Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-09-29
THE CONNECTICUT NOW
 READY FOR BUSINESS
Set Afoat To-Day With Great Ceremony -One of the Biggest and Best Vessels That Was Ever Built Many Noted Persons Present-The Bottle of Cham- paigne Was Broken on Its Row.

yard played "Tle Star Spangled Ban- ner, the newest United States battle ship slid down the ways into the water to-day. Many thousands of people witnessed the launching of this. the first battleship built in a gov ernment yard since the Ill fated Maine, large crowds gathering at the navy yard and at various points on the Man. haitian and Brooklyn sides of the East river. More than 30,000 invitations were issued and few were not used. As the great hull began to glide ! down the ways, Miss Alice B. Wells. who had been selected to christen the Connecticut, seized the cord attached to the bottle of champagne and at | tempted to dash it against the bow ! of the battleship. She was not sue cessful and second attempt made With the assistance of Admiral Rog- CTS, who stood by her side also failed. Just before the boat struck the water, however, workman who had watch ed the scene from the deck of the l craft, drew up the bottle and with a blow smashed it on the iron side. l Streamers and bunting were dis played in profusion everywhere around l the navy yard, particularly on the scaf- l folding surrounding the enormous hull of the new battleship. The bow was tastefully draped with large Ameri- I can flag.
 The last plate was riveted on the turret yesterday and early to-day As l sistant Constructor Robinson with a l force Of men began work removing the after blocks and the crib work under the stern and replacing them by tum- bling shores, which furnished support to the weight but when the ship start ed to move, automatically relieved themselves. Another gang of men then took down the shores at the forward and after ends of the ship. Others l,drove in the oak wedges which took the weight of the ship off the keel blocks, and when the hour for the | launching arrived the ship was sup ported on the ways, the cribs and the keel blocks.
 At word from Constructor Baxter l the dog shores were dropped, warn. ! ing to the ship keeper and the red flag at the top of the cantilever crane sig nailed to the spectators that all was | ready. IA nod to the sawyers standing I at the shoe pieces and the saw began ! to cut them off and the ship started slowly down the ways, gaining mo mentum as it slipped into the water. I A chorus of whistles from the vessels in the harbor drowned the strains of the warship bands, and the bill steel l hull rode safely on the waves.
 | Owing to the rumor of the last few days of an attempt to wreck the new ! ship at the launching, there was an 1 intense feeling of suspense among the l spectators and the officers and em- l ployes at the navy yard lest something mar the impressiveness of the cere- mony. but the launching was without a hitch of any kind and Was entirely successful
 Among the invited guests were | Grover Cleveland, Alton B. Parker, the I Welles party, Senator o. IT. Platt, Gov
 ernor Abram Chamberlain of Connecti-
 cut, Governor Warheld of Maryland,
 Governor Murphy of New Jersey. Ad- miral Erben, Rear Admiral F. J. Coop
 CT, Lieutenant General Adna R. Chaf-
 fee, Rear Admiral J. B. Coughlan, Ma jor General Oorbin, Rear Admiral Wise, Rear Admiral Strong, Rear Ad-
 mira1 Q. Fl. Davis, Rear Admiral Lam
 berton, the Duke of Newcastle and
 Rear Admiral Rivet and staff of the l French cruiser Dupleix.
 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:
 Ut is true that an obstruction was
 found on the ways down which the I Connecticut entered the water. It was
 sufficient to check the vessel. will
 not say that it would have wrecked
 the Connecticut if it had not been dis
 covered, and exactly what would have
 happened am unable to tell. The ob-
 struction was not 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
 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 one familiar with navy yard methods" ," I As is usual before a 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 was
 found they have been making the most
 careful examination. They were sent
 down for the last time this morning be- l fore the ship was launched, and Naval I 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 Connecticut is a sister ship of
 the Louisiana, and both vessels were
 authorized by an act of congress 1n 1902 The Connecticut was built in a
 government yard and under govern
 ment supervision, while the Louisiana
 was built by private shipbuilding
 firm at Newport News, Va. The con
 struction of both ships has been fol