Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-10-26
BIDS ARE OPENED
FOR So new SHIPS
FOR GREATER NAVY
Four BattIeships With 16-lnch
Guns Form Heaviest Item
of New Program
NEW TYPE CRUISERS ARE
FOR SCOUT DUTY ONLY
Three Large Submarines Are
Part of Fleet of Thirty and
20 DestroyerS Will Build
nav Associated Pressl

WASHINGTON, ID. C., Oct. 20. -
Bids for the first IS ships to be laid
down I'm 1917 as part of the greater
navy building program were opened
Wednesday at the navy department.
Congress has authorized the beginning
OF GO ships in 1917 as the first install
ment OF the 155 authorized for the
navy Increases.
Vessels for which estimates of pri-
vate bidders were examined Wednes-
day include four battleships, four scout
cruisers, 20 destroyers and 30 coast
submarines Early in December bids
will be opened for four battle cruis-
ers and at later date figures will
be received on one ammunition ship.
Under the terms OF the naval bill
all the 1917 ships must be contracted
for or work on their construction in
government yards begun before Feb
ruary 1. Construction of hospital
ship. fuel ship and a gunboat has al
ready been started at the navy yards
at Philadelphia. Boston and Charles
ton, respectively.
Armament Heaviest Known
The four battleships will be the
first OF the American navy to carry
16-inch rifles in their main batteries.
Each will be equipped with eight OF
these big guns-the heaviest known
to have been placed aboard warcraft,
although ii is currently reported that
Great Britain is preparing to arm an
experimental ship with 1S-inch rifles.
Until names have been selected the
ships will be known as Nos. as, 40,
AZ and 4S. They will be similar in
appearance and general design TO the
super-dreadnoughts Tennessee and
California. now under construction,
but will be 600 tons heavier in dis.
placement, totaling $4,000 tons. The
additional tonnage is due to more tor
pedo protection and side armor.
= Fhe ships are expected 20 have
cruising radius Of nearly 1000 sea
miles without refueling. They will
have steam-electric drive and. make
at least 81 knots.
In addition to the 16-inch rifles the
new ships will carry IS 5-ineh torpedo
defense guns, four of the new high
range 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and
the usual equipment of torpedo tubes.
Their main batteries will be mounted
two guns TO a turret, departing from
the three-gun turret construction on
the Pennsylvania and later ships.
Cruisers Of New Type
The scout cruisers will be the first
scouts, designed for that work alone.
to be added to the navy. The old
light cruisers Salem, Chester and
Birmingham, known as scout cruisers,
have not the speed necessary for a
modern sea picket.
The scouts will make sustained
speed of 35 knots an hour. They will
look like big destroyers and be nearly
six times as large as the greatest tor
pedo craft, displacing TOO tons and
having a length of $50 feet. The mass
Of machinery necessary TO drive them
at express train speed will be covered
by light armor and each will carry
eight long range 6-inch rifles. two s.
inch anti-aircraft guns and four tor
pedo tubes.
The most striking new feature OF
the ships will be the installation OF
catapult devices which will permit
the launching of hydro-aeroplanes in
any weather Each scout will be fit
ted to carry four aircraft to extend
Destroyers Little Changed
The 90 new destroyers will be vir-
tually the same in design as the lat
est craft of the type laid down except
that they will have a maximum speed
under full load of IS knots an hour,
an increase of nearly five knots over
the present high speed mark of the
American flotilla- The boats are ex-
pected to be as fast as any destEoyers
afloat. They will carry four 4-inch
guns each, two 3-inch anti-aircraft
guns and four triple torpedo tubes,
giving each boat a broadside fire or
twelve 21-inch torpedoes, the most
deadly naval weapons ever devised.
OF the so submarines q will he or
the coast defense type, substantially
similar TO the L-type boats now in
commission improvements and re.
finements of design have been made
but in the main the present type has
been duplicated in the interest OF
speedy construction. They will have
new features but their nature had not
been disclosed beyond the fact that
all will carry disappearing S-inch
rifles for surface use.
Three Larger Submarines
The other three submarines will
vary in size between 500 and 1900
tons. Each will be essentially differ
ent in type from the others as it is
planned to make them experimental
fleet submarines to accompany the
battle fleet on the high seas. The
seagoing qualities of each will be ap-
praised to determine fixed type later
for American fleet submarines, nine
of which, in all, are included in the
three-year program.
The hospital ship will be the first
vessel of its type in the American
navy, built especially for her work.
She will displace $500 tons and have
accommodations for 500 patients. Her
equipment will include the last word
i'm appliances The vessel will be 400