Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1902-01-02
VARSHIP MISSOURI.
A Notable Crowd to Witness thu
Launching Of the Vessel.
DESCRIPTION OF The BlT1LESHIP.
Her Complement VIII Be 40 Omceu and
5l1 Men-Electricity to Be Used for
Light and Other Purposes Has Four
Powerful Searchlights.


families and several bureau chiefs OF
the navy department, guests OF the
Newport News shipbuilding and Dry
Dock company, left here for Newport
News, Va, at ten o'clock yesterday
evening by special train to attend the
launching OF the battleship Missouri
at II o'clock this morning. Mr.. c. B.
Orcutt, president of the shipbuild-
ing company, accompanied the party.
A large number of senators, members
of the house and Others, including
Senator Francis NJ. Cockrell, of Mis-
souri,, and his daughter, Miss Marion
Cockrell, who is to act as sponsor at
the launching, sailed for Newport
News last night and will arrive there
early in the morning.
The Missouri is sister ship of the
Ohio and the Maine. Her contract
price was S2,SS5,000. Her keel was
laid February Z, 1900, and on the
latest construction report she is set
down as 81 per cent. completed The
Missouri's contract speed is IS knots
an hour, so that she will rank next
to the battleships of the Georgia class
in regard to speed. Her complement
will be 40 officers and 511 men. The
hull is built of steel and is I'M
sheathed. 1t is 3Ss feet long on the
load water line, ~ feet ~ inches ex-
IRENE breadth and, at mean
draught of 30 feet 6 inches, displaces
1890 tons. The hull is protected
abreast of the boilers and engines by
side armor, six inches thick. In
the easements are placed ten Of the
six-inch guns the vessel carries
Above this on the upper deck four
six-inch guns are placed, in the vlcin-
ity of which six-inch armor is worked
far enough forward and aft to afford
protection to the crews of these guns.
Protection is afforded the vitals of
the ship below the water line by
protective deck, with armor from
2% to 4 inches thick. The main bat
terry of the ship consists of four ~
inch rifles placed in two balanced
turrets and 16 six-inch guns. The
secondary battery consists of six
three-inch guns, eight six-pounders,
six one-poundefs, two Colts and two
three-inch field guns.
A new feature introduced into the
offensive power of this ship is two
submerged torpedo tubes. While Ger
man warships have been equipped
with these tubes for a number of
years, the Missouri and her class are
the first battleships of our navy to
be supplied with them.
The Missouri carries A boats, of
which one is l0-foOt steam cutter
and another 36-foot steam cutter
of the usual navy type. Bilge keels
to reduce rolling are fitted to the
vessel, experiments in recent years in
our own and foreign navies having
demonstrated the great efficiency of
these keels in preventing excessive
rolling.
Electricity is used for lighting the
vessel and operating the turrets and
hosts and for communicating be-
tween parts Of the ship and for other
minor purposes. Four powerful
searchlights will give warning of the
approach of hostile vessels. 1t is 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 consid-
cradle incidental protection to the
machinery.
The Missouri and her class are the
first battleshps of the United States
navy in which water tube boilers are
provided. There are three smoke
pipes. The two propelling engines
are of the vertical cylinder direct
acting, triple expansion type, having
four cylinders. The collective ind-
Gated horsepower is about $4,000
when the vessel is making IS knots.