The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-28
TO WITNESS THE LAUNCH
ING OF MISSOURI


upper deck four 6-inch guns are placed,
in the vicinity of which 6-inch armor
is worked far enough forward and art
! to afford protection to the crews OF
| these guns. 49,,
| Protection is afforded to the vitals
of the ship, below the water line by a
protective deck with armor from "a
to inches thick. The main battery OF
the ship consists of four Pinch rifles
placed in two balanced turrets and l6
| 6-inch guns. The turrets are turned by
electricity and can reVolYe through
| $50 degrees in one minute.
Ten of the 6-inch guns are WITHIN
| the casemate as before stated; Two
others are on the berth forward in -
inch armored Sponsors, and four are on
the upper deck. Those in the sponsors
! forward 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 broadside fire
| The secondary battery consists of SIX
3-inch guns, eight 6-pOunders, six l.
Founders. two Colts and two 3-1nch
field guns.
A new feature introduced into the Of
fensive power of this ship are two SUD-
merged torpedo tubes While German
warships have been equipped with
these tubes for a number of years, the
Missouri and her class are the first bat
tleships of our navy to be supplied with
them.
There are two military masts fitted
with the usual signal yards tops and
topmasts, one mast as usual being over
the forward coming tower.
The Missouri carries IA boats, OF
which one is 40 foot steam cutter and
another a 36 foot steam cutter of the
usual navy type. The boats are handled
by four cranes operated by steam and
each of which can lift the heaviest
, boat that it has to handle at the rate
of 40 feet per minute.
BiIge keels to reduce rolling are fit
ted to the vessel, experiments in recent
years in our own and foreign naVles
having demonstrated the great eff
cheney of these keels in preventing eX-
cessive rolling Hydraulic gear is used
in steering the vessel and can put the
rudder from hard aport to hard astar-
board in 20 seconds when the vessel is
moving at full speed.
Electricity is used for lighting the
vessel and operating the turrets and
| hOists and for communicating between
parts of the ship and for other minor
purposes. Four powerful searchlights
will give warning of the approach of
hostile vessels. For night signalling,
the ship carries two sets of electric
signalling apparatus.
The normal coal supply is 1000 tons
and the capacity of the bunkers is 1000
! tons. The arrangement of the bunkers
is such as to afford considerable in
cidental protection to the machinery.
The Missouri and her class are the
first battleships Of the United States
navy in which water tube boilers are
provided. Steam for the propelling ma
chinery is supplied by water tube boil
| ers of the Thorneycroft type, placed in
four water-tight compartments. There
are three smoke pipes. The two pro-
pelling engines are Of the vertical cyl
inder direct-acting, triple-expansiOn
type, having four cylinders. The collec-
tive indicated horse power is about
5000 when the vessel is making IS
! knots.
Newport News, Va, Dec. 27.-Mrs.
Roosevelt and children and Mrs.
COwles, sister Of the President, arrived
at Old Point at O'Clock this after
neon on the dispatch boat Dolphin.
The vessel anchored off the fort, but
none of the party came ashore. They
will come up to the launching of the
Missouri in the morning on the Dol
phin. after which they will return te
Washington.