New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-11-20
NAVY YARD NOTES.

illu IKE the new Christmas goods exhibit in the
shops on which are seen little cards with this in
| display type DO handle" so at the navy yard
| strangers were confronted with NO visitors al
| lowed on board" the biggest and the smallest
Inc smallest thing is the submarine torpedo boat
FSrpoise, which resembles large fish, correspond
ing TO a small whale with just a small portion Of
| the rounded top Of her deck showing above the
| water. She lies in a secluded corner of Whitney
BASIN out Of line of the general view, and those
who to look at her see just at the foot Of tho
! small gangplank the sign. No visitors allowed"
| Once in a while in uniform Will go down
| the plank, open the Theoretically sealed hinged
! door on her deck, and disappear below. but TO
! emerge again and. after closing down the
door. he will stand the deck like silent sentinel
This is the little vessel that at recent test STAYED
unaer water for about fourteen hours, and caused
their imprsonment WbsS IioSS az, on board ron
surface again her commander coolly remarked that
ne could have brought the boat up sooner but that
terrific weapon that she is but if she should ever
De sent TO attack batteship, with It's nearly a
one less battleship in short order.
| The big thing is the armored cruiser Penn
sylvania sister ship the Colorado and the West
| Virginia which only two weeks ago had their Off
cial trial runs under the supervision Of the navy
board and exceeded their guaranteed speed by from
| one-sixth to one-quarter Of a knot The PenusyI-
vania is one Of the longest Of warships being SOP
feet in length, and is OF 1913 tons displacement at
full load. She is about % feet longer than the bat
| tleship Connecticut. now being completed the
navy yard and the largest battleship afoat but is
nearly one thousand tons less in displacement
When she left Cramp' & Sons works at PhiIadeI-
phia, week ago yesterday it was planned that she
| should arrive here Sunday and be put in dry
| dock on Monday to be made ready. with her hull
cleaned and coated with "anti-corrosive compost
tion' and receive her Pocahontas coal preparatory
for her official trial the Cape Ann course. But
the storm forced her remain under shelter of
| the Delaware Breakwater. and she did not arrive
i lYa VnG in9 tod 2 Io
| Sound to-day to make her trial runs tomorrow 4
specially selected POcahontas coal bought and
one hundred and fifty Of this has been weighed
ana put in bags and sewed up ready to be used for
the trial, each bag containing the same weight of
coal. as eertihed by the two officers who have had
bdilders trial but the official trial will be sufficient
| experts employed by the Cramps to work the ship
| in the trial runs. the navy boards duty being to
the Pennsylvania is not nearly that OF a battieShp
IN bar6ete F tarTe 2 But ct her speed her special
feature and she will probably exceed the guarantee
of % knots, as her sister ships have done She has
her swiftsure." have remarked several officers.
Another Of the latest big things" to arrive at
| the Navy Yard IS the Minneapolis of the two
| triple screw commerce destroyers called. She
! too. is conspicuous representative Of modern
val architecture She has official speed record
of more than twenty-three knots. and her massive
smoke pipes furnish the great volume OF draught
| necessary to give her q great speed. But she is
Just ninety feet less In length than the Pennsyl-
vania- The Minneapolis is the flagship of Rear
Admiral Royal B. Bradford who recently relieved
Admiral Wise of command of the Atlantic Training
Squadron. Admiral Bradford IS proud OF such
ship but he would prefer sea duty to lying at the
navy yard for the repairs that necessary. When
Chief of the Bureau OF Equipment Admiral Brad
ford was relieved at his own request that he might
have another cruise before retirement. But he has
being ordered to the command Of the Illinois which
then under repair here, she went to the Carb-
Ss bap in Sp Phs9 by
Illinois was sent north for repairs and , she was at
short time at sea, the Illinois was sent back to the
and she is nearly ready for another cruise
When Admiral Bradford was detached from the
apos, days later she here for
repairs and now the admiral is anxious 10 get her
Another interesting vessel at the navy yard is
the protected cruiser Tacoma Her captain IS Com
mander r. F. Nicholson. who was Of the off,
GERS of the battleship Oregon when she made her
famous voyage from San Francisco to Cuban
waters In the with Spain. The Tacoma ar
rived here a few days ago from the Pacific sta
ton, making a collective of about twenty-five
thousand miles without a single mishap the
slightest arrangement Of her machinery Of any
sort. She was built at San Francisco, put
in commission on January last, and on April 10
sailed for Honolulu, TO search for uncharted
island reported to exist In the Pacific little south
of and from fifteen hundred to two thousand miles
east Of Honolulu. She continued the search Tor
about month without any OF the island
being found. and then returned to San Francisco.
On July she sent in search of the missing
ship Company. which sailed from Cardanelle.
Chilli. for St Lucia, in February. She put into
various ports on her search. arriving St. Lucia
without any tdings. Then the Tacoma
dered to join the Caribbean squadron, and she
but she is not in need Of any repairs.
The biggest thing" at the navy yard. or at any
navy yard. in the way OF ships. IS the battleship
Connecticut, but she is only biggest" as COM
or defence and IN dsplacement-that Is. the
Pennsylvania has greater length by 80 feet but IS
,ess beam by feet S1a inches. less draught by
inches, and is 2.52S tons less displacement fun
in commission would make good sized village,
although the Pennsylvania would have the larger
and 7S2 enlisted men while that Of the Connecticut
IS to be (only) 42 officers and 761 men.
If all Of the vessels at the navy yard were IN
commission. and there are only four or five that
not there would be total of 5.4Sl Of which 33i
would be officers and 5.l47 enlisted men, almost
enough for city OF the second class.
The triple screw protected cruiser Minneapolis
flagship of the Atlantic Training Squadron. arrived
from Hampton Roads on Friday. and she is
dered TO the navy yard 70 be overhauled and 10
celve some necessary repairs. Rear Admiral Royal
3. Bradford. who became commandment Of the
squadron Tuesday last. and took up his quar-
ters the vessel at Hampton Roads. remarked
after the that the vessel was 10 come
10 the NewYork Navy Yard to be repaired: 1t
would seem that to have considerable sea
duty at the navy yard, but would prefer 20 be on
real sea duty" Admiral Bradford had command
OF the battleship Illinois when that vessel was run
into and disabled by the battleship Missouri on
Pensacola last April during squadron manteuyreS
The limos was at once sent To the navy yaIu mere
where she was Kept IN drydock several weeks nav