Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-05-27
NEW BATTLESHIP
HULL LAUNCHED
MICHIGAN SLIDES INTO della
WARE RIVER
is MORE THAN FIFTY PER CENT
COMPLETED
Warship viii Be Turned Over to the
Government Within Year-Wash-
ington Officials Witness
Successful Event

BY Associatet Press.
CAMDEN, N. j., May 26-Into the
restless waters of the Delaware river,
on whose shores SO many of the ships
of the new navy have been built, there
was launched today the great steel hull
Of what will be the formidable battle
ship Michigan.
Built by the New York Ship Building
company at South Camden, the Michi-
gan, a sister ship to the South Caro-
lima, unded construction at the Cramps
ship yard on the Philadelphia side of
the Delaware, is more than so per cent
completed and will be turned over to
the government in about year. The
launch of the Michigan was entirely
successful, and was witnessed by a
number of invited guests, including AS
sistant Secretary of the Navy Newber-
ry, Secretary of the Interior Garfield,
Governor Warner of Michigan, the
United States senators from Michigan
and other prominent persons of WASH
| ington and the Wolverine state. The
sponsor was Miss Carol Barnes New
berry of Detroit, daughter of Assist
ant Secretary Newberry.
Fair weather favored the event and a
great crowd was on hand in and about
the yard to see the big ship take the
water. Following the launch the invit-
| ed guests were entertained at luncheon
by the officials of the company. There
was no formality about the luncheon,
but following the custom toasts were
drunk to the president of the United
| States, the secretary and assistant sec
rotary of the navy, the fair sponsor,
and last but not least, a good luck"
toast to the great battleship herself.
| The first-class battleShip Michigan
comes closer to the Dreadnaught class
of warships in the English navy than
any other big floating vessel in the
American navy. The new vessel is
known as an "all big gun" battleship.
as it will carry eight 12-inch breech-
| loading rifles.
General Dimensions
The general dimensions of the Michi-
gan are as follows: Length on load
water line, 450 feet; extreme breadth,
so feet; draft, "a feet inches; total
coal bunker capacity, 2200 tons. The
hull is of steel throughout. Although
a very heavy vessel, the contract calls
for a sustained speed of 1914 knots an
hour for four consecutive hours.
Besides the eight 12-inch guns, the
main battery will include two sub
merged torpedo tubes, and the second
airy battery will consist of twenty-five
S-inch (141s-pounder) rapid fire guns;
} two 3-pounder emi-automatic guns;
!, eight 1-inch semi-automatic guns; two
3-inch field pieces, and four machine
guns of 0.30 caliber. The 12-inch guns
will be mounted in pairs in turrets on
the center line, two forward and two
aft. The hull will be protected on the
water line by a complete belt of armor
eight feet wide, having a thickness of
eleven inches throughout the machin-
cry space and twelve inches at the
magazine spaces. For a height of eight
feet above the main belt there will be
the easement armor, eight inches thick
at the top to ten inches thick at the
bottom. There will be a complete pro-
tective deck from stem to stern. The
magazines and shell rooms will be so
arranged that about one-half of the
total supply of ammunition will be
carried at each end of the ship.
The propelling engines will be OF the
vertical twin screw, four-cylinder, triple
expansion type, of combined indicated
horse power of 16,50O
Each engine will be located in sep
arate water tight compartment. Each
of the two tunnels of the vessel will be
100 feet high above the base line. Inc
crew of the Michigan will number fifty
one officers and 1853 men.