Arizona republican., 1915-06-20
LATesr pIcruRE oF MSS esrAgR Ross -

Such distribution of armor marks the departure in battIeship pro tccton. It is an "al or none" idea i which the general board has conceived 1 70 he the correct solution of the needs Of ,he navy's chief fighters Heaviest Armor Known The armor on the Arizona will be heavier than that on any foreign bat tleship. but it will be concentrated ex- actly where it is needed. and nowhere else It is said the Arizona's turret armor-the sIoping plates over the tops of the guns-wiH be no less than eighteen inches thick. The coming tower will be protected by armor al- most as thick.
 The deck armor will be laid on only three inches thick. but it will be of the hardest steel obtaina ble-Vanadium stecl-and will be lapped so as to make il impeutrabIe.
 The interest in any battIeship cen ters h. her guns. The guns of the Ari- zona well can invite inspection. Twelve n number. they can bite as well as bark Tine fourteen-inch naval gun Of | the United States will fire a .400- pound projecdlo 14.000 wards so effec- lively that no battleship afIoat could stand mp under the combined fire of the AIizona's major batteries. manned by the crack gunners the American navy breeds
 Guns Also Concentrated The biz guns Of the Arizona are ar ranged in four turrets of three guns each. The Arizona and the PennsyI- vania will be the first American ships so constructed. The general board. as well as concentrating their arnor. are concentrating guufire aboard our new big ships. The Arizona can fire six guns ahend or astern or all twelve on either hroadside. That broadside means 16.So0 pounds Of metal With all her boasted navy not one of Great Britain's ships can deliver that much destruction at once
 Besides her heavy guns, the Arizona will carry twenty-tWo five-inch rapid Ire guns These form the torpedo de- fense
 The big battleshfp will carry sixty Tive officers. crew of S63 and a ma rlne detachment Of seventy-four men. a population equal to that of a small town.
 The Arizona is an oil-burning ship. For that reason she is able to do away
 
 big coal burners. She has only one funnel, amidships Her oil bunkers will carry 64,S30 gallons of oil or more than 2.322 tons. Think Of what great cruising radius she has,
 Ar'zona Vs. Queen Elizabeth
 It might be interesting to figure out what might happen if the Arizona and the queen Elizabeth were matched.
 In the first place, with her twenty live knot speed the British ship would have the advantage of making or re- IuslnS fight. Assume that the two shIps are speeding along on courses winch eventually might intersect
 At about 26,000 yards or about fif- teen miles, the lookouts in the fighting platforms of the Arizona's basket masts would identify the fighting tops "f the Queen Elizabeth as an eneny's "arship. It would be many minutes later before the British seamen would know of the American warship.
 The American basket mast. with it's observation platform on top. is many Feet higher than the observation plat form of foreign battIeships Todav's sea lights ale at nNlch greater ranges lhan heretofore were thought possible Tn the respect of getting the range and 'chlS IcddN to tlfe upon an enemy, the American ships are supreme
 Having sighted the Queen Elizabeth, the Arizona might have the chance to chanBe her course and sneak away. l Let's suppose she keeps on. looking for trouble and ready for it.
 The queen Elizabeth's chance of hit ting the Arizona would be very small 1 at 2l.o00 yards. or twelve miles. A moving battleship is a poor target twelve miles away. The fact that a ships guns can shoot twelve miles or fourteen or sixteen or even twenty miles effectively is not of much inn portance when the target is a spot on l the horizon and moving at twenty two 1 knots
 It is not unlikely that the Queen | Elizabeth would open fire at l6,Oo0