Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1916-11-09
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
THE SHIPS OF THE NEW NAVY

Is Uncle Sam going to GET ID returL
for his big Navy Bill?
Exactly and specifically, first o.
all, he is to get under way before
July, 1919:
10 first-class battleships.
6 battle-cruisers.
10 scout-cruisers.
so destroyers.
9 fleet submarines deep sea-
SO coast submarines.
l auxiliary vessels.
OF these, four battleships, four bat
tle-cruisers, four scouts, twenty de
stroyers, thirty coast subs" and sew
eral auxiliaries are to be begun with
in six months from August, 1916; an
20 per cent above specified prices vii
be permitted to insure speed In con
struction and efficiency. II there b.
any salt-sea pride left in our slug
glish land blood, the proportions Q
these vessels should stir 1t. TIL
battle-cruisers are to be LOO feet long
er than the Woodwork building j.
high. Their displacement will be IS,
600 tons, and they will have q spec
of IS knots. Also, they will eacl
carry ten 14-inch guns. Being
landlubber, those figures don't meal
much more to you than they do to me-
Let US put it in land terms! Al
right-those cruisers will be able
carry as many seamen as the Wool
worth houses tenants. They vii
travel as fast as the Century Express
and their guns will be able to toss
little she'll, weighing 1400 pounds, an,
trifling distance from eight to twely,
miles. In fact those guns will be abb,
to toss two such shots a minute.
If they are ranged the longer dis
lance, the smashing power will no
be as great as at eight or ten miles
If you figure the cost of each sho,
at $1,000, and each Of the ten guns
fires two shots a minute, and the bat
tie last, say two hours-modern Sc;
battles are terribly swift-you car
figure up total cost for shells t.
make a peace-at-any-prlce man have
goose-flesh; but when he has hi
worst shivers, figure again! All tn
shells a battle-cruiser can fire viii
not compare to one days loss If tn
sea lanes are closed against our com
merce. All the loss of life the battle
cruisers shells can cause canno
compare with the death toll Of power
ty and want when commerce stops
and the factory wheels cease to e,
round If you doubt that, compar
the deaths from want in Armenia t,
the deaths from shots In the Dardan
Giles!
AS to the tonnage of these modern
leviathans, 5000 tons displacement
doesn't mean much to landsmaL
Put it in terms Of the railroad! A IS
ton freight-car Is big. The battle
cruisers will weigh as much as 100t
such freight-cars, or fifty trains o
such cars. A few years ago, W,
thought million dollars a big cap
italiZation. These battle cruisers will
cost about $16,500,000 each, with 81,
100000 more for armor and arma
ments, and 20 per cent excess fo1
speed and efficient construction.
1t will surprise the layman to be
told that the battleships will b. zoo
feet shorter than the cruisers. Thu
cruisers are longer, to give space fol
the machinery to insure speed-also
to permit sharper, speedier lines. The
armor-belt will be eight inches thick,
compared to the English cruisers nine
inches thick. What the European
governments have done in shipbuild-
ing since the war began is an impene-
trable secret; but before the war,
British cruisers had speed Of thirty
knots, displacement Of 2S,5OO tons,
and length of 720 feet; German
cruisers had a speed of thirty knots,
displacement of 26,20O tons, and a
length of 6S9 feet; Japanese cruisers
a speed of twenty-seven knots, dis
placement of 27,500 tons, and length
of $50 feet.--From Our New Nayu."