The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1903-06-20

the same, so far as stresses and
strains on the mountings are concern
ed as If healthy passenger locomo'
tive running at ten miles an hour were
to find the gun sitting inopportunely
on the track and engage 1t in end-on
collision while as to the strains re
sultlng from actually ramming an
enemy in battle nobody has ever more
than vaguely guessed at what they
may amount to.
All points of battleship building are
interesting. of course, because of the
tremendous Importance of the result
There is little satisfaction, either
in building a battleship unless she is
to be a better ship and a more power
full fighter than all those that have
gone before her. Consequently battle
ship designers must be engineering
pioneers hunting for new facts and
new ideas and employing new methods
and materials to accomplish results
BEYOND what have already been
achieved. Consequently, also. battle.
ship builders must be mechanical
pioneers to carry out the designers
ideas.
Imagining our two fighters as they
will appear when complete, we see
two wall.sided warships 445 feet long
proceeding with p lie of foam at their
bows at the rate of nineteen knots an
hour at an expenditure of twenty tons
Of coal and the conversion of 100 tons
of water into stem. Below the grace
fully sheered main deck is visible a
row of small guns forming the sec
ondaIy battery"
At Manila and also at Santiago IL
was ebrerved that although big guns
were of the greatest ultimate advan
tage. most of the fight, when the dis
lance allowed, went on, and with the
greatest execution, among the smaller
rapd-firing rifies--which may well &C
count for the strength and Importance
of secondary batteries of these twin
ships. Above the main decks rise the
main turrets fore and aft, topped by
smaller ones. A pile of upperworks
intervene between them, surmounted
by two stout military masts with fight
ing tops and signal yards, and three
tunnels pouring out volumes of smoke
all contribute to very solid, castle
like effect.
Finally the allimpurtant question
of what these two battleships can dc
and how they compare with similar
craft in other navies can be eifectually
answered by quoting a recent para
graph from one of the best-knowr
scientific weeklies. 4 vessels guns
for purposes of comparison, are spo
ken of in terms of a standard gun just
as electric lights are measured il
candle-powers." Speaking of the
new French batteship Republique
this scientific weekly says 9TH,
artillery predominance of the Repub
lique is here very marked, save
against the New Jersey"
II, however, we reduce all guns t
the common denomination of tn,
twelve-pounder, we get the fire value!
for one broadside as follows New
Jersey, 80; King Edward, 49, Repub
lique, II; Vittorio Emanuele, 81; SUI
fren GO. All of which means in non
technical terms that in given tim
and under equal conditions, the Rhod
Island and New Jersey could throw
more metal and make the other fellow
sorrier for it than the premier ship
of any of our friends the enemy AM
the article goes on to say that "b
| dividing the displacement into thes
| figures we can place the values OF tn
ships in gun fires per thousand an
! tons of displacement as follows Ne'
| Jersey, 6.3; Vittorio Emanuele, AS
King Edward, Al; Repubique, Al
| Suffren, Al" In other words, we haV
/ not only the greatest artillery strengt
| on these new vessels--for what
said of the New Jersey applies jus
the same to the Rhode Island-bl
have obtained It with the least pr
portionatc amount of vessel. TIL
provided no other important featul
has been sacrificed, is the very ide
to be sought-greatest fighting pow'
with least dead weight.
80 far as paper comparisons a
confirmed" continues this criti
compare them by whatever syste
we may select, and they will alwa,
come ont at the head Of the list" Al
so, in the light Of previous events
seems but reasonable to assume tn
they will do so in time of war.-Ci
ojnnau Enquirer.