New-York tribune., 1909-03-14
BIGGER THAN THE BIGGEST.

Though the number OF new battleships for
which the outgoing administration asked was
not granted by Congress at the recent session.
the proposition 10 give the two vessels author
lied the unprecedented displacement Of 10000
ions received legislative sanction. OF course,
the Navy Department knew in a general way
what II wanted several months ago and had
several provisional plans for battleships of that
size. Now that x has been authorized 70 pro-
ceed the basis however, there are many
details yet to BE- worked out before bids for
construction can be invited. AS a recent Wash
iugtOn dispatch to The Tribune stated, the com
pletion of the specifications is being pushed Wig
orousy
One Of the questions to be settled by the de-
partment is how best to take advantages Of the
remarkable Increase In size which has been
agreed upon. The ships which will eventually
be named the Wyoming and the Arkansas are
IN have a displacement exceeding the Michigan's
by 10000 tons and the North Dakota's by 5000
Though the Michigan and her sister shin the
South Carolina. viii lie identical In size with
the Connecticut they will be the first repre-
sentatives Of the one-caIbre policy In the Amer
ican navy. For offensive purposes they will
mount eight guns, all of the same size The
North Dakota, the Delaware the Florida and
the Utah Will carry ten guns each An advance
could now be made by increasing either the
both possibilities have been considered. the gov
eminent has apparently decided TO stick to the
old calbre { II incheSl and to install two more
guns than the North Dakota will carry. One Of
these days naval cannon with a I4-inch bore
may be constructed. but at present the United
States Navy Department is evidently unwilling
to undertake such an innovation.
In the arrangement as well as in the size of
the guns provided for the Wyoming and the
Aria tlna
and the South Carolina will probably be fol
lowed The guns will be installed in turrets
and the turrets will stand In a straight fore
and-aft line. Hence all OF the guns can be used
in brOadside fire If it were deemed practicable
TO put three guns in a turret, may possibly
be done at some future time, perhaps the board
of construction might have put more than IL
dozen guns on the new battleships BY assign
ing three guns each to three turrets and two
guns each to two others room could be found
for one more gun. In adhering TO the plan OF
installing only two in a turret 1t became neces-
sary TO choose between twelve guns (in six tur.
rets) and fourteen lin seven). Though the ex-
traOrdinarv size of the new ships might seem to
justify an attempt To install the larger number.
the government experts seem to have been re-
lCctant to try the experiment
In order to make possible straight-ahead fire
from the second pair of guns on the Michigan
the second turret is higher than the first The
third turret IS higher than the fourth so tAat
its guns can be trained directly aft. The same
steplke system has been adopted with the North
Dakotas five turrets. The second and fourth
are higher than the first and fifth and the third
is the highest of all. 1t may be taken for grant
ed that on the Wyoming the fourth viii equal
the third in height, and both will be higher than
the others. If seven turrets had been designed
1t would doubtless have been thought desirable
to carry the fourth TO higher level than its
negEbors, and~a more powerful leverage would
have been exerted by the recoil Of its guns in
brcadside fire than that of the other turrets
Possibly this was one of the reasons why the
installation of only twelve guns was approved