The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-13
THE BATTLEsHIP KANSAS.
And Description of Armament of Great
 War Machine.

Philadelphia, Aug. 1.-The battle- ship Kansas, which will be launched today at the yards of the New York Shipbuilding Company in Camden, N. J.. | is a sister ship of the Vermont. now being built at the yards of the Fore River Ship and Engine Building Com pany, Quincy. Mass.
 She will have the same armament as the battelship Minnesota, launched several months ago at Newport News. The keel plates of the Kansas were laid February 10, 1904. She is known as a 450-foot battelship and her con- tract calls for a maintenance of eigh- teen knot speed for four consecutive hours. The hull Is of steel through out and is fitted with bilge and docking keels.
 Her trial displacement will be 16,ooo tons and when she goes on her speed test she will carry 90G tons of coal, all though her bunker capacity is 2.200 tons. Sixty-six tons of feed water will also be carried on her trial trip. Her trial draft to bottom of keel will be twenty four feet six inches; bottom of keel to moulded base line one and three-eighths inches.
 The Armament.
 Her armament will be:
 Main battery. four 12-inch. eight B. inch. twelve Finch breech-loading rifles. Secondary battery, twenty g. inch Cor 14-pounder) rapid fire guns. fifty calibre in length. twelve 3-pounder semi guns, six 1-pounder au- tomatics, two 3-inch field pieces, two machine guns of thirty calibre. and six automatic guns of thirty calibre. These guns will be ample armor pro- tected and well placed. Mounted in pairs. the 12-inch guns will be placed In the two turrets on the center-line, one forward and one aft, the eight inch guns will also be mounted in pairs in four turrets on the quarter, separa- ted by two-inch nickle steel splinter bulkheads, the Finch guns will be mounted on the gun deck where six of the 3-inch guns will also be placed two fore and four aft, while six will be mounted on the main deck in the su- perstructure. six on the upper deck and two on the bridges
 Belt Armour.
 For her protection the Kansas will have a complete main belt armor, nine feet three inches wide on the water line. having a uniform thickness of nine inches at the end
 Seven-inch casemate armor will pro- tect her between the main belt and main deck. This armor will extend tc the limits of the magazines at both ends. The 12-inch barbettes will ex- tend from the protective deck to about four feet above the main deck and con- sist of 10-inch armor in front and ! 1-2 inch armor at the rear, above the gun deck; between the gun and protective deck it will be of a uniform thickness of six inches. The S-inch barbettes will be six inches thick In front and four inches in the rear. The protec- tive deck will extend from stem to stern being flat amidship but sloped at the sides and at each end.
 PropelIfn8 Power.
 Her propelling power will consist of verticle, twin screw. four cylinder, triple expansion type of engines of a combined indicated horsepower of 16,- 800 The ship Is to be provided with an ice plant with a cooling capacity of three tons of ice daily an evaporating plant of 16,500 gallons capacity and a distilling apparatus capable of con densing 10000 gallons of water a day. She will be equipped with powerful searchlights and her masts arranged for wireless telegraphy.
 Designed for a flagship. accommoda tions have been provided for one flag officer, commanding officer. chief of stan. nineteen ward room officers ten junior officers, ten warrant officers and s13 men. .-.