Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-25
BIGGEST BATTLESHIP AFLOAT
Fighting Machine Named for State Of
Utah Launched at Camden.
TEN GUNS IN FIVE TURRETs
Monster IL Equipped with Ten
Turbine Engines that VIII De-
veIop $4,000 Horsepower
Miss sprY Christens IL.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa, Dec. 2A-Declared
to have no equal afloat as a first-class
fighting machine, the battleship Utah. the
greatest warship ever bullt in the United
States. was launched at II o'clock Thursday
from the yard OF the New York Ship Build
ing company at Camden, n. j., in the pres
ence Of several thousand persons who
crowded the docks and every vantage point
in this vicinity OF the yard. As the big
hull started TO leave the thickly creased
ways. Miss Mary Alice Spry Of Salt Lake
City, daughter of the governor OF Utah,
raised her arm and broke a gayly berib-
boned bottle Of champegn e against the rail
Of the great ship as she spoke the words
that gave the vessel its name.
Among those on the platform we're repre-
sentatives Of the Navy department, Gov
ernor Spry and members Of his family, a
congressional delegation, including the
members from Utah, representatives Of the
Utah legislature and nearly all the officers
Of the ship building company.
The Utah Is the fifth Of the all-big gun
type Of battleships for the United States
navy to be launched. When completed It
will be more powerful than the Delaware
and North Dakota Of the Dreadnaught
class.
AAV a HOS "a ANAAbAh Ol NAAN AOdu NhADA
line Of $40 feet, or 521h feet over al, and a
beam of IS feet and two inches. It's trial
draft will be twenty-eight and one-half
feet, displacement 21,S% tons, or 1000 tons
greater than he Delaware and North Da-
kota, and its speed is expected to develop
twenty and three-quarters knots or more
an hour.
Ten Twelve-Inch Guns.
There will be ten twelve-inch breech load
ing runs in its main armament, mounted
In five turrets on the central line Of the
ship. Two of the turrets will be forward,
one amidship and two aft. Each turret
will be protected by armor eight and
twelve inches thick and will be supplied
with ammunition by electrical hoists from
the magazines and shell rooms Immediately
below. The entire handling of the guns
will be done by electric motors.
Sixteen five-inch guns protected by armor
Of medium thickness will be provided for
defense against torpedo boat attacks. Close
subdivision and strong bulkheads will form
additional protection against mine and
torpedo explosions.
The Utah will also be fitted with two
submerged torpedo tubes and will nave ten
small guns for boat service and saluting
purposes.
mani dIilOT Dell VI TIC great snip
will be about eight feet wide with an aver
age thickness of ten inches. Above this
will be another belt of an average thick
ness of nine inches and stlN higher will
be the easement armor protecting the
secondary battery and funnel bases.
Each barbette will be made of armor
varying from four to ten inches in thick
ness and will protect the entire ammunl-
ton handling machinery for the twelve-inch
guns in the turrets above.
Ten Turbine Engines.
Ten turbines, six ahead and four astcrn,
capable of developing 2s,Oc0-horse power,
will be insta1led. Steam will be supplied
by twelve water tube boilers and coal or
oil may be used for fuel. The two smoke
stacks on the ship will extend seventy feet
above the water line.
The Utah will be fitted for a flagship
and its complement as such will consist
of a crew of 1000. Of whom sixty will be
officers.
While the Utah will have no equal when
completed, 1t will not hold that position
long, as the ava program following the
one which called for two ships of the
Utah class provides for vessels that will
be considerably heavier. These latter
ships will mount two more twelve-inch
guns than the Utah and will have a
heavier secondary battery.
Men Needed for Navy.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2.-To man the
entire American fleet in time of war would
require $3.50 officers and 70, 2S1 men, and in
time Of peace 1862 officers and go, 9O2 men,
according to Captain N. X. Usher, as
sistant to the bureau Of navigation, In a
statement made public today. These fig
ures do not include officers and men at
shore stations.
Four new battleships are to be commits
stoned as well as fifteen new large torpedo
boat destroyers and seven submarines. It
is anticipated that the Ohio, Wisconsin
and Missouri will go temporarily out of
commission and that the Denver and three
others OF its class will be replaced by
the New Orleans, Cincinnati and Raleigh,
which are practically Of the same class.
Replying to a suggestion that the navy
will put into commission vessels that will
require 5000 blue jackets and do away with
those that require only $500 men, Captain
Usher says:
The number required is to keep the
fleet in its present strength OF sixteen bat
tleships and not to diminish Immediately
the force employed on the Pacific coast
which consists Of eight armored cruisers
with crews practically the same or a little
larger than the battleships. The vessels
put in reserve are required to have one.
fourth of the regular crews