Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-07-15
By IRVING R. 8

ny 1INv1NU n. bACUN
vh1HAT appears to be the. eliminating
stage of the sixth period in the
worlds naval architecture was inaugu-
rated on April 30, when the giant super
dreadnought Tennessee was launched at
the New York Navy Yard, in Brooklyn.
simultaneously with the birth Of this
latest of floating fortresses, three others
which, in their day, scarcely more than
two decades ago. were considered the
last word" in fighting machines-the
Indiana, Massachusetts, and Iowa-were
put out of commission by the navy de-
partment as too antiquated for modern
warfare.
sic transit gloria mundi!' ("Thus
passes the glory of the worldly
The Tennessee is 624 feet long 97h
feet beam: has 3 $500 tons displace-
ment. and it's boilers will generate 49,
600 horsepower. She is calculated to
make twenty-one knots speed.
H. AASAH NAuSS oS SaS lAO 0OWA luC
launching ways. was above 81, 900, 900.
By the time she is completed, armed
and equipped she will have cost above
$4,000, 900.
She is to have twelve fourteen inch
guns, mounted in four triple turrets for
an elevation giving a range of eighteen
miles; and her secondary battery will
include fourteen five -inch guns, four
six Founders. four three-inch anti-a air
craft guns and two submerged torpedo
tubes. z
Her personnel will consist of fifty
eight officers and 1924 men.
The sister ship of the Tennessee, the
California. is under construction at
Mare Island, and three other super
dreadnoughts will soon be on the ways
and to these are to be assigned the
names of the three which have just been
retired.
What a lesson in 1.-THE survival of
the %fttest'' the Indiana, Massachusetts
and Iowa affords!
A fourth one, the Oregon, sister ship
Of the Indiana and Massachusetts, will
be spared, at least for. the present.
There are sentimental and, perhaps,
state reasons for this. The sentimental
reason is the historically sensational
role the Oregon played during the Span
ish war, when she steamed around
South America from her North Pacific
station and reached the Atlantic feet
in time to take part in the battle against
Admiral Cervera' s feet.
In the Days of the Iowa
The Indiana during the battle was
In command of Captain Taylor, her
former commander. Fighting Bob
Evans. having succeeded to the com-
mand of the and more powerful
Iowa. 1t was Captain Phillips who
shouted the words which are probabiy;
the most humane ones ever uttered in
behalf of an enemy by q commander in
battle.
Don't cheer, boys: they're drown
ing!"
When the Iowa was placed in COM
mission at the League Island Navy
Yard, June 16, 1897. a year before the
Spanish War, the newspapers devoted
many columns~>to describe her great
ness. Here are some of the headlines
Of an article devoted to her in the New
York World on the day following that
event:
Our Biggest Battleship."
.r IGn1l- ElooX IT,. - e..
fender in the Ponderous Iowa.
"She's a Navy in Herself"
able to Throw q Storm of Iron
Many Miles, and Capable of Buttiur
an Island"
And now?
The scrap heap!
Compared with the Tennessee. the
Iowa is. indeed. almost pathetically
puny. She is 36O feet long, 172 feet
215 inches beam and in her balmiest
days carried four twelve inch, eight
eight inch and some five inch
When men first fought on water, they
employed rafts-trees fastened together
with willow twigs. It probably took
ages before they entered upon the sec
cnd period, when rowboats were m
ployed for this purpose.
The birenes. triremes. quadriremes,
according. as they had two. three or
four banks of oars, supplemented BY
sails. constituted the third period of
naval fighting. 1t was with nearly
1000 Of these that Julius Caesar made
his descent upon the British coast,
fifty years before the Christian era.
And the huge. unwieldy galleys with
ten banks of oars in the feet of Marc
Antony and Cleopatra which were de.
stroyed by the lightly moving biremes
Of octavius (afterward the Emperor
Who !