The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-11
NEW BATTLESHIP WILL EQUAL TWO
 OF TYPE IN USE
Pennsylvania Could Demol- ish Vera Cruz From 16
 Miles Out to Sea

Norfolk, Va, Aug. 11.-Whi1e the United States is making active prep arations to get the navy ready for possible service in Mexico there is un- usual activity on board the battleship Pennsylvania, the latest and what na- val men say is the most powerful ship in the American navy.
 This big ship, but recently ommis- stoned, has never seen any service. fer big guns have never been fired. and her hull has only once ventured outside the Virginia capes, and that when she was on her speed trial runs.
 But she is ready for service, and navy men say she could do more dam- age than any other two ships in the navy with her big 14-inch guns. Her crew, too, is made up almost entirely of men from other ships in the navy. Unlike most of Uncle Sam's ships, the Pennsylvania has practically no ''rook- ies," or recruits, among her crew of 900 men. They are all trained seamen, engineers, electricians, machinists and various other mechonics. Her gun crew is composed of gunners of long experience, most of them coming from the New Hampshire, the Louisiana and the Vermont The latter ship sent 72 trained men to the Pennsyl- vania.
 Vermont, New Hampshire and Lou isiana have been added to the reserve fleet, and their crews sent to the Pennsylvania and various ether ships whose complements were not com plete.
 Burns Oil Exclusively. The Pennsylvania burns oil exclu- sively, and in a single day she took on board 150,000 gallons, just one-third of the quantity she will need when she goes on a cruise. She can fill her tanks in three hours, and only two men are required in the task On coaling days it required nearly half of the crew to store the fuel in the bunk CTS It also meant a dirty ship after the task was completed With the use of oil there is no dirt to clean up af- ter the vessel completes taking on a fuel supply sufficient to last from ten days to six weeks.
 Navy men say th. Pennsylvania.
 would prove of inestimable service in
 case of war with any nation. They
 say that American ships of deep draft cannot lay very close to Vera Cruz or
 other Mexican ports during a storm. The Mexican coast, they say, is cursed With what marine men term north | ers'--a storm with a wind velocity
 often reaching 100 miles an hour. When these storms break, warships
 are forced to go out to sea to escape
 danger of being driven ashore. At vera Cruz, when one of these north
 crs'' hits tho coast, all warshfps go
 out to sea for 15 miles, Sometimes
 icy are required to remain there for three or four days.
 Her Long Range Guns. The Pennsylvania, with her big
 guns, would be able to Lombard Vera Cruz, If it became necessary, from Is
 miles at sea. She could remain that
 lar out and drop shells from her 14- inch guns right in the heart Of Vera
 Cruz as easily as she could at a 10O0 yard range.
 The battleship Nevada, of the same type as the Pennsylvania, has been trying out her big guns off Tangiers sound, in Chesapeake bay, exploding
 big shells against the sunl1en hulk of the old battlcship San Marcos, for Inerly the Texas, and the ram Ka- tahdh1. both of which were sunk by shell fire from re of the Atlantic fleet.