New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-11
BoHleships and Destroyers
DESCRIPTION of The Ffng Machines Which viii Enable the United States to do lis
Share Controlling The Seas and Winning the War

! shall not describe in detail the mechanism
OF the guns or other apparatus, for am
writing for those who may wish to form soh:e
| idea, from a layman's point of view, of
modern battleship AS fighting machine.
Suffice IT, then, to say that the recoll lor Tic
kick of the gun is taken up by springs and
| by cylinders ard pistons. The cylinders arr
| hlled with glycerne, and as the gun slices
back the liquid is forced through grooves n
| the cylinders past the pistons, the friction
| thus created tand by the springs, as welD
| bringing the gun to rest in very few teef'
| The springs then throw the gun back into
its firing position. and all this takes but
| second or two.
II would lengthen this article unduly to
even briefly describe the duties OF the men
| in the turrets. They have been very simply
explained in various books, more especially
in Commander Strings fundamentals Cf
Naval Service" book much Of which a lay
man can easily understand, and in that most
delightful boob Our Manysided Navy
There one can read of the working OF turret
from the swinging open Of the huge breech
blocks to the firing of the guns By electricity
Aft Of the first turret is a light superstruct-
ure in which are a number OF 5-lnch guns
20 repel torpedo attacks, guns that are won
derfully accurate and which can be fired with
astonishing rapidly. In this part OF inc
ship are also the staterooms Of the captain
and executive and navigating officers. An
entirely new style Of gun has appeared on
our ships during the last few years. The
/ 4. 6, ~, bng hrpuVht about
the installation Of small calibre guns of great
mower, which are so mounted that they can
be fired almost vertically But hitting an
aeroplano is a good deal like hitting last
/ flying duck at long range. and it requires the
greatest skill to use these guns properly.
Resides all the weapons 70 which ! have re-
ferred the ship has several tubes tor dis
, charging very large tcrpedocs.
Below the Waterline
Under water the lines of all our dread
ropchts are very good. Models Of warshipS
are lowed by cleverly devised machinery
through tanks of water so that the way the
ship will 90 through the water may be stud
led And the lines of such ships are as care
fully worked out as these of an ocean steamer
or a Yacht. Some of our dreadnoughts arc
driven by reciprocatng engines; that is, inc
usual type used on steam ships; some arc
driven By turbines; TIE newest are 10 nave
an electric drive. where each propeller smart
has attached TO it an electric motor HrlF'"
from central power sts ton. Where recIp-
rocatino engines are used warships have only
two screws but the turbine ships have as
many as four screws The greatest speed ct
our dreadnoughts is about q or " knots an
hour. The rudder is under water, ana IS
what is known as balanced rudder, OF very
common use on warships and large motor
heats Over the engines, boilers, magazines,
etc. curves a protective deck, to prevent
splinters of shells from going into these
parts of the ship, the underwater part OF N"
shin being mainly protected by the water
The side armor goes down deep enough below
the normal waterline 20 permit the ship TO
roll somewhat without exposing the unpro-
,ected hull but, OF course, no snip can Wen
be built with a completely armored hull; the
weight would be too great. Furthermore, the
hull is subdivided into vast NUMBER O.
watertight compartments, which prevent Ihe
spread of the water through the ship should
a hole be pierced in the underwater part Oh
the ship. An English dreadnought was
struck bv a torpedo in the Jutland battle ana
vet was safely brought TO part, after the !isC
which the infowing water gave hcr had Deeh
overcome by proper means. AGAIN inc
lighter guns. in addition to their shields, are
as a rule protected by so-callcd bulkheads OF
stecl SO arranged as to limit the effect OF
she'll which might burst inside the ship. The
Pennsylvania. of course, has double bottom.
as all large ships have. Finally, the fuel OF
the ship is exclusively oil, fuel with wh3h
this country is well supplied, but for which
nevertheless, the wells at Tampico, in Mex
ico. must be drawn on by US, as we'll as by
England.
shall not attempt to describe the officers
and mems quarters-it is the ship as a Tight
ING machine | am interested in. for these
treat machines are as have sad, the main
defence against the German fleet.
The English ships are not as heavily ar
nored as ours and are armed with. guns OF
-, 1874 and Is inches calibre; only one
believe. has I4-inch guns, and she was Iaid
down for a foreign power. Our shipS nave
y and II inch guns. Our old ships, WIN
13-inch guns of twenty years ago, are not TO
no considered at all; in fact, no ante-dread-
nourht ship would be placed in lihe with the