The Washington herald., 1911-12-03
UNCLE SANS TOY WAR FLEET
Newest Additions to It Represent the Mighty Super
DreadnOughtS.

flee Is maintained a very considerable
plant for the purpose, employing the
services OF several highly skilled install
workers and three clever whittIers In
wood. For. OF course, much Of the work
is metal work, while the hull and SUPER
structure of the miniature war craft are
Of wood. as well as the boats she carries.
The metal work is so delicate that
much Of IT has to be done with the aid
OF a magnifying glass. Each Of the
workmen takes so special a pride in his
part of the Job that every object he
turns out, whether It be a tackle block
or a gunmount, is made as nearly per-
feet as possible in its likeness to the
real thing. The rapid-fire guns, for in
stance, do everything but shoot But
the big turret rifles are not made Of
steel any longer, as formerly, but OF
wood, for the sake Of economy, and the
turrets themselves are Of wood, painted
slate color, instead Of metal, as of old.
The hull OF such a model-that Of the
Florida, for EXAMPLES built of series
of wooden slices, as one might say, each
slice being piece OF half-inch white pine
plank, cut out In such a figure as to
represent the outline of the body Of the
vessel at a given height above the keel
When the slices have been arranged, one
on top Of another, in their proper order,
and their edges smoothly evened with
sandpaper, they collectively compose the
hull Of the ship that is to be, It only
remains, so far as this part OF the task
Is concerned, to fasten them together
with glue, while held securely by strong
clamps, in such fashion as to insure their
forming a solid and permanent mass.
At the present time the navA toy
| makers are busily engaged in turning
out two models, one representing a col
Her Of large size and improved pattern
, Congress having recently appropriated
the money for several such boats), and
the other being a miniature reproduction
| Of the super New York.
whose keel was laid at the Brooklyn
Navy Yard recently. The New York, by
| the way, will be 5000 tons bigger than
| the Florida, and she has a twin, the
Texas, in process of construction at
Newport News. Va.
One OF our most important fighting
vessels during the Spanish war, II VIII
! be remembered, was the armored cruiser
| New York. She has been renamed the
, Saratoga, in order that the Empire State
| might have a first-class battle ship for
which to be sponsor. The old Texas
! (Which fought at Santiago and helped
| wipe out Cerveras squadron) was re-
christened the San Marcos not long ago,
| as a preliminary to utilizing her ass an
| experimental target for some OF our
| biggest guns. But the new Texas will
! be powerful enough to whip a dozeh Ct
! the ancient pattern.
| The hull of the miniature battle ship
New York IS now just about finished
and ready for the attachment of the
/ rudder and the polished propellers OF
! brass II has received its first coat Of
paint-this part of the task in the max
( ing of a model being one of extreme
deIicacy. The deck, for one thing. must
look as II of real planks. Next. the
| FIVE turrets wilkNbe put on. These, as all
| ready explained, are Of wood, and 50
likewise is the coming tower. The huge
! smokestack and the two fire-controI
the masts being structures Of wire bear
| style military masts'O are Of metal
| the masts being structures OF wire hear
| ing on their tops small platforms for the
| installation OF range-finders.
| The most important task Of the three
whittlers already mentioned is the maxi
| ing OF the boats, OF which such ves-
| sci, of course carries a good many. Two
| Of these are steam launches and are pro-
| vided with engines and all the requisite
machinery in metallic miniature The
! other boats are just like real ones in all
respects, even to the false bottom in the
| little dingy. A jackknife, q bit OF
sandpaper. and, a pot Of glue are the
sole implements employed in this part
| of the job.
Scattered all around the ship, as one
! might say, and looking out OF portholes,
| will be no fewer than twenty-five 5-inch
guns-which, curiously enough, are not
| meant (the original, that Isl for use in
battles They would not even be fred in
an engagement at sea, being intended
merely for defense against possible at
tack by torpedo boats. A single explo-
sive shell from one Of them would be
! likely to disable such a mosquito craft.
and put 1t out of business. When these
have been properly mounted in the mod
ell, the big guns will be placed in the
turrets, and it will only remain to add
the details of equipment.
Such details, however, are sufficiently
numerous. There are, to start with, two
| great cranes for lifting the larger boats
into or out of the water; and these are
made so perfectly that they will actually
do the work. There are electric winches,
anchors, and chains, windlasses, boat
davits, binnacles. flights of little steps.
window ports leach one a bulps-eye OF
glass in a ring of metaD, whistles, and
a steam siren: ventilatOrs. skylights, bat
tIe-hatches. with -gratings of iron bars,
to keep out explosive shells; life RATS,
tiny Ardois signal lamps, and, last but
not least important, the wireless appa-
ratus, extended between the tops Of the
fire-controI masts-aIl these to be adjust
| ed with infinite delicacy and care. In
deed. much of the work of the naval toy
makers have to do is as delicate in char
acter as any matchmaking.
The stuff used for nearly all the metal
work is a composition known as nickel
silver in which, however, decOlorized
copper Is the principal ingredient. 1t is
moderately soft, and admits of easy tool
ing. Some of the models used to cost
as much as 5000 apiece, but the expense
Of producing them has been lesse1ed
very much by such expedients as
the substitution of wood for steel
in the making of the big guns and tur-
rets. There is no object in hOllowins
out the bulls, and so they are left solid.
The armor is merely wood, painted.
The toy feet is growing, ind will con-
tinue to grow. year by year. 1t has a
story of its own to tell-which s that OF
the history and development of our ravy
and in all likelihood, many centuries
from now, these same little vessels will
be looked upon by our descendants with
awe and wonder as maritime antiquities
recording the first steps taken by The
American republic in establishing itself
as a power of the trst elias on all the
seas OF the world RENE BACHE
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