Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-15
PACIFIC FLEET AT.
HAMPTON ROADS

placement, with speed of nineteen knots.
! The coal capacity is LOO tons and the
armament nearly the same as that of the
Connecticut class, except that 6-inch guns
are used in place of the finch on the
Connecticut. and that instead of 3-inch
guns there are numerous Founders and
| one Founders.
The Maine class is of 1880 tons. with
| a speed of eighteen knots and a coal ca
pacity of 1000 tons. The armament diff
fers from the Georgia class in only small
matters.
The Alabama class is of 100 tons
with a speed of II knots and coal capac-
ity of LOO tons. The armament is along
the same lines as that of the Maine class
Bringing up the rear of the battlships
will be the Kentucky and kearsarge. These
will carry the only 13-inch guns In the
fleet a type which was discarded several
years ago. bu. which will probably be
! renewed in the Delaware type. which is
now being built and which is expected
to surpass the great Dreadnought of the
British navy.
The Kentucky class is of 1880 tons,
with speed of about 1853 knots and a
| coal capacity of LOO tons These two
ships have superposed turrets. the S-inch
guns being carried on the turrets above
the l3-inch weapons. This type of arma-
| ment has ueen discarded because of the
! danger of having four guns put out of
business at once by an enemy and also
| because of the danger in the turrets in
loading and firing.
Great Advance in Ten Years.
| All of the ships of the feet are of dis
| tinctly modern type, not one of them
being in existence at the time of the
Spanish war. The fleet therefore will
! display more Inan any other exhibit
could show the great advance that has
been made in American navai affairs in
ten years.
! When the Spanish war came the United
| States had only four battleships, the In
! diana. Oregon, Massachusetts and Iowa.
| The eyes of the nation were centered on
the performance of the Oregon in her
celebrated trip from San Francisco to the
Atlantic coast. practically duplicate of
| the journey of the battle fleet except that
she did not stop in Magdalena bay for
| target shooting.
She was Sixty-two days in making the
| trip. Her arrival was timely. for she
| took notable part in the destruction of
! Cerveras squadron.
The Oregon carried thirtysix guns.
| Ten years later the Georgia was brought
oregon has four io-inch guns in her main
| battery. The Georgia has four Pinch
guns in her main battery.
! Each has eight S-inch guns. The Geor-
| gia has twelve 6-inch guns to four of that
caliber on the Oregon. The Georgia has
twelve 3-inch guns to twenty 6-pounders
| on the Oregon
The experts have figured out that the
muzzle energy in five minutes of firing
| from all the guns on the Oregon would
amount to $40, 456 foot tons. In the same
period of firing on the Georgia the muz-
Zle energy of that vessel would be
1927 Up tons practically five times great
err than that of the Oregon.
! In other words, the advance in gum
merry. the great test of battleship utility,
! has been fve-fold in ten years. This adj
| vance is aScribed to the increased rapidity
| of fire, owing to improved mechanism in
| handling the guns and to the improved
methods of training the gunnerS. There
has been an advance in gunmaking to
some extent. but the rapidity of fire i'm
| proyement is really what makes a battle
| ship of today five times greater in value
than the battleship of ten years ago.
The Elements of Grandeur.
| Although the cruise will probably not
| take on anything of the spectacular, be-
| cause of the need of making every pound
| of coal count for pulling power, it will
| have what Capt. A. T. Mahan the great
| naval expert, calls certain elements of
| grandeur The destructive power of
such fleet can hardly be put down in
| figures and analogy can scarcely indi-
cate its extent.
Every one of these ships represents in a
| peculiar degree the idea of sovereignty.
| and with 1t there goes an impressive
vista of the strength of the United States
| as a nation. Six miles of warships on a
| four months cruise is an unparalleled
sight in the western hemisphere.
The calculation is made easily. There
will be twenty ships at intervals of 400
yards. Each ship is practically 125 yards
long. There will be 5000 yards of in
teryal and 900 yards of ship. or 10.J00
yards in ALL This makes 81 500 feet, and
,.-tNl
line almost exactly six land miles long.
Way the Ships Will Sail.
While the ships will proceed for most
of the way in what might be called In
dian file, to use a land term. they will
not be directly behind one another The
flagship Connecticut will lead the way
with Admiral Evans flag flying. Just
400 yards behind. but one-quarter point
to the port side. will be the Louisiana.
Then 400 yards behind that ship, one
quarter point off the starboard of the
flagship, will be the next ship. The rea-
son for having these ships not directly
behind the flagship is to avoid the danger
in case of sudden stoppage of the ship
following running into the preceding one.
1t really makes an interval of 800 yards
between ships that are directly in line.
The formation is something like the way
versity Fights. The rowers are not seated
in the center of the boat, but four of
them are over to the port side and four
over to the starboard.
The coxswain is in the middle, but in
stead of leading. like the admirars boat
in this kind of fleet formation the order
Is reversed and he is behind, instead of
in front. In each division the admirals
boat will lead, just as the Connecticut
will lead in the first.
The fine work in seamanship in a
cruise of this kind is to keep the inter-
val of 100 yards to a nicely. The pro-
pellers of the various ships do not move
each ship at exactly the same speed,
even when the approximate number of
revolutions for the work has been figured
out. A ship may gain or lose an inch or
two every minute so. and soon the
intervals would become disarranged Il
constant watch were not kent.
A little instrument called the stadimeter
using mathematical formulate OF triangI:a-
ton, corrects the distance from time to
time and word IS telegraphed to the en-
CINE room to push ahead or slow down
just tri1e when it is found that given
vessel is not doing her work just right.
Naval officers know the trick of keeping
intervals properly, and 1t is a matter or
pride with them to keep distances so ac-
curately that no fault can be found with
their work by the commanding officers.