Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1921-03-25
BIG DREhDNAUGHT
LAUNCHED BY j. s.
BattIeShip Colorado Takes the
Water at Camden, N. ].
CHRiSTEN WITH CHAMPAGNE
Assistant Secretary of Navy Theodore
Roosevelt Gives Signal as Mrs.
Max Melville of Denver
Breaks the Bottle.

Camden, n. j., March 23.-The
United States added the second of the
worlds greatest battleships TO her
feet with the launching of the super
dreadnaught Colorado at the New
York shipbuilding yards here into the
Delaware river.
Col. Theodore Roosevelt, assistant
secretary of the navy and third of his
family to officiate at the launching of
an American warship, gave the signal
which sent the giant craft down the
ways, and Mrs. Max Melville of Den
yer broke a bottle of champagne over
the bow and gave the ship its name.
In size and power the Colorado is
surpassed by no battleship afoat and
is equaled by only one other, her sis
ter ship, the Maryland, launched at
Newport News In March, 1920. Two
other ships of the same class, the
Washington and West Virginia, are
under construction.
Eight Sixteen-lnch Guns.
The chief characteristics Of the
Colorado are: Displacement, $4,000
cons; length, 624 feet; speed, q
knots; main battery eight 16-lnch
guns; secondary battery, IL five-inch
guns and four three-inch antl-aircraft
guns; two submerged torped1 tubes;
enlisted complement, 1888 men.
Special protection against torpedo
attack is among the new features of
construction Of the Colorado and her
sister ships. AS result OF innova-
lions suggested by experience of the
World war, the ships are believed TO
be as nearly immune to torpedo attack
as any afioat.
Including warships of all classes,
Great Britain has TIT vessels, totaling
2,412, LAG tons, with SO others building;
the United States has ALB ships total
ing 1,1S1,SS4 tons, and Japan has rs
ships totaling 4S6,252 tons, with 10 I'M
Ger construction.
The nearest rivals of the Colorado
and her sister ships are the Japanese
battleships of the Nogato class and
the British ships of the Queen Eliza
beth class. The three NegatO class
ships have a displacement of $4,000
tons, while the five ships of the Queen
Elizabeth type have a displacement of
only 1880 tons. Both the Nogato
and the Queen Elizabeth class are
armed with 15-inch guns.
While Great Britain at present has
no battleship equal In all-around eff
cheney to the Colorado, she possesses
one which is larger. This is the bat
tie cruiser Hood, the biggest war
ship afioat, but it will be surpassed in
size, speed and gun power by the six
battle cruisers of the Constellation
type, authorized in the United States
naval bin of 1916, four of which are
under construction.
Other Giants Building.
The Hood is $50 feet long. has a
displacement of Al 200 tons, a speed of
81 knots and a main armament of
eight 13-inch guns. The American
battle cruiser Constellation, the keel
of which was laid in August, 1920, will
be STA feet long, 1880 tons dlsplace-
ment. with a speed of 1925 knots and
an armament of eight 16-inch guns.
The Hood is battle cruiser and be-
sides her weaker gun power her armor
is scarcely one-third the thickness of
that which protects the Colorado.
In addition to the six battle cruisers
of the Constellation class, the 1915
naval bin authorized six battleships of
greater size and power than the Colo
RADIO type. They are the Iowa, South
Dakota. Montana. North Carolina, In
diana and Massachusetts. Contracts
have been let by all except the Massa-
chusetts and the keels of the Iowa.
South Dakota and Montana have been
laid. These battleships viii have a
length of 6S4 feet, a displacement of
1920 tons and a main battery 81 II
16-inch guns. They are believed to be
the most powerful fighting ships con
templated by any nation at present.