The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1910-05-13
LAuNsHED YESTERDAY AT NEW
YORK NAVY YARD-RATTLE-
SHIP FLORfEiA.
TO COST SIX MILLIONS
Length SGT Feet Six Inches, Speed
2o34 Miles and Hour, with $4,000
Horse Power--carries
954 Men.

New York, May 12.-The biggest
ship in the American navy Sid off
the waves today at the New Ycik
Navy Yard, when the battleship Flor
ida dropped into the water. Later o.
when the Arkansas and the Wyoming
now under construction are afioat
they will exceed the Florida in size
by three thou and tons. difference
sufficient to make a pretty good 1t
tie liner itself. The florida herself
is BY no means finished, for she went
off the waves todny she was only
about siXtey per cent advanced
towards completion, which means
that she was not much more than a
vast empty huh and still awaits all
of the thousand boilers and main and
secondary engines and arnor and
tqripment that 60 to make up the
ship ready for commission
Probably there is not battleship
afloat that could tackle the Floril IN
even terms, when her commanders
flag flies from the ungraceful but for
nidable, skeleton mast which will be
placed upon her, that is, provided tie
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 com
mission.
The ship is the first Of any real
Importance to be constructed In q
government navy yard for a number
of years and naturally her perform.
ancc win be watched with keen ip T.
est by tho, prigate slphuilders wac
are now building her sister ship tie
Utah in Camden, N. j. AS matter
of fact the North Dakota built by the
Fore River Ship Building Company,
and the Delaware. constructed ut
Newport News with the Fiorida aad
Utah will make what is described as
Unit in naval parlalce, leanihE
that these vtssels are practically ot
the same type and may be expected
to operate together in naval warfare.
The North Dakota ana the Deeware
are nearly two thousand tons small
er than the other two YES els, though
the armament is practically the SAME
and the smaller vessels, indeed are
rated at about quarter of knot
faster
The Florida sN52l feet 6 inches
long, nearly as long as a city block;
her beam is SS feet 212 inches; she
darws 2Sb feet of water and dis
places 21.S25 tons in light ORDER
while when fully loaded, with haT
supplies and ammunition she viii
measure up to 23,Ga3 tons. Her cs
timated speed is 20M knots per hour
which would have been regarded a
few years ago as the topnotch for q
swift marmored cruiser She viii
carry $500 tons of coal in her bunk
ers which should enable her to makS
tho round trip across the Atlantic al
half speed. Sarson's turbine engines
brit in the New York Navy Yard Of
the enormous power of $4,000 horse
power will maintain the high speed
of this big ship and the steam viii
be supplied by sectional boilers.
The main battery of the ship vii
consist of ten twelve-ing rifles, ar
ranged in pairs In turrets. Looking
at her bow-on one would think thai
the Florida had what is called super
posed or double-lecked turrets like
the Kearsarge and the Kentucky, bui
as a matter Of fact there are only two
guns in each Of the five turrets AMI
the second turret In the fore-part o1
the ship is necessarily elevated or
superstructure so as to be able tt
fire freely over the top Of the fore
mast turret. There is very formid
able secondary battery composed o
sixteen five.inch rapid fri RS, foul
three lpounatf''s two one pounb,rs
and a number Of machine guns. There
are also two twenty-one.inch submer
ged tubes for torpedoes..
1t will take more than thousanC
men to manage this great fightin!
machine;; the minimum require
-.iaent is sixty officers and 954 enlist
ed men. The estimated cost Of tn
ship complete is $6,oo0,00O as fixe,
in the Act Of May 13th, 1908. He
keel was laid March 9Th, 1909, so tha
the naval constructors have reaso1
to be proud of the rapidity will
which they have carried on thel
work /.