The Lamar register., 1903-06-10

receive the push of the propellers in
their struggle to drive the ship ahead.
is collectively over 100 tons. Seven
heavyweight freight engines coupled
one ahead of the other could hardly
exert the same force. So, too. when
ever the commander wants the helm
put hard over the stern post and ada
cent Trainings must stand the strain Of
pulling 230 square feet of rudder sur
face-much more than the area of a
big barn door-sideways through the
water at the rate of twenty miles an
hour. Every time one of the twelve
inch rifles is fired the result is much
the same. SO far as stresses and
strains on the mountings are concern
ed, as II a healthy passenger locomo-
tive running at ten miles an hour were
to find the gun sitting inopportunely
on the track and engage 1t in endon
collision, while as to the strains re-
sulting from actually ramming an
enemy in battle nobody has ever more
than vaguely guessed at what they
may amount to.
Imagining our two fighters as they
will appear when complete, we see
two wall-sided warships 445 feet long,
proceeding with a pile 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 $50 tons
of water into stem. Below the grace
fully sheered main deck is visible
row of small guns forming the sec
ondary battery"
NJ, Co, TO-
was observed that although big guns
were of the greatest ultimate advan-
tage, most of the fight. when the dis
tance allowed, went on, and with the
greatest execution, among the smaller
rapid-firirg rifes-which may well ac-
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 all-important question
of what these two battleships can do
and how they compare with similar
craft in other navies can be effectually
answered by quoting recent para
graph from one of the best-known
scientific weeklies. A vessels guns,
for purposes of comparison. are spo-
ken of in terms of standard gun, just
as electric lights are measured in
candle-powers. Speaking of the
new French battleship Republique,
this scientific weekly says: 1.-The
artillery predominance Of the Repub-
lique is here very marked, save
against the New Jersey"
If. however, we reduce all guns to
the common denomination of the
twelve.pounder. we get the fire values
for one broadside as follows: New
Jersey, 80; King Edward, rs: Repub-
lique, II; Vittorio Emanuele, 61; Suf-
fren. 60. All of which means in non
technical terms. that in given. time
and under equal conditions, the Rhode
Island and New Jersey could throw
more metal and make the other fellow
sorrier for it than the premier ships
of any of our friends the enemy. And
the article goes on to say that "by
dividing the displacement into these
figures we can place the values of the
ships in gun fires per thousand and
tons of displacement as follows: New
Jersey 6.3; Vittorio Emanuele, 4.S;
King Edward, Al; Republique, At;
Suffren, Al" In other words, we have
not only the greatest artillery strength
on these new vessels-for what is
said of the New Jersey applies just
the same to the Rhode Island-but
have obtained it with the least pro-
portionate amount of vessel. This
provided no other important feature
has been sacrificed. is the very ideal
to be sought-greatest fighting power
with least dead weight.
$50 far as paper comparisons are
confirmed" continues this critic,
compare them by whatever system
we may select and they will always
come out at the head of the list" And
SO, in the light of previous events. it
seems but reasonable to assume that
they will do so in time of war-Cin-
cinnati EnQuirer