The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-03-18
WASHINGTON WAS LAUNCHED
NEW ARMoR CRUISER TOOK ITS
MAIDEN TRIP AT CAMDEN
TODAY.
Was Christened by Miss Helen Wilson
of Seattle in Presence of
Large Crowd.
Was christened by Miss Helen Wilson

CAMDEN, n. j., March 1S.-In the
presence of several thousand specta-
and changing bells, the United States
armored cruiser Washington, the most
powerful of it's class yet built, grace
fully giided from the ways at the
yard of the New York Shipbuilding
company today. AS the new warship
swept down the ways toward the rip
ping waters of the Delaware the as
sembled multitude wildly cheered the
new champion. Owing to the distance
of the State. of Washington from this
city, there was not a large attendance
of citizens of the commonwealth
honored by the Navy Department
when the Washington was named.
There was an influential delegation
on hand, however. The ship was
christened by Miss Helen Stewart
Wilson, daughter of ex-senator John
L. Wilson of Seattle.
With the first movement of the
huge hull Miss Wilson lightly poised
the galy bedecked bottle of champagne
and as the vessel swept down to meet
the tide she dashed the glass re-
ceptacle against the unyielding wall Of
steel, and as the wine flowed down
the ways in foaming rivuIets the fair
sponsor said: IT Fchristen thee Wash
ington.''
Pandemonium mad broken loose in
the crowd below as well as upon the
stand. Staid matrons as Well as gid
dy maids were mounting points of
vantage in order to see the new vessel
leap into the arms of her native ele-
ment. Greeted with a welcome blast
from the shrill threats of several
score of steam whistles, the cruiser
floated majestically out upon the
bosom of the Delaware, where she was
soon captured by tug and towed to
one of the shipyard piers, where she
will be completed. She is now in
more advanced stage of construction
than any vessel ever before launched
for the United States navy.
The Washington was contracted for
on February 8, 1904, and at the same
time the Cramps were awarded the
contract for sister ship, the Tennes-
see There has been quite a rivalry
between the two shipbui1ding firms to
See which should complete it's contract
the quickest. The New York Shipbuild-
ing company is ahead with the launch
ing of the Washington. This is par
TALLY due to the fact that the ways
on which the cruiser was built are
covered by mammoth shed Of glass
and steel, allowing for work in all
kinds of weather.
The Washington, while not designed
to be quite as fast as some Of the
lighter armed cruisers, will have
greater battery and defensive powers
than any, vessel classer as a cruiser. In
fact, she will be superior to many bat
tleships of the earlier type. The
Washington's length on water line is
SOP feet; breadth Of load water line,
Y feet; displacement on trial, Is feet;
mean draught at maximum load, q
feet. The steaming radius at 10 knots
will be $500 knots; steaming radius at
full speed, about 31O0 knots.
The armor-plate protection ranges
from inches for the turrets to inches
for the belt. The cruiser will have
a very heavy armament. The main
battery will consist of four 10-inch
guns and sixteen 6-inch guns. The
secondary battery will have twenty
three 3-inch rapidfire guns, twelve g.
FOUNDER semi automatic guns, two l.
FOUNDER automatic and two 1-pounder
rapid-fire guns, two 3-inch field pieces
and three small calibre rapid-fre ma
chine guns.
The indicated horsepower Of the en-
gines is $4,000, and they are designed
to drive the vessel at speed of at
least % knots an hour.