The evening times., 1901-05-18
READY TO LEAVE THE WAYS
The Ohio TO Be Launched at San
Francisco This Afternoon.

Neither the President Nor Governor
Nash Likely to BC Present When
the BaftIcship Goes Overheard.
Miss Barber to Press the Button.
SAN FRANCISCO May IS--An is in
readiness for the battleship Ohio TO
leave the ways at 1926 O'Clock. Pacific
time. although there viii be no elab-
crate programme, on account of the
probable inability of the President ard
Governor Nash, of Ohio, to attend the
ceremony. It is not expected that Nh
Mckinley will leave his wife's bedside
for the launching. and Governor Nash
is still suffering severely from the ef-
fects Of the poison oak encountered
during his visit to the big trees at
Santa Cruz His physicians fear that,
should there be a strong breeze at the
shipyard. he might catch cold. and
complications would be likely to follow
If the President should decide al the
last moment to attend the launching,
he viii be driven rapidly to the wharf,
where the transport Slocum viii be
waiting to convey him to the shipyard,
and he viii leave Immediately after the
Ohio has reached the water, returning
at once TO the Scott residence.
IN the absence Of Mrs. Mckinley, Miss
Barber. her niece will press the cleo
trio button that is to set the battleship
in motion. and as the Ohio glides down
the ways Miss Helen Deshler, a relative
OF Governor Nash, viii christen the
vessel with a bottle Of champagne.
The Ohio is sister ship Of the Maine.
now building at the works Of William
CramD 8, Sons Ship and Engine Building
Company, and of the Missouri, building
at the yard of the Newport News Ship
Building and Dry Dock Company. The
hull. which is subdivided like those Of the
most recent batJIeships. is built of steel
and is uusheathed. It is SIS feet long on
the load-water line; = feet ~ inches ex-
treme breadth, ard at a mean draft of
q feet inches displaces 12,230 tons
The hull IS protected abreast of the boil
ers and engines by a side arnor belt ex-
tending 3 feet 8 inches above the load
water line and I feet below 1t, having
thickness of II inches for a depth Of I
feet inches, tape-iug to II inches at the
bottom OF the belt; and by the casemate
armor inches thick, which extends from
the side belt to the upper deck and is
worked from the centre of the forward
10 the centre of the after bar5ette. At the
ends Of this casemate armor diagonal ar
NOR 9 inches thick extends from the sides
Of the vessel TO the barbette armor.
In the casemate thus formed will be
placed ten 6-inch guns Above this on the
upper deck VIII be four 6-inch guns, in
the vicinity of which 6-inch aTmor VIII
be worked far enough forward and aft
to afford protection TO the crews of these
guns. Protection is Afforded the vitaIs
of the ship below the water line by
protective deck work fat within the case
mate and with slopes forward and aft Of
it. The deck is worked in two thicknesses
OF plating, the total thickness on the fat
being % inches, while that on the slopes
forward and aft IS respectively , inches
and inches Cofferdams are built on the
protective deck from the diagonal arnor
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 coferdams are filed
with corn-pith celluIose.
The main battery of the snip VIII con
sist OF four 12-inch breech-loading rifles
placed in two balanced tUrrets and six
teen 6-inch rapid fire guns The turrets
will be turned by electricity; and the mo
tors used for this purpose viii be capa-
BE of revolving one of these great tur-
rets through $50 degrees in one minute
The armor Of both the turrets and bar
bettes viii be twelve inches thick
Ten Of the 6-inch guns viii be within
the casemate, as before stated; two 9th
ers viii be on the berth forward in 6-inch
aruored Sponsors and four on the upper
deck Those to be placed 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 addi-
ondary battery VIII consist Of six g-inch
rapid fire guns. eight <6-pounders. SIX
1-pouuders. two Colts. and TWO 5-inch rap
ID fire field guns
A new feature introduced in the often
sive power OF this snip Is the submerged
torpedo tube. While submerged torpedo
tubes are not new abroad. German war
ships having been equipped with them for
g number OF years, the Ohio and her class
are the first battleships Of our navy 20
be supplied with them, though prior 20
her construction many vessels OF the
United States Navy were fitted with tor
pedo 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 ma gaines and shell rooms OF the
ship can stow 240 rounds Of l2-inch am
DUuIllpn- 6-ZvD TOGnOS OF b-llCH &TuEnHIl-
ton; $500 rounds Of 6-pcunder, and 4,Gyg
rounds of I-poundeT- The forward maj ga
zines are located Immediately forward Of
the dynamo rooms and the after ones Just
abaft the engine rooms There are two
military masts. which viii be fitted with
the usual signal yards, tops and JopmasJs;
two tops are built 10 each OF these masts.
The foremast is located il the usual way
over the forward cOuniLS-tO the
foundation Of the tower forming the lower
part Of the mast The armOT Of the for
ward coming tower viii be ten inches
thick and that Of the after, or signal
tower six inches thick A steel tube
twelve inches IN diameter inside md seven
inches ia thickness win extend from the
forward coming tower Gown 70 the pro
fective deck and protects the voice tubes
and telegraph mes from the comma rsding
officer TO the important stations in the
vessel.
The Ohio viii carry fourteen boats Of
which one IS 4g-foOt steam cutter and
another a 36-foor steam cutter Of the
usual navy type. Over each end of the
boat deck two small upper bridges VIII
be located on which viii be placed q por-
tion Of the secondary battery The boats
cd bv steam The engines for this pur-
pose viii be located on the working plat
forms of the cranes Each crane can lift
thc heaviest boat that it has To handle
ct the rate of forty feet per minute and
can also be rev0lvcd by its hosting en-
gine at the rate Of revolution IN one