The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
Connecticut is Largest War
 Vessel AaOat
EVERYTHING WENT SMOOTHLY
Miss Wells Falls to Break Bottle ct Champagne, But Workman seizes lt and Dashes It Against
 the vssssPs Side.

New York, September 29.-Although successfully launched today. the battle ship Connecticut did not have the bottle of wine broken by Miss Alice B. Wells, who had been selected as sponsor for the ship. She threw the bottle at the bow as the ship began to move off the ways, but 1t failed to break when 1t struck the Fide of the vessel. Secretary of the Navy Morton and Rear Admiral Rodgers stood beside Miss Wells.
 Rear Admiral Rodgers attempted to grasp the bottle as 1t repounded but failed and the ship was moving off into the water when a workman on the deck seized the string that held the bottle and dashed the glass receptacle of the champagne against the side of the ship, shattering 1t to pieces, to the relief of the superstitious.
 This was the only variation of the ore. arranged plan, despite many sensational stories of attempts to do the vessel dam age The navy yard was crowded, it be- ing estimated that almost 5000 persons witnessed the launching.
 Soon after Il o'clock the eautionary flag was run up on the huge crane over the bow, and a few minutes later the warning to get away was given, and to the accompaniment of creaking tim
 
 ties, the big red hull slid into the water at 11:l6. It took Just twenty-six seconds for the Connecticut to clear the ways.
 Description of Vessel. The Connecticut Is a sister ship of the Louisiana, and both vessels were author ized by an act of congress in 1902 The Connecticut was built In g government l yard and under government supervision, while the Louisiana was built by a pri- vate ship-building firm at Newport News. | Va5 The construction of both ships has betn followed with keen interest as 1t was | recognized that it was a test of the gov- ernment's ability to cope with private en- | terprise. Much depends on tLls competi- tion of construction. for if the Connecti- cut is completed before the Louisiana, then most of the government ship-build- Ing will be done by the later. and it is expected the New York navy yard will be the ship-bullding center for govern ment work.
 The Connecticut when finished will be the finest and most powerful boat in the American navy, and, will rank with the most powerful battleships of the naves of other nations. Notwithstanding the fact that new plant had to be completed for the construction of the Connecticut, this vessel Is but per cent behind the Louisiana, although laid down two months later
 Maine Was Last Vessel. The last vessel of any size constructed at the New York navy yard was the ill.,
 fated battleship Maine.
 l The keel of the Connecticut was laid
 down on March 10. 1908; the stem was
 erected on July 2S; the first armor plate
 aboard April "A, and the first boiler 1 shipped on July '.
 The Connecticut Is of steel with a trial l displacement of 16,0c0 tons and a maxi-
 mum displacement of 17,770 tons. The ves-
 sel Is 450 feet on the load water line, 456.4 feet over all, 761O feet beam and 246 feet
 draught.
 The engines will be of the twin screw
 vertcle four cyhader, triple expansion | type with a combined horse power of
 1650O. and these will accumulate a speed 1 of IS knots.
 The Connecticut will carry three fun-
 nes. two military masts. two main and
 four secondary turrets and a main deck
 central battery. The armor has total | weight of 1892 tons.
 l On each side amidship there Is steel l belt 193 feet long. g feet inches wide
 and II inches thick. Forward and aft Of 1 this belt Is another inches thick, cover l Ing the ma"azines This is ended by $ 1 inch bulkheads On the lower deck for | 2S4 feet the armor Is inches thick, and on the main deck for .j8 feet, where the central battery is, the armor is inches thick The protected deck is 11h inches thick on the flat and 2A inches on the slope. The main turrets are inches thick with 121z Inch faces. There are two of these. The barbettes are covered with 10 inches of armor and the secon- dary turrets with inches of armor with 6z inch faces The coming tower is protected with steel armor inches thick. and the signal tower with inches of steel.
 The Vessels Armament. Her armament will consist of four 12-
 inch breecll-loading guns one pair in the forward surret and another aft. and eight 8-inch guns mounted in pairs in four turrets on the superstructure. In the
 main deck battery there win be twelve T.
 Inch rapid-hre guns mounted six to a broadslde. In addition there will be twelve 14-pounders. twelve 3-pounders, six 1-pound automatic gung, two 1-pound semi-automatie and eight 30-inch ma chine guns.
 In the magazine she will carry sixty rounds for each 12-inch gun. 100 rounds | for each s-lnch gun. 100 rounds for each | Finch gun, 300 rounds for each 3-inch | gun, GOO rounds for each S-pounder and 9eO l rounds for each t-pounder l The coal bunker capacity of the Con- necticut Is 9oa tons normally. but in an | emergency this can be increased to 22o0 tons. Ordinarily she will carry sufficient | coal to steam 1000 miles at eleven knots. | or 2.500 miler at eighteen knots. | The Connecticut Is to be fitted for use | as a flagship and when in commission will carry forty-two officers and 7e1 men. | She is not to exceed $4212.00 in cost | This will be the third vesse to bear the | name of Connecticut in the United States | navy. The first was built Ut Mddletown. Conn. in 179s. The second was a wood l en side-wa eeler purchased in 1861 and i used during the civil war This vessel
 cost s200100 and was sold at auction in
 1865 for $l3l.oo0.