The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-12-28
LAUNCHING OF THE MISSOURI.
Continued from First Page.)

was eighteen knots an hour, so that she
will rank next to the battleships of the
Georgia class in regard to speed. Her
complement viii be 80 officers and 511
men.
The hull is built of steel and is. IN
| sheathed- It is 338 feet long on the
water line: p feet 21k inches extreme
breadth. ana. at a mean draught OF %
feet inches. dispIaces L, 230 tons. The
hull is protected abreast Of the boilers
and engines by side armor belt of from
~ to II inches thickness, and by the
casemate armor, { inches thick. In the
easemate are PLACED ten of the 6-ineh
guns the vessel carries. Above this on
the upper deck four- 6-inch guns are
placed, in the vicinity Of which 6-inch
armor is worked far enough forward and
aft TO afford projection to the crews Of
these guns.
Profession is Afforded the vitaIs of the
ship below the water-Iine by protective
deck with armor from 2% to inches
thick The main battery of the ship con
sists Of four I2-iheh rifles placed in two
balanced urrets and sixteen 6-inch guns.
The tur, cts are turned by electricity and
can Tefolve through $50 degrees in one
minute Ten Of the sz3nch guns are with
! in the casem.s te, as before stated; two
others are on the berth forward in 6-inch
arnored Sponsors. and four are on the
| upper deck. Those in the spons forward
and two on the upper deck cen fire di-
Fectiy ahead, and the other two on the
upper deck directly astern, IL addition 10
having broadside IRE.
The secondary battery consists Of six s.
inch guns, ht-5-pounders. six l-rouna-
ers, two Colts, and two 3-inch field guns
new feature introduced into the Of
1 fensive power Of this ship are two sub-
merged torpedo tubes. While German
w4rsEips have keen equipped with these
! tubes for number OF years. the Mis-
souri, and her class are the first battle
I ships Of our navy TO re equipped with
/ them There are two military masts fl
ttd with the usual signal yards tops and
/ topmdSts, one mast as usual. being over
4 tie forward coming tower The Missouri
/ carries fourteen beats. Of which one is a
| 4o-foot steam cutter ard another a foot
! steam cutter o. the usual navy type. The
/ boats are handled by four cranes operated
/ by steam and each OF which can lift the
| heaviest boat that II has 10 handle at the
| rate OF 40 feet Fer minute. Bilge keeIs
! 70 ItCuCe Eo4!lng are ntIS0 10 the vessel.
/ experiments in recent years in cur own
and foreign navies having demonstrated
I the great efficiency Of these .keels in pre-
| venting excessive rolling
Hydraulic gear IS used in steering the
vessel and can put the rudder from hard
a-port TO hard a-starboard in twenty sec
ondS when the vessel is moving at full
! speed Electricity Is used for lighting the
vessel and operating the tuTrets and
HOSTS and for communicating between
| parts OF the ship. aad for other minor
purposes FcdT powerful searchlignts
VIII give warning OF the approach OF hos
| tile vessels. For night signaling the ship
carries two sets Of electric signaling ap-
I paratus.
/ The normal coal supply is 1000 tons
| and the capacity Of the bunkers is . coo
! tons. The arrangement of the buukers
I Is such as to afford considerable inciden-
I tai protection 70 the machinery
The Missouri and her class are the
/ first battleships OF the United States Navy
/ in which water-Uube boilers are provided.
/ steam for the propeIIing machinery is
/ supplied by water tube boilers OF the
/ Ihorneyeroft type. placed. In four water
| tight compartments There are three
smoke pipes. The two pTupeIlinz engines
/ are OF the vertical cylinder. direct-actinS
| triple-expaDsien type having four cyIin-
! ders- The colIective indicated horse
/ power is about 5000 when the vessel is
| making eighteen knots