The Washington herald., 1920-12-26
BIGGEST NAVY
BORNE OUT BY
BUILDING
Superdreadnoughts of
379,6OO Tons Are Under
Construction.
SUBMARINES TO
ECLIPSE WORLDS
Floating Hangar'fOr Air
Fleet Nearly Ready
For Launching.

world IL England adhsres to the re-
cent procurement to build no
eapital ships for the next three
years" said Josephus Daniels, Sec
retary of the Navy. last week.
Figures obtained from the Navy
Department yesterday show the
building now under way, under con-
tract and authorized upon which
this statement was based.
There are under construction IN
the navy yards of the country and
in private shipbuilding plants S'S;,
600 tons In superdreadnoughts. all
Of them surprising any hghtng
craft afoat, and designed with the
lessons learned from foreign navies
and the war embodied.
In addition three feet submar-
ines, the most advanced undersea
boats, are on the ways and con-
tracts for six more are under con-
sideration.
Conyertinx Naval Collier.
And fnaIly the work Of convert
ing the former Collier Jupiter into
the aircraft carrier Langley is all
but completed and this piece Of navy
property will be ready to serve as
an aviation base for the United
States navy in any quarter OF the
globe
on this program. which Secretary
Daniels calls rounding out the pres
ent feet and which he says will be
Insufficient unless the United States
enters the league Of nations. the
United States government VIII ex-
pend more than s200,o0O.00O.
The advance guard of this latest
contribution to the countrys sea
power already Is afoat- The Penn-
syiyania was the first unit and the
CaIifornia is all but in commits
sion on the West coast -Four more
vessels of this class remain to be
completed. They are the Maryland
West Virginia. Colorado and wash
fnston. The latter two are being
constructed by the New York Ship
building. CORPORATION -
work Began During War.
A certain amount of work wal
done on. these vessels, with a nor
NAL displacement Of 32,6oO tons
each. during the war, and they al
should be launched before the enc
Of 1891. Their cost to the govern
ment is s11,500.0o0 apiece.
The very latest flower Of tn
Navy is in the six battleship
which were authorized by Congress
in 1917 and 1918. Originally thei
cost was fixed at $15,500, 900, bu
Congress afterward increased thi
to s21, ,0O0, 900 each and modihca
tions were made so as to includ
such features as experience durlni
the war had demonstrated to b
necessary. with increased dimen
sions and displacement to provid
for the battery which will max
these vessels floating fortresses
indeed. These six vessels are to b
known as the South Dakota, In
diana, Montana, North Carolina
70 Iowa and Massachusetts,. Only tn
latter two are being built in pri
vate shipyards.
Size and Armament.
Some idea Of their size and arma
ment may be gained from the fol
lowing table:
Length oevr all. 49,. feet. 6S
Breadth. extreme. -. feet 10
Mean draft ---......- feet
Displacement tons. 4S'zO
Draft, horsepower. .h-p.. 6O'OO
Speed -.-..-.--..... .knots-'
Armament:
Twelve 16-inch guns in four tur
rets; sixteen 6-inch guns; four
inch guns (anti-aircrafO; two Il
inch submerged torpedo tubes.
All of these vessels will be oil
burners and 1t will require crews
1900 officers and men to man then
The three feet submarines whicI
are under construction will be NOR
than 800 feet in length; equippe,
with four Diesel engines for sur
face work designed to give the boat
a speed of twenty knots and tn
electric storage tanks for under
water cruising are expected to Civ
half that speed.
Armed with Torpedo Tubes.
The armament includes torped
tubes in the bow and stern, with a
ample allowance of 21-inch torpe
does There will be a 5-inch gu
mounted on deck, forward of tn
eonniug tower.
Three periscopes of the latest i'm
proved patterns will form a part G
The equipment and each vessel wi
be provided with the latest type 9
radio telegraph outfit, both for SUI
face and submerged work, also wit
listening devices.
The old Jupiter, soon to be tn
Langley, will have a superstructur
rising above the main deck som
twenty feet containing a landin
stage for aircraft about 525 feet lon
and IS feet wide amidships. Cats
puts for launching airplanes and
long. runway for them to come dow
On with be included. The main dec
win be the hangar while below wi
be, stored spare parts and bombs fc
he planes.
No smokestack will be visibl
lbove the deep sea landing field. tn
tunnels have been rebuilt along til
Iides Of the Langley and so arrange
hat the smoke can always be dis
charged on the lee side and not In
.erfere with the vision of the avis
tors The tunnels in addition hay
been hinged SO that the smoke ca
se discharged directly onto the SUI
lace of the water.