The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1915-05-21

one bearing the name OF w. A.
Scott and the other, William H.
White. At the presentation Gov
ernor Hanna and Ex-Governor
Burke both made. addresses, de-
livered before the entire ship g
crew. The pieces are Of mas
sive design, executed by the
Gorham Co., and the engraving
is typical Of North Dakota g
history.
After inspecting the silver SER
vice we were turned over to the
executive officer Of the boat,
William Tyler Cluverius "a cou-
sin of Bishop John Rointz Tyler
of Fargo, who explained the
mechanical features of the bat
tleship.
The North Dakota is $40 feet
long and IS feet wide: 1t has a
mean draft Of Is feet and a dis
placement of 10000 tons, and car.
ries 2676 toms Of coal besides oil
fuel. 1t carries ten 12-inch guns,
fourteen 54inch guns, and has two
21-inch submerged torpedo tub
es. Its speed is 21.O1 knots. It
was launched at Quincy, Mass,
on Nov. 10, 1908, being christen-
ed by Miss Mary Benton. At prer
ent the ship is manned by So Of
ficers and 892 enlisted men. It
was authorized by act of congress
March 2, 1907, commissioned on
April IL, 1910, and cost $8,519,4z1
These statistics give in a gen
eral way the size Of the boat, but
! it must be remembered that in
the navy boats age and effici-
ency are determined by its guns.
GA ship is as young as its guns,
and the guns are the thing, "
said Captain Mexican.
In the fall target practice the
North Dakota took every turret
prize; it stands above all the
ships in the practice with the
12inch guns, reaching the un-
usual percentage Of IS. shooting
an average Of 1.57 shots per min
ute. In order to- understand
what remarkable record this is
it will be- we'll to compare it with
some Of the records previous TO
the Spanish-American war. At
that time the Maine, with a TO-
inch gun, made one hit in five
minutes-5 per cent was consd-
cred a good average. The num-
ber of hits made by the North
Dakota reaches the very high
average of 89.5 per cent. Fifty
men Of it's gun crew received
prizes of $40 each and 55 of the
gunners qualified in individual
effort, mere than any other ship.
Captain Mexican believes that
the purpose Of the battleehip is
to shoot and fer that reason he
bends every energy towards train
ling his crew to efficiency in
that direction. His spirit and en-
thuedasm is reflected in every
man on the ship and during the
stay of the ship ON the Hudson
Executive Officer Cluverius has
received a large number Of let
ters from prominent visitors who
have. been impresssd with the
|iappsarance and behavior OF the
men from the NORTH Dakota.
Literally millions have seen
the fleet during it's stay in New
York. It has not been a joyous
or picnicy throng which viewed
the mobilization Of the great
Atlantic squadron Of the Ameri-
can navy, but cne in which the
great majority seemed to take
the view that the occasion was
a serious rather than a festive
one. And yet the fleet is ready
for any emergency. Admiral
Netcher has stated that ''The
fleet now in these waters can
get under way within two hours
and the ships are amply prepar-
ed for action. Whatever de-
tractors, or critics may say, there
is no fleet float in the world to-
day which is on such keen fight
ing edge as is this tremendous
weapon. Officers and men now
look with, complacency upon this
high degree cf preparedness for
any duty the fleet may be call
ed upon to performs prepar-
ednee's resulting from four
months Of the most arduo,ls and
incessant drills through which
any fleet has been put.
The fleet has just emerged
from it's regular: battery prac-
tice at moving targets off the
Virginia capes. Counting all the
ply ships, cruisers and submarine
boats, battleships, destroyers,
- AN