The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-08-26
ARGENTINE IS TO
HAVE GREAT SHIP
The Worlds Biggest Battle
ship Was Launched at
Quincy Today.
(National News Association

QUINCY. Aug. 26.-Declaring to
have no equal afloat as a first-class
machine. the dreadnaught
the largest ship of war now
building or under design and the first
battleship ever built in the United
States for foreign power, was sue
cessfully launched from the yards of
the Fore River Shipbuilding company
shortly after noon today. The Rivi-
davia is being built for the Argentine
Republic. A sister ship. the Moreno.
is under construction at Camden, N. j..
and will soon be ready for launching
AS the big hull started down the
ways with the golden sunburst on a
field of blue and white, the colors OF
the Republic of Argentina. flying from
the stern, Sonora de Naon. wife of the
Argentine minister to the United
States, broke a gayly beribboned bot
tie of champagne against the keel OF
the great ship and spoke words that
gave the vessel its name. In perform
ing the christening ceremony Sonora
de Naon acted as proxy for Sonora Ro-
sa Saenz Pena, wife of the president
of the Argentine Republic.
Thousands cheered and waved their
hats as the giant hull rushed into the
water. Among those who witnessed
the spectacle were number of the
South American diplomats who are
spending the summer in New England,
together with numerous naval officers
from Charleston, Brooklyn and else
where and experts from the naval de-
companies, all of whom have been
greatly interested in the construction
of the Rividavia, which is of type
that has come to be known among
shipbuilding men as q superdread-
naught
Description Of Rividavia..
Externally the Rivadavia closely re-
|sembles the British battleship Lion
and the Arkansas and Wyoming of the
United States navy. In height she
agrees with several of the latest En-
glish and American dreadnaughts. Her
displacement, however, exceeds that
of even the greatest of the English
and American battleships.
Her large displacement OF 26,5O0
tons is expected to make her very sea-
worthy and insure high offensive
and defensive efficiency. Her length
is 585 feet, beam 90 feet and normal
draught q feet 6 inches. Her height
above the normal water line at the
forecastle will be 25 feet 6 inches.
|amidships % feet s inches and astern
II feet l inch. The superstructure on
the upper deck will be completely
suppressed to avoid obstruction OF the
arc of fire of the main guns.
The main armor belt has q uniform
thickness of 70 inches and is 200 feet
long, extending 4 feet 3 inches above
and 3 feet inches below the normal
water line. In general the arrange
meat of armor follows English, AM
CARDS thickness and distribution it re-
sembles what has been adopted on the
Japanese ships now building. The yes
sci is divided into numerous water
tight compartments, fitted with cleo
trically driven centrifugal pumps.
which can be operated even when the
compartment is completely flooded.
The motive power is steam turbines
and coal. The bunkers have capacity
of 1000 tons. The main turbines can
develop $4,000 horsepower with one
inch of air in the firerooms. The ship
must make speed Of 221k knots an
hour for eight hours with displace-
ment of 27,500 tons.
The main battery of the RivadRvia
will consist of twelve 12-inch guns,
mounted in pairs in turrets, so that
they can all be fired at once. In
addition to the Pinch guns her ar