New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-15
Nays Biggest Undersea
Fighter Launched at the
Fore River Yards.
LENGTH, 1856 FEET;
HAS 3 PERISCOPES
New Type Of Engine a Purely
American Product - Radical
Shift from Holland Design.
10y Telegraph 10 tn. rribun..l

Quincy. Mass. Sept. 1.-THE largest
submarine ever launched for the United
States navy went down the ways at
the Fore River shipyards at . o'clock
this afternoon. The boat. the first OF
the " class. will be known officially
as MI. She received her name from
Miss Sara Jean Roberts, daughter Of
Representative and Mrs. Ernest W.
Roberts. of Chelsea and Rockport.
The Nj is 1855 feet long and will
carry four torpedo tubes and a three
inch gun mounted on the forward deck.
/ This gun can be instantly inclosed on
/ the inside when the boat submerges.
/ The new submarine will have a speed
OF Is knots on the surface and q cruis-
ing radius Of $500 miles at normal
speed. With reserve supplies she will
be able TO 90 5000 miles. Three peri
scopes are another feature the Nj
is said 70 possess Thus. in case one
/ Is shot away. the emergency Is pro-
vided for.
The MI is the first example built
! in this country OF a new type Of sub
marine.
All previous boats built by the Fore
! River company for the government up
{ to and including the L class that is,
all boats now in service. except those
/ of the G class. which were made by
other builders. were developed from
the original Holland BY the technical
staff of the Electric Boat Company.
under the direction Of L. Y. Spear, late
naval constructor of the United States
| navy.
Owing to the many improvements in
: corporated into these boats-the great
! increases in size. speed, radius, etc
4 those built in recent years bear little
/ resemblance TO the old Holland never
/ theless. as they were developed step
by step from the Holland they are gen
orally known as the Holland type.
} In recent years there has arisen a
demand for very large submarines with
a high surface speed and all Of the
! naval powers are now DESTROYS of Sc
curing such boats with sufficiently
high surface speed-20 knots-to en-
able them to operate in conjunction
with the battle feet
J This demand was the real reason
4 for the appearance of the type repre-
scented by the MI. and it is a radical
! departure in design and construction
/ from the perfected Holland.
The MI will not be so large as the
fleet submarine Schlcy, building BY the
same company. The Schley, in fact. is
an enlarged MI. so that the trials OF
the MI are awaited with great inter
est as foreshadowing the results to be
/ obtained with the Schley.
The MI not only represents a de-
parture in hull construction and ar
rangement, but she is the first vessel
TO receive new and improved type OF
submarine engine entirely developed in
America. These engines operate or
the Diesel cycle, but have many impor-
tant improvements over similar en-
gnes installed in European subma-
Iines.
All Of the United States submarines
built by the Electric Boat Company
since the D class have been fitted with
Diesel engines. but hitherto these have
d, been notifications of engines of Euro
pean design. Most of these boats are
equipped with what are substantially
duplicates of the engines installed in
the German submarines