The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1914-11-04
UNCLE SAM BUILDS
BIGGEST WARSH|P
Construction on Three Super
Or0adnOughts Is Started.
TO HAVE TWELVE BIG GUNS

The California, the Mississippi and the
Idaho Will Each Require LOO Of
ficers and Men-No Other Vessel of
Any Nation Can Equal Them In Size.
To Carry Fourteen inch Guns.
Washington.-The secretary of the
navy has recently signed three papers,
the signing of which officially started
the construction Of the worlds great.
est battleships Of the super Dread.
nought type, the California. Mississip-
pi and Idaho.
This trio of mighty lighting ships
will represent when completed a total
displacement of 10000 tons and will
have cost the United States govern.
ment between S45, 900 and $50,O0O,-
600. To man them will be necessary
a complement of about LOO officers
and men to the ship, exclusive of ma
rlne detachments. They will be sister
ships in every sense of the word, and
each will be able to hurl a broadside
of fourteen inch shells, the weight of
which broadside will be 1880 pounds.
This refers only to the fourteen inch
guns, of which there win be twelve to
a ship. mounted three to a turret. two
turrets forward and two aft.
The authorization of these great
ships shows that in eight years the size
Of American Dreadnoughts has exactly
doubled, for the ships of the Michigan
class, the original Dreadnought type of
the American navy, displaced 10000
tons, whereas the displacement Of the
California and her sister ships is $1,000
tons. The Michigan mounts eight
tw~elve-inch guns in her main battery.
which fred In broadside would give a
total of 6,S00 pounds as compared with
the 16,S00 pound broadside of the Cali
| fornia.
After the Michigan type came the
Dreadnoughts Delaware and North Da-
kota, authorized In 1907. In those
ships the tonnage per ship was increas
ed to 10000 tons and the main batter
les consisted of ten twelve-inch guns
mounted two to a turret, two forward
and three aft. A Delaware twelve inch
broadside weighs $500 pounds.
The next step In the progression
brings US to the Utah and Florida, the
first of the super readnoughts. In
them the displacement reached 21,S25
tons, and the twelve-inch broadside re
NAMED In weight the same as In the
case of the Delaware and North Da-
kota. The construction of these ships
began In 1909.
The following year the present feet
flagship Wyoming and the first divi-
sion flagship Arkansas were author
lied They represented a great stride
in American Dreadnought design. Each
Of them displaced 10000 tons, and in
them the main batteries were increased
from ten to twelve t~welve-inch guns.
A Wyoming broadside weighs 10000
pounds.
After the Wyoming and the Arkan
sas the keels of the monster super
Dreadnoughts New York and Texas
were laid In 1911. These were the
first United States warships to mount
the powerful fourteen inch ordnance.
In them the displacement was ~increas-
ed to 27,0O0 tons. The New York
broadside of ten f~ourteen-inch guns
weighs $4,000 pounds.
The Nevada and Oklahoma, which
are oon to be added to the feet un-
der Admiral Fletcher, came next.
They displace 27.500 tons and, like the
New York and Texas, have main bat
teries of ten fourteen-inch guns to the
ship. The turret Is diff
ferent, however, for instead Of two
guns to a turret, as is the case with
ali the other ships named, the guns
are mounted In four turrets. In two
Of the turrets are three guns, and In
the other two turrets are two guns.
This represents an entirely new de-
parture In American gun arrangement.
The Nevada broadside, like that of
the ships of the New York class.
weighs $4,000 pounds.
From the New York to the Arizona
Is the mex step IN the progression.
In these ships the tonnage was In
creased to 81, 800 tons and two add
tional twelve inch guns were added to
the main batteries of each.
After the Nevada come the Cali
fornia, Mississippi and Idaho, the
ships whose construction has just been
authorized. No other navy in the
world possesses ships, either built, UNI
der construction or authorized, that are
the equal In either offensive or defen-
sive power to Americas latest author