Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-03-18
BY b. F. PETERS.
OF the United States Navy Depart
ment. under whose direction
the worlds fair exhibit

the worlds fair exhibit
was collected.
Washington. d. C.. March 1S.-The
navy department exhibit in the gov
eminent building At the Louisiana
purchase exposition occupies n floor
space of $500 square feet. The eX-
hibit gives an intelligent idea of the
internal and external features of our
Ihen-Of-war: Of our weapons and their
tnses: of the great craving and float
ing docks in which fighting vessels
representation of the actual life and
duties of the officers and enlisted men
of the navy and marine corps afioat
and ashore. i'm war and in peace. to-
gether with the governments facili-
ties for educating officers and its
methods of enliSting and training
men and boys who compose the fight
ing personnel of the United States
navy.
The central figure of the exhibit is
an exact full sized reproduction of
that portion of United States man
of-war from the bow back distance
of lis feet. the beam at this point be-
ing 46 feet. thus giving the floor
space or water line of the structure
the shape of a fatiron The free
board is ; feet 6 inches. and from the
water line 10 the top of the turret. 10
feet @ inches On the floor surround
ing the vessel is a border of canvas I
feet wide painted in an artistic man
ner in imitation of water. The figure
head on the vessel is the original fig
urehead of the Olympia. the flagship
of Admiral Dewey i'm the memorable
battle of Manila bay May 1. 1898.
On the upper or main deck are two 10
inch guns mounted i'm barbette. tur-
rets. six FOUNDER Hotchkiss. a one
FOUNDER light automatic. n 3O-calibre
Colt. and n Calling field piece. togeth-
er with the ships anchors. windlaSS
and anchor gear complete; also sky
lights. hatchways. Ventilating cowls
and side ladders. On the starbOard
side is swung from the davits a "a
foot whaleboat. and on the port side
a 2O-foot cutter. and in appropriate
places on the deck have been placed
other equipment and ships fittings.
On he berth deck is installed tor
pcto firing tube and torpedo. The
space on the berth deck is divided by
water tight bulkheads into compart.
ments. and the long arm system of
water tight doors electrically operat.
ed. WithRrthe turret support on the
berth deck are life size wax figures of
officers and enlisted men of flag
ship. dressed accurately i'm the various
uniforms including an admiral. cap
tain. medical Inspector. pay Inspector,
lieutenant commander lieutenant.
captain OF marines midshipmen. boat
swain's mate. quartermaster. bugler.
three Seamen. a marine and an APP
prentice Openings of a suitable size
have been made in the turret support
from which a view of the figures and
uniforms can be had. On this deck
may also be seen the captains office,
state rooms. mess rooms, petty Of
fcers' quarters. berths. hammocks,
galley. mess tables and equipment,
sick bay. operating room. dispensary.
and ammunition hoists. etc. Below
the berth deck is a magazine TSX2O
feet. in which are stored the. various
kinds of ammunition in use in the
naval service. The berth deck is IL
Illuminated by electric lights and pro-
per circulation through air ports.
cOwls, hatchways. etc. by means of
electric fans is secured.
All compartments are accessible to
visitors. the object being To give them
Il realistic sense impression only 10 be
had otherwise by going on board an
actual man-Of-war.
Another interesting feature of the
exhibit is a working model Of grav-
ing or dry deck built to scale, illustrat-
ing the type and size of docks at va
riOus navy yards. The model of the
dack and basin occupies n space 30X9
feet. In connection with the dock is
tank filled with water representing n
basin or harbOr in which a model Of
the L. :. :. ILLINOIS will be foated
each day and the process of docking n
ship will be shown in detail. The
food gates Of the dock will be open
ed filing the dock with wafer. the CHS
son fioated ont of position. the ship
hauled into its berth. the caissOn re-
placed. and the dock drained allowing
the ship to settle quietly and safely
upon the keep dock. While settling the
will be put in place. The whole
will illustrate graphically the process
by which-a battleship is placed in pos
iticn for repairs on her hull below the
water line. and for the removal of bar
nacles. etc.
There j. also exhibited working
model Of a steel floating dry deck. IL |
Illustrating the type recently installed
at the New Orleans naval station and |
the Pensacola nary yard. and that UNI
der construction for the naval station |
in the Philippines. The model is afioat |
in tank of water which also con-
tains model of battleship built TO
The same scale. las cf actual size. MI
the operations incident 10 the docking /
Df q vessel in a floating dry dock 10 the /