Arizona republican., 1915-06-19

told Secretary Daniels. and so We | think she must be christened with | punch"
 Compared to the first American | battleship. launched in 1898. the Ari- | zona is nearly twice as long. half again wide and of three times as great displacement Against the In ] diana's four 13-inch guns and eight I S-inch, the Arizona will carry twelve l4-inch and twenty-five 5-inch rifles. | the same armament as her sister ship the Pennsylvania, recently | launched at Newport News.
 In addition to the great size of the new ships main battery, the guns are of fOrty-five calibre as against 1 the 35 calibre of the Indianas thir- l teen inch guns, identical with those l aboard the famous old Oregon, which | played their part in the battle of l Santiago With the fOurteens of the Arizona in her turrets, the oregon could have halted any one of the | fleeing Spanish ships almost without | leaving her station. The Arizona's
 guns have range, even at the low
 el walton of American navy mount | ings. of fifteen miles or more against eight or nine miles for the old thIr- teens.
 The Arizona will be the fourth bat | tIeship built by the United States in it's own navy yard at New York. The others were the Connecticut, the l dreadnaught Florida and the super dreadnaught New York, at present one of the largest, sWiftest and most 1 p ,werful of American fighting craft l Against the New York's displacement | of 27,00O tons. however. the Arizona will displace 31,400 tons, and will
 measure 600 feet in length and 97 feet 6 inches in width. She will
 mount twelve 14-inch guns to the ten lis carried by the Texas and they will be carried three to a tur- ret as aboard the Pennsylvania. Immediately upon the launching of ! the Arizona the keel of the navy de partment's greatest experiment in na- | val construction. the electrically driven superdreadnaught California. will be laid at the New York yard. Che will be nearly thousand tons heavier than the Arizona although carrying the same equipment and arrangement of guns; but is expected | to develop greater speed than the 2l knots desired of the Arizona.
 i Comparing the most recent govern ment built battIeship to the first turned out. navy officials point to the fact that although the Arizona has welve guns to the Connecucuts four and .displaces 15,400 tons more water. being nearly twice as large, she will carry only 915 men as against the 1O12 needed to handle the smaller ship. This is due to the ] improvement in mechanical appIl- ances for battleships in the last de- cade and also to the fact that oil has been substituted for coal as fuel, de- creasing the necessary fireroom force, and that only two sizes of guns com tpose her armament against the four 1 sizes of guns that are aboard the ConnecticuIt The result is reduc- tion in ammunition handling forces. As she looks in the water imme- | diately after the launching, the shlp will have cost the government $r- | t425.OOO. An even greater sum will go for her guns and armor and other | equipment and when she goes into Ecommission her cost to the country will have reached the huge total Of Sl6OOO 900 or more. This cost repre- 1 sents q reduction of nearly $5OO,oOo | in guns and armor, according to the navy department, under the prices maid for the Pennsylvania's offensive and defensive equipment. It was Tn dealing with contracts for the Ari-
 zona's armor that Secretary Daniels | demanded competitive bidding ana
 succeeded in effecting the saving.