The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-08-12
BUILT TO FIGHT.
Battleship Kansas One Of the
Three Largest.
She viii Have Cost IS, OOO, 900
When Completed.
WILL BE NUMBER 81.
Designed as Flagship and Will
Carry sos Men. :.
When Ready for Trial Trip Will
Weigh S,5S9.5I Tons.
WILL BE NUMBER Fl.

I
Camden, N. J.. Aug. 12.-The Kan
sas will be one of the three most DOW
erful fighting ships in the United
states navy. Other battleships may
exceed it in speed: none will surpass
1t in strength of equipment and in ex-
pensive construction. 1t is one of three
sister ships" so called because when
completed they will be almost exactly
alike. The Vermont, recently launch
ed at the shipyards at Newport News,
Va, and the Minnesota, building at
Quincy, Mass. are the other two. Each
is first class battleship of 10000 tons
displacement and when put into COM
mission. navy officers say, they will be
| ''monarchs of the seas" Their con-
struction is a part of the naval pro-
gramme adopted by congress by which
in comparatively few years our navy
will have advanced to third place
among the naval powers of the world;
then only Great Britain and France
will exceed us in naval strength. We
now have thirteen powerful battle
ships; then we will have at least
crease in the number and strength of
armored cruisers and other fighting
craft.
The Kansas when ready for sea SER
vice VIII nave COST ABOUT eight Iiil1Oll
dollars, an expenditure more than half
as great as the entire cost of the capt.
toll at Washington, the most costly
building in this country, and forty
times greater than the cost of the most
pretentious fighting ships this govern
ment was building at the beginning of
the Civil war. From the war vessels
of that day to the Kansas is far cry.
In shipbuilding it marks the transition
! from the age of wood to the age of
steel. An enthusiast pronounced
| frigate upon it's completion in 1865,
''the most superb specimen of marine
architecture ever attempted" Its en-
tire cost was less than 100000. The
Kansas will cost nearly IL million
more than the Oregon, the most costly
American battleship now in commits
sion, and about 2 millions more than
| the battleship Missouri, which went
| The contract price for the hull and
machinery alone is $4,l65, 600. The
ordnance officers estimate the cost of
| the armoP at about 81 500, 600, and the
armament which includes guns and
ammunition. at 81, 700, 900. In addi-
ton the cost of the initial equipment
will approximate 100000, making the
total about 100000.
The official description of the Kan
sas shows that it will be 45Qs feet long
and have breadth of rs feet 10
| inches at its load water line. 1t viii
draw 26 feet 9 inches. 1t will carry
/ =
must bring it up to a speed of not less
than Is knots an hour for at least four
hours on its trial trip. The hull will
be entirely of steel.
The main battery will consist of
four 12-inch breech-loading rifles
eight S-inch breech-loading rifles. and
| twelve finch breech-loading rifles
This battery will be mounted as fol-
lows:
electrically controlled, balanced clip
teal turrets on the center line, one
forward and the other aft, each with
an arc of fire of about 270 degrees.
| The S-inch guns in pairs in four
electrically controlled, balanced clip
tical turrets, two on each beam at each
end of the superstructure-
The Finch guns in bfoadside on
pedestal mounts on the gun deck, be-
| lated by splinter bulkheads of nickel
steel of from one and one-half to two
! inches thick; the forward and art guns
arranged to fire right ahead ana right
astern, respectively; the olnsf t-lieli
guns will have the usual broadside
The ship will be protected by the
| heaviest aFmor made, in order that IL
may resist the projectiles OF the largest
guns of an opponent. The null VIII
! be covered at the water line, outside
the ship's vitals-the engine room, etc.
by a complete belt of armor feet
3 inches wide Win q uIllIO1IIl tAiCh-
ness of inches for about 2S5 rect
amidships forward and aft of which
points the thickness is gradually de-
creased to four inches at the stem ana
stern That there shall be no danger
from a plunging fire of an enemy the
deck will be protected by heavy steel
plates extending from stem to stern
with nickel steel hatch coverings and
gratings. AS a precaution against
sinking in the event of the armor be-
ing pierced cofferdams about thirty
inches thick and extending from pro-
tective deck to berth level deck will
be worked from end to end of the
vessel. These cofferdams will be filled
with cellulose-corn pith-or other
approved water excluding material.
The boilers ana machinery will be of
the latest pattern. The ship will be
heated with steam throughout, and aux
iliary steam machinery will be provided
for hoisting steering. operation of the
ice plant. which will have a cooling ca
paeitv of three tons of ice daily; evap-
Grating plant, with a capacity of $500
gallons every twenty-four hours. and a
distilline apparatus capable of condens-
inc 10 900 gallons of water a day. There
will also be a complete electric plant
for lighting the ship and to furnish
mower for operating the boat cranes,
deck windlasses and other machinery.
The Kansas was designed as a flag
shin, and it will have complement of
S55 officers and men, a flag officer, a
commanding officer, a chief of staff,
nineteen wardroom officers, ten junior
officers, ten warrant officers and not