Evening star., 1914-07-11
BAHLESH|P NEVADA
TO RANK HIGH IN navy
To Surpass in Tonnage, Displacement
and Armament Any United
States Vessel Afoat.

i QUINCY. Mass, July 1.-THE super
dreadnought Nevada, to be launched
here today. and her sister ship. the Ok
lahoma. which was f1oated at Philadel-
phia last March. surpass in tonnage,
displacement and armament any United
States warship now afloat. She Is.
however. less formidable than the
Pennsylvania. whose keel was laid last
spring. and the unnamed sea fighter.
No. 80, both of which will have dis
placement of 31.4oo tons.
The Nevada's displacement is 1880
tons. or 500 tons greater than the
Texas and New York, the latest sea
giants to be commissioned by the
United States. Her length Is $50 feet.
with breadth of 95 feet 2h inches on
load water line.
Ten fourteen-inch guns, each capable
of firing 1.4o0pound shell. will consti-
tute her principal armament Two
three-gun turrets will be among her
defenses. One of these largest of tur-
rets will be on the forecastle deck.
along with turret from which two
big guns will be pointed.
Complete Revolution Of Turrets.
Another two-gun turret will sweep
the quarter deck, and astern of this
will be the other three-gun turret. The
turrets are arranged to make complete
revolutions, so that the entire battery
OF the big guns can be concentrated on
an enemy approaching from either side.
forward or aft.
Besides her big fourteen-inch guns
the Nevada will have distributed about
her decks twenty-one fve-inch guns
and minor armament, such one
b
field pieces and machine guns.
The Nevada's armor renders her
among the strongest battleships in the
navy Her belt is thirteen and one
half inches thick and will extend 400
feet along either side of the hull. These
plates will extend eight and one-half
feet below the water line and nine feet
above the waters surface. There are
two protective decks as safeguard
against plunging fire. one three inches
and the other one and one-half inches.
While the Nevada will represent the
last word in American sea power. the
new British battleship- Queen Eliza
beth will carry a more formidable ar
nament of no less than eight fifteen
inch guns. This sea fighter probably
will be commissioned the first of next
year.
Will Burn Oil Only.
The Nevada is contemporary of the
pIltiSA "dTSHlp, IRON lie iron
Dukes displacement is $4,000 tons and
she carries ten 13h inch guns. The
Nevada's speed is estimated at twenty
and one-half knots. or about the same
as the Iron Dukes. Although the
Nevada's armor is thicker than that OF
her British cotemporary. it is no,
spread over so great an area of side.
! The British warship has a secondary
battery of sixteen 6-inch guns. while
the Nevada's will consist of twenty-one
5-inch guns. These questions of dis
tribution of armor and the relative i'm
portance of the number and caliber o1
guns are two problems on which the
naval experts of the world are not ir
complete accord.
| The Nevada will burn oil only and
! her engines will have an indicated
horsepower of 24.s0O. The fuel oil will
be carried in the double bottom Of the
space over the old arrangement which
called for extensive coal bunkers. Hel
contractors promise to have the new
battleship completed by January .:
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