The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1910-05-13
new SHIP IN
AMERICAN NAVY
THE FLORIDA, BIGGEST OF THEM
ALL, INTO THE WATER.
GOVERNMENT NAVY YARD BUILT

Percent Finished-size Of Armor 10
Kept Secret, Conforming to New Pol
icy Of the Navy Department.
! New York, May 12.--The biggest
ship in the American navy slid OF
I the ways today at the New York navy
yard, when the battleship Florida had
! dropped into the water. Later on when
the Arkansas and the Wyoming, now
under construction are atloat they will
exceed the Florida in size by 3, 900 tons
Il difference sufficient to make pref
ty good little liner in itself The Flor
ida herself is by no means finished.
for as she went off the WAYS TODAY
she was only about 60 percent ad-
| Vanced towards completion, which
means that she was not much more
than vast empty hull and still awaits
all of the thousand boilers and main
/ and secondary engines and armor and
equipment that 80 to make up the
ship ready for commission.
Probably there is not a battleship
atloat that could tackle the Florida on
even terms, when her commanders
flag flies from the ungraceful, but for
midable, skeleton masts which will be
placed upon her, that is, provided the
naval designers do not change their
minds, as to the utility of this novel
feature of marine architecture within
the next eighteen months, by which
time the Florida should be in commits
sion.
Built by Government.
The ship is the first of any real inr
portance to be constructed in a gov.
eminent navy yard for number OF
years and naturally her performance
will be watched with keen interest by
the private shipbuilders, who are now
building her sistership the Utah in
Camden, n. j. AS matter of fact,
the North Dakota built by the Fore
River Ship Building company and the
Delaware, constructed at Newport
News with the Florida and Utah will
make what is described as a unit in
naval parlance, meaning that these
vessels are practically of the same
type and may be expected to operate
together in naval warfare. The North
Dakota and the Delaware are nearly
1000 tons smaller than the other two
vessels, though the armament is prac-
tically the same and the smaller YES
sells indeed are rated at about a quar-
ter of knot faster.
The Florida is 52l feet six inches
long as city block; her beam is SO
feet two and one-half inches: she
draws % and one half feet of water
and displaces 1925 tons in light or
der, while when fully loaded, with her
supplies and ammunition she will
measure up to 23,O33 tons. Her esti-
mated speed is 20 and three-fourths
knots per hour, which would have
been regarded few years ago as the
tOpnOtch for a swift unarmored cruis-
er. She will carry $500 tons of coal
in her bunkers which should enable
her to make the round-trip across the
Atlantic at half speed. Parsons tur-
bine engines, built in the New York
navy yard, of the enormous power of
$4,000 horsepower will maintain the
high speed of this big ship and the
steam will be supplied by sectional
boilers.
The main battery of the ship will
consist of ten twelve inch rifles ar
ranged in pairs in turrets. Looking
at her bow-on one would think that
the Florida had what is called super
posed or dOuble-decked turrets like
the Kearsarge and the Kentucky, but
as a mater of fact, there are only
two guns in each of the five turrets
and the second turret in the fore-part
of the ship is necessarily elevated on
superstruCture so as to be able to
fire freely over the top of the fore
most turTet. There is a very fOrmid-
able secondary battery composed OF
sixteen tive-inch rapid frers, four
three-pounders and a number of ma
chine guns. There are also two TWEEN
ty-one-inch submerged tubes for tor
pedOes.
Won't Tell About Armor.
Just what the armor is to be on
these ships the naval designers will
not tell. That marks the adoption of
new policy in the American navy
where heretofore it has been Gus
tomary to set out in smallest detail
in the chief constructors annual re-
ports of the thickness of every inch
of armor on the ship. 1t is believed.
though, that the side armor will aver
age about twelve inches and that il
will be extended over length of the
ship heretofore uncovered and will
be much wider than the ordinary arm
or belt so as not to expose the under
body of the ship when she rolls in
a seawave.
1t will take more than a thousand
men to manage this great fighting ma
| chine; the minimum requirement is
sixty officers and 954 enlisted men.
The estimated cost of the ship COM
plete is SGOOO,OOO as fixed in the act