El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-12-02
UNCLE SANS TOY WAR FLEET
NEWEST ADDITIONS TO IT REPRESENT MIGHTY
PER-DREADNoUGHTS
The United States Navy Reduced Scale of Quarter
of an Inch to the Foot-How and Where the Min
iature Warships Are Built-Designed to
Educate the American People in
Naval Matters

until at length the series eliminates
with the newest type-the Florida,
with its all big gun armament and 9TH
er striking peculiarities that mark the
up to date DreadnOught," and
with the armOred cruiser Pennsylvania,
which Is substan tially battleShip, but
with great speed to render her more
ettectiye as a fighting machine.
A point incidentally noticeable, in
reviewing the toy fleet, is that, whereas
nearly all the older types are painted
white, with yellOWish spar color" for
the superstructUre and masts, the new
est ones are battle gray" or slate
hued- The model of the Florida, in the
secretary's office, is slate colored from
the tops of the fire control maSts to
the Waterllne-this being the require
ment of the existing naval regulations.
These prescribe that there shall not
even be any polished metal on board
nOIhlng, In fact that can reflect the
rays of searchliSht at night, and
enemy The war craft must be as near
~ as possible the color of the ocean
one model is made to represent each
class or type of vessel in our naval
service. Thus, for example, the Florida
stands also for the battleShiD Utah-the
two being twins and absolutely alike in
all respects. The model of the Penn
sylVan1ae represents a class of six ar
mored cruisers=the others being the
Colorado, the California the South Da-
kota, the West Virginia and the Mary
land Again, the Chester is one Of
three sOcalled scout cruisers" all alike.
There are models to represent differ
ent types of torpedo boats and destroy
everything, in fact, except the
submarines, the designs for which are
kept carefully secret
Are Models of Sea TerrOrs.
One of the objects for which the
models are built is to show officers
Of the navy what new ships are going
to be ike. For. as viii be presently
explained, the toy vessels are actually
constructed before the big war craft
which they represent. This gives OD-
portun1ty for criticism, and a study Of
the miniature likeness Of a battleship
or cruiser that has already been
planned may suggest important modifi-
cations Fvhile it is not too late to carry
them out This, indeed, has happened
often.
1t is a common practice TO keen one
or more Of the models at each naval
recruiting station in Chicago, at Buff
falo, or elsewhere, in order that young
men who think OF enlisting in the serv-
Ice, or who have enlisted, may have a
chance TO see what a warship is like.
Thus it will be perceived that from
all points Of view, the models serve an
educational purpose Wherever they
are publicly exhibited, they tend to
augment popular interest in the navy
a matter deemed of such practical i'm
portance that with no other object in
view, the government, as will be re-
membered, built fun sized battleship
Of brick at the Chicago worlds fair.
Being Of such material. 1t could not
float, but in all other respects it was
exactly like a real battleship and IT
proved one Of the most successful fea-
lures Of the great exposition.
As soon as the plans for a new type
Of fighting ship have been made, a com
plete set of working drawings IS sent
from the navy department to the Wash
lngtOn navy yard, where all OF them
are reduced to a uniform scale of q
quarter Of an inch to the foot, as a
preliminary to building a model of the
proposed vessel. On the top floor Of
a huge barn like edifice is maintained a
very considerable plant for the purDose,
employing the services of several high
" skilled metal workers and three
clever whittlers in wood. For, Of course,
much OF the work is metal work. while
the hull and superstructure Of the
miniature war craft are of wood. as
well rs the boats she carries.
Delicate Metal Work.
The metal work is so delicate that
much Of 1t has to be done with the aid