The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-07-05

BOSION, MASS, july S4.-Ihe nom
official landsman who is fortunate
enough to secure the bit of yellow
pasteboard that allows him tos board
the new United States cruiser Des
Moines as she lies in the fitting out
basin at the Fore River shipyard, down
in the southeast corner of Boston har-
Dor, will hardly realize that the first
large ship of war built in the old Bay
state since the frigateI Constitution was
launched. is now IS per cent ready for
delivery to the government. As you
stand at. the stern and look forward
along the -290 odd feet other deck the
first impression is of cruisegssju just
come put of a lively enlightenment and
undergoing hasty repairs in "a peace
full port, rather than ofxa sea tighter;
rapidly approaching fitnessfer her first
battle. What has been done and what
yet remains to be finished make to-
gether an impressive picture of the tre-
mendous complexity of a modern war
vessel, provided you are willing to take
your auditory nerves in one hand and
your new SUNNI or suit in the other, so
to speak, and descend boldly into the
busy interior of the steel hull. -
Eighty-five per cent finished
means, literally, that practically all Of
the Des Moines, considered as al float
ing barracks that can Be driven three
times across the ocean%at the rate of
sixteen and half knots AN hour with
out recoaling, rather than as a ship OF
warrior cruisers ordnance is not put
in until her acceptanceSbg the govern
ment-is either on BEARD or within
reaching distance. ODE tall funnel
seventy feet from the crate up-stands
majestically against ths blue sky line,
while the other lies Mpns the wharf in
sections awaiting the 1our when the
big gantry crane will pick it up and
set it carefully in its proper place. You
might even think that there were two
tunnels yet to be inserted, one smaller
than the. other, for Seach smokestack
consists Of two parts, an inner funnel
and a larger outer. one enveloping it,
with an air space between to keep
them cool when the engines are trying
to beat the speed requirement and the
fire room is working under forced
draft.
Work of the Gantry Crane.
The gantry crane. looking like the
blackened skeleton of some tremen-
dous ancestor Of the mastodons, as 1t
stands firmly on four wide spread steel
legs and extends it's horizontal steel
proboscis out of over the cruiser, has
greatly simplified the business Of put
ting heavy masses of metal into shop
and the fact that a single smoke stack
is all that remains in the line of
progress is an indication of how very
near at hand completion is. The in
nards" of the ship-her tons and tons
of machinery, from the big engines,
whose power is that of a hitch Of 400
horses to the dynamos that will light
the lamps and drive the electric fans,
hoist the ammunition and work the
guns-are all in place, ready to be
sealed up by the closing Of the decks
over them.
Meantime. the deck! itself Is a babel
Of noise and apparent confusion; the
noise is real enough but the confusion
is only seeming. The pneumatic ham
mering and rivetingaea modern way
Of putting steel ship together that
makes the blows of handsledges sound
like the pop of an oId-fashioned' fire.
cracker compared with the ear-split-
ting burst of the up-to-d date small
boys dynamite bomb and is contin-
uous instead of explosive into the bar
gain-is all attendant on the hustle OF
getting the Des Moines, ready for her
builders trial. as Je e3peditiously as
possible. The young man who hurries
past you with with one pail of red
paint in his hand and the contents of
another apparently spread over his
neither garments, the clusters of work.
men bending over the straddling
horses, the mechanics crawling about
the yawning hatchways, the ship
wrights and carpenters pounding and
saving here, there and everywhere, the
foremen and superintendent assist
ants consulting, examining and issu-
ing orders first above and then below
and now over the side through an open
gun portal these know where they
are going and what they are doing and
the next thing they must take UP, even
though the inexperienced layman some