New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-15
DANIELS LAYS
CALIFORNIA KEEL
Secretary Talks of Pre-
paredness-Navy Board
at Ceremony.
VESSEL MARKS ERA
IN SEA WAR, HE SAYS
Electric Propulsion to Give
Giant Craft so Per Cent
Greater Cruising Radius.

Laying the keel plate Of a super
dreadnought battleship is a ceremony,
or an engineering feat, according 20
the point Of view Take, for instance,
the laying Of the keel plate for the
United States steamship California at
the Brooklyn navy yard yesterday. For
the Secretary Of the Navy, Josephus
Daniels, Il was the occasion for him TO
appear and celebrate with full-blood-
ed speech for preparedness.
But FOR the construction officer OF the
navy yard, George II. Rock, it meant
placing three 1,S00-pound steel plates
in q position that will be at the end Of
sixteen or more months the mathe-
matical centre in the bottom of 3d.
000,000-p pound mass Of metal. II was
Mr. Rocks job 20 do this with the pre-
cision Of jeweller putting a pivot in
a wrist watch.
Up on a platform built in the maze
of steel girders the navy yard band
made patriotic music As 12:l5. the
moment set for plate laying. approached,
one of Mr. Rocks assistants huttered
his hands up and down like brake
man. The great steel block Of the der
rick came down like spider unreelng
his thread from his body.
The plate rose in the air in tho
clutches of the steel spider at the end
of its steel thread as lightly as a capt
ured fly Then it hoated gently 9ver
the criss-cross of hairlines laid out on
the blocks of the temporary structure,
showing the exact spot in all the uni
verse where the plate was to lie.
No words were spoken. A nod from
Mr.. Rock, a hutter of his assistants
hands. and the plate drifted down and
found its resting place. guided by the
crowbars of other skilled assistants.
There were two more plates to be lifted
and put in place, one endwise 20 the
first, another on top of the two uniting
them Perforations in this top plate
came accurately above those in the two
lower plates. and hidden workmen from
below thrust bolts up through them.
Keel Well and Truly Laid"
Mr.. Rock screwed nickelplated nuts
on them, and then he rose to the full
height of his tall, straight. slim figure
and saluted the cOmmandant. There
was just tho flicker of a smile witch
ing at the corners of his mouth. Adj
miral Usher acknowledged the salute
and turned to Secretary Daniels, say
ing: "Sir, have to report that the keel
plate Of the California is well and
truly laid"
After the band, up there in the mass
of steel construction, had played THE
Star-Spangled Banner" Mr.. Daniels
made his speech. which showed his
- / :. 4 g.
his policy of naval laissez fsire.
"The worldwide war has taught us
the duty of preparedness" he said.
1--WE az a people have come to realize
that we must stand for liberty. We
hate war and love peace. but we love
liberty more than anything else under
the sun"
The greatest lesson of the war, he
said, was that the nation with the
greatest munition supply had the adj
vantage He spoke of the work of
Lloyd George in bringing England up
to her needs in turning out munitions.
He said Mr.. George was the greatest
man England had produced since Glad
stone, springing from the same Welsh
stock that he, Mr.. Daniels. came from.
Speaking more specifically of the Cali
fornia, he said she would be the first
battleship of any nation to use cleo
trical propulsion in addition TO oil.
"The California marks a new epoch
in navigation" Mr.. Daniels said. "as
farreaching and important as the in
novation of steam, succeeding sail
power. Her electric power will give
her cruising radius 90 per cent
greater than her sister ships.
The California will represent an
outlay of Sl5,OOO,000. She will have
twelve l4-inch guns, four torpedo
tubes, a length over all of ga feet,
extreme breadth of 81 feet Az inches,
a draft of 80 feet and a displacement
of $4,000 tons, with speed of 21
knots"