The San Francisco call., 1907-06-21
CONTRACTS ARE LET FOR
TWO BIC bATTLEsH|Ps
Eventually $2O,O0o,ooo Will
Be Expended Upon
Warships
RIVAL DREADNOUGHT
Will Be Heavier by Several
Thousand Tons Than
Any Others
RIVAL DREADNOUGHT

WASHINGTON, June 2o.-The New
port News ship building company, with
one bid at s3.9s7.0o0, and the Fore
River ship building company of Quincy,
Mass. with bid at $437700O, were
the successful bidders today for con-
structing two American Dread
noughts,, or what are officially known
as battleships Nos. 2S and 29, each to
be of approximately 10000 tons dis
placement, the cost of each not to ex-
ceed S6,000,00o exclusive of armor and
armament The total cost of each
when completed is estimated at &c.,
100000.
Responsive to the actions of the navy
department and in accordance with the
instructions to the naval board on con-
struction, there were submitted various
designs and sketches for the proposed
vessels from ship builders and naval
constructors. These were in turn sub
mitted to a naval committee on de-
sign, the head of which was Assistant
Secretary Newberry. which board We-
ported that the SO foot design OF the
bureau of construction with officers
quarters forward) was the most suit
able. The board gave an opinion that
a vessel constructed on this 4design
would carry as heavy arnnor and as
powerful armament as any known ves
sci of this class; would have a speed
believed to be the highest practicable
for a vessel of this type and class and
have the highest practicable readiness
of action with a total coal bunker
capacity of about $500 tons, a speed on
trial of 81 knots, a length an the load
water line of about $40 feet and an ex-
treme breadth of about So feet 2ss
inches.
The armament is to be composed as
follows: Main battery-1o IL inch
breech loading rifles; second battery
IA 8 inch rapid fire guns, 8 FOUNDER
saluting guns. FOUNDER semiauto-
matte guns, 2 3 inch fieldpieces. ma
chine guns (caliber 800. submerged
torpedo tubes. sN
The hubs or the vessels are to be pro-
tected by a water Line belt of armor
eight feet in width, whose maximum
thickness Is IL inches and whose cross
section is uniform throughout the
length of the belt.
The arrangement of the main battery
guns is to be such as to permit a
broadside fire 25 per cent greater than
that of the broadside fire of any battle
ship built. The average elevation OF
the axis of these guns is expected to
be greater than that of any known
battleship. thus affording distinct ad-
vantage in long range firing under all
conditions of weather.
The arrangement of the interior will
be such. as to give the maximum de-
gree of protection to all vital portions
of the ship by means of unusually ef-
fective compartmental subdivisions.
The actual total weight of hull and
armor in the proposed designs for the
ships is approximately 1900 tons greater
than the largest battleship so far built
The bidding brought together the
largest company of ship builders and
others interested in naval construction
that had been seen in the navy depart
ment for many months. The bidding
was necessarily complex, the builders
availing themselves of the depart
ment's permission to submit all sorts
of combination and alternative plans.
The Newport News company alone
submitted no less than seven plans, and
they were generally the lowest at all
points and with all combinations.
Bids also were opened for supplying
the armor needed for the two big
battle ships. For the armor, which is
divided into four classes. upon the
basis of the difficulty of the shapes
required, the Midvale steel company
appeared to be the. lowest bidder for
the largest class, namely 1886 tons of
class A at $40 per ton. For 952 tons
of armor in class B the Carnegie and
Bethlehem companies each bid $500 per
ton, while the Midvale bid was $410.
For 392 tons of class c. the Carnegie
and Bethlehem companies each bid
$500 and the Midvale $40. For 1.70S
tons of class d armor Bethlehem bid
$500, Midvale $40 and Carnegie SUBJ
NIT n hid