The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1911-04-23
The Two New Dreadnaughts
Now Being Planned Will
Each Have a Displacement
of $4,000 Tons.
IA INCH GUNS ARE
PROVIDED FOR THEM
Each Ship Will Have Oil
Burning Apparatus, Which
Can Be Used as an Auxil-
iary Motive Power.
BY SIDNEY ESPH.

BY SIDNEY ESPH.
Washington, April 22.-Present
plans of the navy department call for
the building of two of the most power
twenty-eight thousand tons displace-
ments, with armor plate of sixteen
inch thickness, and ten fourteen inch
guns as the main battery. The guns
are to be placed in four turrets, two
of which will have two fourteen-inch
guns each, and the others three guns
each.
These plans are for the two ships
authorized several months ago by con-
gress. The Texas and New York au-
thorized a year ago and now in course
of construction are to of twenty-seven
thousand tons displacement with main
batteries of ten fourteen-inch guns
and fire turrets containing two guns
each. The armor plate on the water
line, the main belt of protection for
both the Texas and New York, is four
teen inches in thickness.
Italy and Russia, not by any means
leading naval powers, are the only
countries so far to try out the three
gun turrets. Naval experts of this
government, however, believe the
three gun turret an improvement and
are therefore eager to try them out in
the two newest ships.
The new ships will have Oil burn
ing apparatus and oil tanks as an aux
iliary power, and will be so construct
ed as to use oil extensively in an en-
ergency. At present many of the
new ships carry a supply of oil which
Is used principally to increase speed
and cruising radius. BY flushing the
coal with oil more power is gotten out
crease her speed and go further on her
coal
No Smoke From Oil.
The advantage of battleship which
could extensively use oil instead of
coal is recognized by naval experts.
combustion, SO that an entire feet of
oil buIning ships might cruise the
seas without leaving any trace of their
whereabouts. The smoke from bat
tleships is the most telltale sign they
leave, for the enemy. In the recent
naval war game, conducted when the
battleship fleet returned from abroad
the smoke from the ships left a trace
which the scout cruisers took advan-
tage of. Though they did not correct
ly Judge the fleets course at first,
the officers aboard perceived the
smoke and speedily got on the trail
of the fleeing enemy" This test was
held when the battleships were at
tempting to make Guantanamo, Cuba,
the winter rendezvous early last Jan
uary. The scouts put out of Hamp-
ton Roads and located the fleet SO
quickly that the wireless messages of
the ''enemy's" advance came in time
to permit of fleet being rushed from
Hampton Roads in time to intercept
the enemy" before Guantanamo could
be reached.
Practically all of the new battle
ships have oil burners and oil fuel
tanks. These burners are only aux
iliary to the steam boilers. There are
number among expert naval archi-
tects who believe that it would be a
most valuable experiment to make one
of the two ships now being planned
an oil burner exclusively-omitting
the coal furnace. They maintain that
in time the merchant ships of the
world will discard coal fuel and burn
oil. When this time arrives, it is
said, the navies of the world will burn
oil exclusively. One drawback to the
oil burners now is the inability to re-
plenish the fuel tanks in many quar-
ters of the world. But with the worlds
merchant marine burning oil fuel, sup
ply stations will be common and the
warships would have little trouble in
replenishing their tanks
May Be No Marines.
1t is possible that the newest bat
tleships will be without marines in
their compliments An effort is to
be made at the coming session of con-
gress. the regular session that begins
in December, to provide special ships
for the use of marines. These ships
are to be protected cruisers, capable
of great speed. The plan is to have
at least four Of them for the Atlantic
feet and two for the Pacific feet as
starter. These will be manned by the
marines and will carry stores and the
war munitions that are needed by
landing forces
The trouble with the present ar
rangement whereby marines are dis
tributed aboard the battleships is that
the marines, while ON the battle
ships, are given service in the differ
ent gun crews. In time of war the
marines are withdrawn as landing