Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-08
COULD WHIP ANY SHIP
Fitting Out Battleship Louis
lana for Sea.
POWERFUL RIVAL VESSELS
japanese Taking Lead in Naval Con-
struction.
POLICY BASED ON EXPERIENCE
Strength and Speed Declared to Be
the Essentials of Fleet-CasuaI-
ties of the War.
0LICY BASED ON EXPERIENCE
BY WILLIAM z. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM Z. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
The battlesbip Louisiana which repre-
seuts the most advanced type of the fight
Ing machine ever constructed has returned
to her dock at the Newport News shipyard
after her speed trial, and is now receiving
her armament and being fitted out for sea.
In several particulars the Louisiana exceeds
all other ships of all other navies and
properly Differed and manned, she ought
to whip anything that floats. In speed,
armament and coal-carrying capacity,
which are the three essentials for a man
of-war. she surpasses the lest and the
latest and the strongest battleships in the
European navies. She Is $50 feet long. IS 10
feet beam and 24.6 feet 1raught, with a dis
placement OF 1900 tons. Her speed on her
trial trip averaged 1873 knots per hour; she
can carry $500 tons of coal, which will en-
able her to steam 1900 miles at a speed of
twelve knots per hour, and her armament
Is four Pinch guns eight S-inch and
twelve finch guns. She will have forty
five officers and a crew OF $40 men,
The strongest ship in the British navy
Is the Edward VII. of the same tonnage
16,OOo) speed OF 1876, or two-tenths of a
knot less than the Louisiana, a coal ca
pacity of 1000 tons, and an armament of
guns
The strongest ship in the French navy
is the Republique, l5.0G0 tons, Is knots
speed, capacity for 1.SG0 tons of coal, and
an armament of four 12-inch and eighteen
6l2-inch guns
The best ship in the German navy in the
Elsass. 1870 tons, Is knots speed, LOCO
tons coal capacity. and an armament Of
four 1l-inch and fourteen 81a-inch guns.
The Louisiana will cost about s., 600 coo,
and is being built by contract by the New
port News Shipbuilding Company, which
was the lowest bidder. The Connecticut
New York navy yard by the government
and by o1y's labor. There Is good deal
of rivalry between the two, and they will
offer excellent opport unity to demonstrate
the comparative advantages of naval con-
struction by contract and in the govern
ment navy yard. There has always been
dispute on the question. The New Hamp-
shire and the Kansas. also duplicates of the
Louisiana. are now under construction at
Camden, n. J.; the Minnesota, at Newport
News, and the Vermont at the Fore River
ed. these six ships will form the finest
fleet OF fighting machines that were ever
built In the world and will be more fornd-
dable than anything that floats The next
Rhode Island. New Jersey Nebraska and
Georgia, which are now approaching COM
pletion. They have displacement Of H.
900 tons.
Officers of the Louisiana.
The Louisiana is expected to be ready to
go into commission in May, and several
OF her officers have already been selected,
She will be commanded by Capt. A. R.
Couden. who was appointed to the Naval
Academy from Utah. and graduated in the
class of 81. Capt. Couden is now inspector
general of ordnance, and is ranked as ex-
pert authority on that subject. He has
commanded the gun1oats Wheeling and
Mohegan, and has been commandant of
the naval station at Cavite, P. l.; but most
of his duties of late years have been in
connection with the ordnance bureau, and
for a long time he was In charge of the
proving grounds at Indian Head.
Lieut. Commander Frederick l.. Chaplin
has been selected for executive officer Of
the Louisiana. and will have charge n
fitting her for sea. He comes from kirk-
wood, Warren county. H.. and graduated
from the academy with the class Of 81.
During the Spanish war he served on the
battleship Indiana under the lamented Adj
miral Taylor and for several years was
engaged in building coaling stations for
the navy in different parts of the world.
He was flag lieutenant for Admiral Evans
while the latter was in command of the
Asiatic fleet, and has since been serving
as an aid TO Admiral Converse, chief Oh
she bureau of navigation. Lieut.. Command
er Chaplin is regarded as one of the ablest
as we'll al one OF the most versatile officers
in the navy and stands high in every
branch of his profession. Secretary Morton
said that after one years experience he
learned that there were two classes OF men
in the navy-one class are always seeking
things and another class are always be-
ing sought after He said that Chaplin was
one of the latter class.
The navigator of the Louisiana will be
Lieut. Commander Thomas Washington,
another of the second class to which Secre-
tary Morton referred. He halls from North
Carolina, and graduated from the Naval
Academy In 1887. He was flag secretary
for Admiral Evans in the Chinese fleet, and
also served with Lieut.. Commander Chaplin
under Admiral Taylor on the Indiana dur
ins the Spanish war.
japanese Naval Construction.
The japanese are taking the lead in naval
construction. They have adopted a broad
and comprehensive program since the war.
They expect to replace their old fleet with
new and larger battleships and armored
cruisers and propose to design and build
their own ships hereafter. They have re-
Gently constructed new ship yard and gun
factory on the Sumida river, covering
eighty-three acres, with twenty large ma
chine shops foundries and gun factories.
in which 1900 men will be employed. Here
tofore they have built only about one-half
of their ships. The remainder have been
constructed in England and the United
States or have been purchased from foreign
nations but hereafter they will build their
own ships and their own guns
The Japanese naval program is consid-
erably In advance of that OF any other ma
ton They now have under construction
the following:
Battleship Aki 1900 tons. TO be COM
pleted 1908.
Battleship Satsuma, 1900 tons, to be
completed 1908.
Battleshdp kashima. 1900 tons, to be
completed 1907.
Battieship Katoria, 1900 tons. to be
completed 1907
Armored cruiser TsulNuba, 1900 tons, to
be COMPLETED 1905.
Armored cruiser lkoma, l4,OOO tons. to be
completed 1905.
Armored cruiser Kuroma, 1900 tons, to
be completed 1905.
Armored cruiser Ibutkf, IA 600 tons, to be
completed 1906.
The largest battleships will have q speed