Evening star., 1903-09-12
CHRISTENED IN WINE
BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER OF BALTI-
MORE NAMED THE BOAT.
Powerful Armorsd Cruiser Intended to
Make High Speed-Five More
Of Similar Type.
pecial Dispatch to The Evening Star.

who was to chisten the ship, arrived at Old
Point from Baltimore aboard two steamers
to attend the launching of the Maryland.
Half an hour later steamer from Washing
ton came in bearing Assistant Secretary of
the Navy Darling. representing the United
States government, in the absence of Sec
retary Moody. and party Of distinguished
army and navy officers and members Of
congress. After breakfasting at the Cham
berlin Hotel parties were escorted to For
tress Monroe, where Governor Smith re-
viewed the entire garrison on dress parade,
shortly afterward gathering again aboard
steamers and proceeded to Newport News,
ten miles away
Open to the Public.
At IL o'clock several hundred workingmen
employed at Newport News ship yard were
paid off, and the gates of the yard thrown
open to the public. Twenty thousand WIS.,
itors are in the city today. excursions be-
ing run here from Baltimore Washington
and Richmond. After the launching the
400 guests were escorted to Old Point,
where an elaborate collation. was served by
the Newport News Ship Building and Dry
Dock Company. Tonight grand ball will
be held at the Chamberlin and at midnight
steamers will depart for Baltimore and
Washington with their distinguished guests.
The cruiser Maryland is a sister ship to
the West Virginia, launched at Newport
News yards on April Is last, and also of
the Pennsylvania, launched at Cramps
yards, at Philadelphia, last month. She Is
now about 50 per cent completed, being the
farthest advanced at time of launching of
any ship ever built here.
Shortly after o'clock this afternoon the
powerful armored cruiser Maryland christ
ened by Miss Jennie Scott Waters, a beau
tiful daughter Of Baltimore, glided into the
rippling waves Of the historic James river.
A vast multitude, conservatively esti-
mated at 25 600, thronged the immense yard
and surged around the ways upon which
the vessel rested. Maryland and Virginia
were largely represented in the throng,
while there. were distinguished visitors
present from many other sections of the
country. The christening party was an es-
pecially brilliant one. Amid the splendid
costumes of the ladies, the sober formal
black of the professional men, senators and
representatives there flashed the gorgeous
uniforms of naval and regular army officers
supplemented by the gold lace and epaulets
Of two gubernatorial stats.
The crowd began to assemble early, and
when the formalities preceding the launch
ing had been completed the expectant
throng had secured every point of vantage
around the huge red hull resting upon the
ways, and had overdowed until it crowded
all the adjacent piers, the roofs of sur
TOuIlUllB DullUlnGS ana Inc
band in attendance kept the crowd in a
good humor by playing patriotic and popu-
lar airs, and the Maryland contingent went
wild with enthusiasm when Maryland,
My Maryland was struck up.
Cutting Her Free
"Ah! there goes the saw exclaimed
some one over near the ways, and those
who could strained forward to see two
half-bent human forms way down beneath
the sharp Prov of the cruiser. They could
hear the sharp rasping noise of the saw
as bit Its way through the sole piece.
There was a cracking sound; the huge
steel hull trembled as If suddenly endowed
with life and slowly began to cover the
short space which intervened between her
birthplace and her natural element.
Miss Waters, with the gaily beribboned
bottle of champagne gracefully poised in
her right hand, waited until the vessel be-
gan to move. She then dashed the bottle
against the receding bow. and, as the
sparkling wine foamed over the unyielding
Prov of the new fighter, she exclaimed:
Il christen thee Maryland
Out Upon the Water.
Gathering momentum as she went, the
new cruiser majesticalIy swept down to
the embrace Of the dancing, ripping waves
greeted by salvos Of applause and by a
VI steam whistles ana DellS.
Far out upon the bosom Of the lordly
James she swept, curtsying to the right
and left as she passed between the row of
excursion steamers. She was quickly cap
tured and towed into the shipyard piers
where she will be completed and then
turned over to the government.
The christening party then boarded the
Norfolk and Washington steamer, New
port News which proceeded to Old Point
Comfort. where the post launching lunch
con was served at the Chamberlain Hotel.
An informal program, including impromp-
tu speeches from Governor Smith and Gov
ernor Montague, was carried out, after
which the formal dedication of another
fighter to the service Of Uncle Sam was
q thing of the past.
Description Of Vessel.
The Maryland is one Of the six powerful
armored cruisers authorized by the Fifty
sixth Congress. designed for great speed
coal endurance, radius Of action and ability
for offensive and defensive action.
She Is 5O2 feet long, has beam Of 60 feet
83a inches; draft of "a feet inch, and
total displacement Of 10, 1O4 tons. Her de-
signed indicated horse power is 1900. and
her speed % knots. Her full complement of
officers will be forty-seven, and of seamen,
marines, etc, 7S3. The engines will be tri-
pie expansion and direct acting, and the
steam will be furnished by sixteen water
tube boilers of the Babcock and Wilcox
type. The total CRATE surface of the boilers
will be 1.60O square feet, and the total heat
ing surface will be 1924 square feet. There
will be four smokestacks.
Splendidly Armored.
The Maryland will be protected by an
armor belt extending five feet below and
four feet above the normal load line, and
from stem to stern. 1t will be 10
inches thick at the top and inches thick
at the bottom. The maximum thickness
will be preserved for a depth of six feet
from the top. The armor will taper at the
stem and stern to thickness of three and
one-half inches The armor on the Hich-
born balanced oval turrets, which will hold
the four eight-inch guns will be six and
one-half inches thick on the port plate and
six inches thick on the sides and rear.
In order that she may fight as well as
run. the Maryland will have a main battery
consisting of four S-inch breech-loading
rifles, mounted two in each turret on the
center line of the vessel; and fourteen g.
inch rapid-fire guns. The secondary bat
terry will comprise eighteen 3-inch and
twelve three-pounder guns, beside four one
pounder automatic guns, four one-pounder
rapid-fre guns, six Colt automatic guns,
two machine guns and two three-inch field
guns.
The Maryland is nearly 60 per cent COM