The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-10-15

The boats are manned by 52.4OO
sailors, the majority Of whom are In
experienced landsmen who know very
little Of present day naval warfare.
Russia has a very large reserve list,
which is drawn as follows:
Frst-All the reservists of twenty.
three whole governments and Of sew
enty-one districts In fourteen other
governments.
SecOnd.-Part Of the ~reservists OF
nine districts Of four governments.
Third.-The naval reservists In sixty
four districts Of twelve Russian gov
ernments and one Finnish government
Fourth.-The time expired COssacks
of the territories Of Don. Kuban, Terek.
Astrakhan, Orenburg and Ural.
Fifth.-A corresponding number OF
reservist officers Of the medical and
veterinary services. In addition to
needful horses. wagons and transport
services In the governments and dis
tricts thus pobilized.
Guns Of the Navy.
The standard guns in the Russian
feet are as follows:
The twelve inch Of 40 calibers;
weight. 6fty-nine tons; muzzle velocity.
$500 foot seconds; muzzle energy, 81
600 foot tons This piece has a NOM
inal penetration of fifteen and One-half
inches Krupp cemented at 5000 yards
with capped A.. p. shell. the same as
that of the United States Mark III.
ten inch. built for the Washington
class. 1t is mounted In the old battle
ship Czarevitch. For the BOrodinO
class a sixty-four tor twelve inch has
been designed. but It Is doubtful
whether 1t exists as yet. 1t has the
same velocity (service). but fires a
1000 pound prOjectile instead OF a 732
pound one. and 1t has a corresponding
ly increased energy. The nominal We
locity is 5000 foot seconds.
The Poltava Clasc.
The Poltava class. the Sissoi veliky
and all other battleships carrying
twelve inch guns. down to and includ-
ing the Sinope. carry a 35 caliber
twelve inch gun. Its weight Is fifty
six tons; its initial velocity, 1912 foot
second (service,: energy. 1920 foot
tons; shell. 49, pounds. 1t is. Of course,
an old type gun. Its penetration Is
for a twelve inch gun very small. The
velocity Is poor. and the piece Is con
siderably inferior to the twelve inch
guns Of other powers. The rate of fire
of this piece is slow.
A more powerful piece and a better
gun Is the ten inch of 45 caliber. car
ried by the Peresviet class and the
Apraksin and Rostislav.
The Gansut Class.
The only really effective boats now
in service are the four ~battleships Of
the Gangut class. They are the Can
gut. S~evastopol. Petropavlovsk and
Poltava. These boats are 500 feet
long and have a displacement Of 49,
600 tons. The armament Is as fol-
lows: Twelve IL inch guns in pairs in
six turrets. sixteen Al inch so caliber
guns, eight machine guns. Torpedo
tubes. four submerged, one on either
beam and one forward and one aft.
The next class Of battleships are
very much smaller, poorly armed and
equipped and generally inefficient and
ineffective. In the next class are
some Of the boats which saw service
in the japanese war and have been
raised. done over and slightly modern
lied. The fact that these boats were
In service nearly ten years ago and
are still being used shows the demon
allied condition of the Russian navy.
One of the interesting ships In the
Baltic feet Is the Czarevitch. which
escaped from the Japanese feet ut Port
Arthur by running into n Chinese port.
from which she was relen~nd after the
Russo-.Japanesp war was ar sr Rear
Admiral without. In command Ut the
Russian fleet. was killed by u Japanese
shell which strnck the bridge 0f the
CxarevitoA During the early par. ~
the fight the main IRE az thu japanese
80 nootorad - IN C~vSrac{trh