Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-09-29
THE CONNECTICUT.
One of Worlds Greatest Bat
tleships Launched.
ALICE B. WELLES WAS THE SPONSOR
Great Assembly Witnessed Plunge
of Gigantic War Vessel Into the
East River-Obstructions Dis
on ways.

covered on Ways.
NEW YORK, Sept. 29.-Before an as
semblage of 25,000 persons, which in
cluded naval and army officers. govern
ors and United States senators, the
Connecticut, one of the two greatest
battleships in the world, was launched
at the New York navy yard today.
Secretary Morton and Rear Admiral
Caps, chief constructor of the navy,
attended the launching of the Con
necticut in behalf OF the government.
Miss Alice b. Welles christened the
ship by breaking a bottle of cham
payne over the bow as the vessel Gid
ed into the water.
Among the invited guests were
Grover Cleveland, Alton Il. Parker, the
Welles party, Senator Q. II. Platt, Gov
ernor Abram Chamberlain of Connect
cut. Governor Warfield of Maryland,
Governor Murphy of New Jersey, Adj
miral Erben, Rear Admiral z. ]. Coop
er, Lieutenant General Adna X. Chat
fee, Rear Admiral j. b. Coughlan, Ma
jor General Corbin, Rear Admiral
Wise, Rear Admiral Strong, Rear Ad-
miral G. II. Davis, Rear Admiral Lam
berton, the Duke Of Newcastle and
Rear Admiral Rivet and staff of the
French cruiser Duplex.
Armed marines patrolled the inclos-
ure wherein the preparations for the
launching of the battleship Connecti-
cut were made. Naval Constructor
Baxter, who has general charge of the
shipbuilding plant, said:
at is true that an obstruction was
found on the way down which the
Connecticut entered the water. 1t was
sufficient to check the vessel. l will
not say that it would have wrecked
the Connecticut if it had not been dis
covered, and exactly what would have
happened l am unable to tell. The OBJ
struction was not a pile, and no dyna-
mite was found. 1t was, however,
nothing that could have dropped from
the ship or come there by accident"
An officer of the navy yard declared
that whoever made the attempt did
a clumsy job.
'The most lax management" he de-
clared, could not help but have dis
covered the obstruction, and there was
never any chance Of the thing getting
as far as a catastrophe. The scheme
could not have been formed by any
n familiar with navy yard methods"
AS is usual before Il large ship is
launched, divers Were sent down to
| see that the ways were clear. They
went down for the first time on Sat
| urday, and since the obstruction WIS
found they have Been making the most
| careful examination. They were sent
| down for the last time this morning be-
fore the ship was launched, and Naval
Constructor Baxter, who had charge
of the launching, was satisfied that
everything was all right before he gave
the signal which sent the great battle
ship into the water
The Connecticutois a sister ship of
the Louisiana, and both vessels were
authorized by an act of congress in
1902. The Connecticut was built in a
government yard and under govern
ment supervision, while the Louisiana
| was built by a private shipbuildins
| firm at Newport News, Va. The con
| struction of both ships has been fol
| lowed with keen interest, as it was rec
| ognized that it was Il test of the gov
| ernment's ability to cope with private
enterprise.
The Connecticut now launched will
| be the fines and most powerful boat in
| the American navy and will rank with
the most powerful battleships of the
navies of other nations.