Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-01-08
WARSHIP NOW SAILING THE GREAT
LAKES WAS BUILT SIXTY
SIX YEARS AGO.
WAS FORMERLY THE MICHIGAN
Is Maintained on Inland Waters in Ac-
cordance with Treaty
Stipulations.
WAS USED AS EXPERIMENT SHIP.

Lake Erie the material out of which
was constructed what is now, and has
been for some years, the oldest iron ship
in the world. The trip was not then as
now. matter of few hours, when
over the same route all the ore neces-
sary to produce this entire ship is trans
ported III half u day and In a few cars.
One of the ore trains of the present day
indeed carries enough ore in it's S5-ton
cars to produce the material for four
such ships. But az that time neither
the ore nor the trains were dreamed Of
The ship had rounded out a decade of
service before the first shipment of ore
came from Lake Superior.
But the plates and angles, bars and
beams. bolts and rivets, forgings and
castings, were gotten out at Pittsburg,
laboriously transported across the noun
talns and dumped at the hamlet of Erie
on the shore of the lake. and out of
them grew the United States man-of-
war Michigan, which since that time
has continued to be the whole United
States navy on the Great Lakes, where
treaty obligations restrict naval repre-
sentation to one ship on each side.
Has Seen Long Service.
Probably few people are now living
who even remember her launching; more
probably none who took any part in her
construction. She does not amount to
much judged by modern standards. but
that she was fine ship in her day we
may well believe, and she answers her
purpose today just as well as then,
which purpose is almost entirely CON
lined to putting in an appearance at the
chief lake ports during the season of
navigation to enlist recruits for the new
er and bigger ships of the modern navy,
and acting as drill master at the annual
summer practice maneuvers of the naval
militia of the lake states. Even the firm
which built her. Stackhouse & Tom
linson of Pittsburg. has passed away.
Many naval officer who has risen to
high rank and in his turn passed away,
has at one time or another stood his
watch on ner decks or snored away his
watch below on the old Michigan. But
the old ship still survives, though tle
act OF March 8. 1905. which authorized
two battleships, appropriated her name
for one of them and renamed her the
Wolverine, and there is no reason why.
barring accidents, she should not still be
in service at the end of the century.
In the navy list she is rated as an mn.
armored, unprotected cruiser. with
water line length of 165 feet; beam 81
fteet; displacement, 6S5 tons: indicated
horsepower, 1865; speed, 1O5 knots
twelve statute miles,; coal endurance nj
10 knots, 2240 knots or 224 hours; bunk
er capacity, 100 tons. She does not cut
much figure alongside the new Michigan
recently launched, with her length of 450
feet; beam, so feet; displacement, 17610
tons; 16,5OO-horsepower, and 1872 knots
speed. The eight, 12-inch guns alone of
the new ship would sink the old, even If
lightened of all her machinery. coal and
stores. One-quarter of the new ship's
coal supply would do the same thing.
Outlives All Others.
Each in her turn, however, represents
the most advanced type of naval con
struction of her time. But what changes
have taken place since the old shin took
her first dip in the waters of Lake
Erie. The famous Hartford, a wooden
ship and Admiral Farragut's flagship nj
New Orleans, was not built until the
Michigan was Is years old. About the
same time the British and French three
deckers were hammering away at the
walls of Sebastopol, She was a veteran
when Ericsscn'S Monitor threw all the
navies of the world into the Junk pile.
and many and many a generation Of
fighting ships have come and gone since
then. She was 40 years old when the
ships of our so-eailed new navy were
authorized. and they in turn have gone
into the discard long years since. Her
iron construction was novelty in naval
work, and for years afterwards the
United States continued to build wooden
ships for its navy, including the famous
Kearsage, which was built twenty years
after the Michigan. Even the Constel-
lation, a ship that shares the honors IF
the old sailing ships of the navy with
"Old Ironsides,' did not come until
1854.
Used as Experimental Ship.
The Michigan has been noted ship in
other ways, too. Much of our steam en-
cheering knowledge is based upon the
early experiments on expansion of
steam, superheating, steam jacketing.
condensation, etc, carried out on her
by B. f. sherwood afterwards en-
gineer-in-c chief. United States navy.
when attached to her. The value of
those experiments. and the theories de-
duced from them 10 the world at large
are beyond computation, and they are
to this day quoted as authority.
The engines are of the simple inclined
type, with two cylinders 36 inches di-
ameter, 5 feet stroke, and although of
an Anticipated type and despite their
age and service, their condition is stated
i'll the bureau re- 'ortS to be good. while
that of many of the comparatively new
ships is reported as fair or con
demned. They are sufficient for the
service required. however. and If is
be any more satisfactory for the limited
duty. An old and rare work, entitled
"A Treatise on the Marine Boilers of
the United States" published in Phila- /
delphia in 1881, supplies much interest
ing information regarding the Michigan
in early years; she was then considered |
a remarkable ship. From this it ap- |
pears that the original paddle wheels |
were p feet 10 inches diameter and had
each sixteen paddles or buckets. Each (
bucket was { feet 6 inches long. in two |
parts. and p inches wide also in two |
widths of 10 inches and 10 inches. or |
four sections to each bucket. The din |
of the wheels was 30 inches and the |
maximum revolutions - per minute. |
The draught of water was feet & |
inches. The boilers were of the ,'box" |
type, ! feet 6 inches wide. 10 feet long /
md 3 feet high. and the working steam
PRESSURE was Is pounds per square inch |
The work also includes drawings of the |
boilers from which. while not very COM
nlete. the general design can be crasned
These old boilers We're of course long
'lnce obsolete. and were replaced bv
n Ar of a