Milford chronicle., 1907-08-09
OUR WARSHlPs TODAY.

NiSe - MUMMY iNoWaddyas
The warships Of today are, as most
people know, armored, but. contrary
to the popular idea. they are not pro.
tected all over.
A recent authority has said that the
improvement in rapid firing guns in
late years has resulted in armor pro-
tecting more Of the side of the ship
and in increasing the number Of guns
protected by the armor The armor is
not so thick as formerly, but this is
made up for by an improved kind Of
material whose resisting power IS
| greater. The modern battleship is In
tended to combine in one vessel the
/ most powerful offensive and defensive
| weapons of floating warfare. These
| battleships may be divided into thres
! pOrtlOns-namely, the part under wa
ter, the part near the water line and
the upper works. In the first named
parts are carried the machinery and
boilers. coal. the steering gear, the
submerged torpedo tubes. the ammu-
milton and the greater part Of the
stores. These parts are the most vul.
nerable parts Of the ship. Attempts
have been made to armOr the bottom
Of battleships against explosions OF
tOrpedoes, but they have not been sue
cessful owing to the fact that to have |
the armor effective 1t would have to be |
very thick and therefore very heavy, |
an objection that engineers have not
successfully overcome.
To prevent the penetration Of pro-
Jectiles from above there is a protec-
tive armor deck, usually from two to
four Inches thick, the middle part Of
which is a little above the water line.
This deck slopes down at the sides to
the bottom edge OF the armoF belt,
from four to six feet under water.
There is sometimes a second protec.
tive deck below the first one to catch
fragments which might pass through
The first and this is sometimes called
he splinter deck" The part OF the
Ihip Immediately above the protective
ieck in the vicinity OF the water line
5 sometimes called the raft body"
t is protected from the enemy's pro-
ectiles by a heavy armor belt. In
modern battleships this armor belt ex-
ends over the whole OF over the great
r part Of the length The gun POSI-.
Ions are all we'll armored. So Is the
onning tower, which is the place from
'hich the captain directs the fighting.
his tower is connected by telephones
nd speaking tubes with all the i'm
Ortant parts OF the craft.
The guns mounted by modern bat
eship are generally two big twelve
ch ones at each end, protected By
mored turrets. and a large number
eight and six inch ones, in case
ents also armOred. Just now there is
constant battle between guns and
NOR. As the penetrating power Of
e guns is increased so Is the resist
power Of the armOr increased. In
new British ship DreadnOught
smaller six inch guns have disap-
lred, and instead we see n battery :
ten twelve-inch guns. This vessel is
opposed to have been constructed In
sequence of the lessons learned
ring the late war between Russia
! Japan.
'ur own ships now generally seem
have displacement Of about 10000
IS, but the rate is constantly in
asing. 1t is bigger, bigger, bigger
the time, and each new design
ws greater displacement. To
ot and penetrate the armor at six
es is nothing nowadays.-Frank E.
lnnOn in ST. Nicholas.