inch guns. Above this,
on the upper deck, four of the 6-inch
guns are placed, in the vicinity of which
6-inch armor is worked far enough for
ward and aft to afford protection to the
crews of these guns.
Protection is afforded the vitals of the
snip below the water line by a protective
deck worked fat within the casemate
and with slopes forward and aft of it, The
deck is worked in two thicknesses of plat
ing, the total thickness on the fiat being
ga inches, while that on the slopes for
ward and aft is respectively 8 inches and
inches. Cofferdams are built on the pro-
tective deck from the diagonal armor
buIkheads to the bow and stern in the
vicinity of the water line, and on the
berth deck for nearly the length of the
vessel. All of these cofferdams are filed
with corn pith cellulose
The main battery of the ship consists
of four 12-inch breech-loading rifles,
placed in two balanced turrets. and six
teen 6-inch rspid-firing guns.
The turrets are turned by electricity,
and the motors used for this purpose can
revolve one of these great turrets
through $50 degrees in one minute. The
armor of both the turrets and barbetts
is y inches thick.
Ten of the 6-inch guns are within the
casemate as before stated, two others
are on the berth deck forward in 6-inch
armored sponsors, and four are on the
upper deck. Those in the sponsors for
ward and two on the upper deck can fire
directly ahead, and the other two on the
upper deck directly astern, in addition
to having a broad-side fire.
The secondary battery consists Of six
three-inch rapid-f1ring guns; eight six
FOUNDER rapid-fring guns; six one-pound-
er rapid-firing guns; two Colts and two
three-inch rapid-firing field guns.
Submerged Torpedo Tubes.
new feature introduced in the often
sive power. of this ship is the submerged
torpedo tube. While submerged torpedo
tubes are not new abroad, German war
ships having been equipped with them
for number of years, the Ohio and her
class are the first battleships of our
navy to be supplied with them, though
prior to her construction many vessels of
the United States navy were fitted with
torpedo tubes above the water line. The
Ohio will have two of these tubes one
on each side of the vessel, situated about
fifty feet from the bow and about ten
feet six inches below the water line.
The magazines and shell rooms of the
ship can stow 240 rounds of the twelve
inch ammunition; $500 rounds of the six
inch ammunition; $500 rounds of the six
FOUNDER, and 1000 rounds of the one
FOUNDER The forward magazines are To-
Gated Immediately forward of the dynamo
rooms. and the after ones Just abaft the
engine rooms.
There are two military masts fitted
with the usual signal yards, tops and
topmasts; two tops are built to each of
these masts. The foremost is located in
the usual way over the forward coming
tower; the foundation of the tower form
ing the lower part of the mast. The ar
NOR of the forward coming tower Is ten
inches thick, and that of the after or
signal tower is six inches thick A steel
tube twelve inches in diameter inside and
seven inches in thickness extends from
the forward coming tower down to the
protected deck and protects the voice
tubes and telegraphs from the command
ing officer to the important stations In
the vessel.
The Ohio carries fourteen boats, of
which one Is a forty-foot steam cutter
and another a thirty six-foot steam cut
ter of the usual navy type. Over each
end of the boat deck two small upper
bridges are located, on which is placed
a portion of the secondary battery. The
boats are handled by four cranes, all OPP
Grated by steam; the engines for this
purpose being located on the working
platforms of the cranes. Each crane can
lift the heaviest boat that it has to han
die at the rate of forty feet per minute,
and can also be revolved by it's hosting
engine at the rate of a revolution in one
minute.
Fitted with BiIge KeeIs.
Bilge keels to reduce rolling are fitted
to the vessel. Experiments in recent
years In our own and foreign navies hav-
ing demonstrated the great efficiency of
these keels In preventing excessive roll
ing. The forward bilge keels attend for
length of about 81 feet, while those aft
have a length of about 75 feet.
Hydraulic gear is used in steering the
vessel, and can put the rudder from hard
aport to hard astarboard in twenty Sec
onds when the vessel is moving at full
speed. The valves of the gear are con-
nected by an electric telemotor with the
coming tower, beside the mechanical con-
nection with the pilot house.
The electricity. both for lighting the
vessel and operating the turrets and
hoists and minor purposes is furnished
by eight 32-kilowatt generating SETS all
having pressure of eighty volts at the
terminals
There are four dynamo rooms one on
each side of the vessel just forward of
the boiler space, the generating sets be-
ing placed in each dynamo room. Four
powerful search lights, two of which are
paced en- the top of the pilot house and
Two on the mainmast above the upper
bridge, will give warning of the approach
OF hostile vessels, and for night signalling
the ship carries two sets of electric sig
Mailing apparatus.
The normal coal supply is 1000 tons,
and the capacity of the bunkers is 1000
tons. As i'm other ships of this type, the
arrangement of the bunkers is such as to
AFFORD considerable incidental protection
10 the machinery.
The Ohio and her class are the first bat
t'eships of the United States navy in
which water tube boilers were provided.
steam for the propelling machinery is
supplied by water tube boilers of the
Ihornycroft type placed in four water
tight compartments. There are three
smoke pipes.
The two propelling engines are rights
ana lefts in separate water tight COM
partments and are Of the vertical inverted
cylinder, direct-acting, triple-expansion
type. having four cylinders. The diamet-
ers Of the cylinders are as follows: Thir-
tN-flVn inches n fnrhes and