The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1914-11-05
MCLE SAM BUILDS
BIGGEST WARSH|P
Construction on Three Super.
Oreadnoughts Is Started
TO HAVE twelve BIG GUNS

The California, the Mississippi and the
Idaho Will Each Require LOO Of.
6osrs and Msn-No Other vessel Of
Any Nation Can Equal Them In Size
To Carry Fourteen inoh GuN&
Washington. secretary of the
navy has recently signed three papers.
de 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 total
displacement Of $4,000 tons and will
have cost the United States govern.
ment between $45,OOO, 600 and $5O,OOO,.
600. To man them will be necessary
| complement Of about 100 officers
and men to the ship, exclusive Of ma
rine detachments They will be sister
| ships in every sense OF the word. and
! each will be able to huri a broadside
Of fourteen inch shells. the weight of
which broadside will be l6.8OO pounds.
This refers only to the fourteen inch
guns, of which there will be twelve to
q 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 $4,000
tons. The Michigan mounts eight
twelve-inch guns in her main battery.
which fired in bro;.dside would give
total Of G.SOD pounds as compared with
the 16SOO pound brou,lSiie Of the Cali
fornia.
After the Michigan type came the
DreadnOughts Delaware and North Da.
kota. authorized in 1907 In those
ships the tonnage. l'er ship was increas
ed to 10000 tons and the main batter
| les consisted Of ten twelve-inch guns
mounted two to Il 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 IT, super Dreadnoughts. In
! them the. displacement reached 21.S25
tons. and the twelve-inch broadside re
manned in weight the same as in the
case of the Delaware and North Da
kota The construction of these ships
began in 1909 regsa ~.-,
The following year the present feet
| flagship Wyoming and the first divi
sion flagship Arkansas were author
lied. They represented great stride
in American Dreadnought design. Each
Of them displaced 26.O0O TONS aud in
| them the main batteries were increased
from ten to twelve twelve-inch guns
A Wyoming broadside weighs ln..Ri
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
| drst United States warships to mount
| thu powerful fourteen inch ordnance
In them the displacement was increas.
ed to $1,000 tons. The New York
broadside OF ten fourteen-inch guns
weighs $4,000 pounds.
The Nevada and Oklahoma, which
are soon to be added to the deet IN.
| der Admiral Fletcher, came next
They displace 1850 tons and. like the
New York and Texas, have main bat.
teries Of ten fourtsea-inch guns to the
ship. The tufret arrangement b diff.
ferent, however. for instead Of two
guns to a turret, ~ is the case With
oil 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
& the ne.t step in the progression.
In these ships the tonnage was in.
creased to 81 500 tons and two add.
tonal twelve inch guns were added to
the main batteries Of each.
After the Nevada come the Call.
fornia. Mississippi and Idaho, the
ships whose construction has Just been
authorized No other navy In the
world possesses ships, either built, IN.
DIR construction Or authorized. that are
the equal in either offensive or defen.
ave power to Americas latest author
iDsd trio of gla1t 1GAteeA