Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-03-22
NEW WARSHIP
LAUNCHED AT
JERSEY YARDS
Colorado, Second of Great
Super Dreadnaughts to
Take Water.
MRS. MELVILLE SPONSOR

CAMDEN, n. J.. March 22.-The United
States added the second Of the worlds
greatest battleships to her fleet today
with the launching here of the super
dreadnOught Colorado at the New York
shipbuilding yards into the waters
of the Delaware River.
Col Theodore Roosevelt, assistant Sec
retary 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 on its journey down
the ways, and Mrs. Max Melville Of Dan
yer, Colo, broke a bottle of champagne
over the bow and gave the ship its name.
In size and power the Colorado is sur
passed by no battleship ahoat, and Is
equaled by only one other battleship, her
sister ship, the Maryland, launched in
March, 1920 Two other ships Of the
same class, the washington and West
Virginia. are under construction.
ENLISTED COMPLEMENT
OF NEW SHIP I.44s MEN.
The chief characteristics of the Colo
RADIO are:
Displacement, 80 600 tons; length. 624
feet; speed. p knots; main battery, eight
sixteen-inch guns; second battery, four
teen 5-inch guns and four 4-inch anti
aircraft guns; two submerged torpedo
tubes and enlisted complement LAS men.
The nearest rivals OF the Colorado and
her sister ships are the japanese battle
ships of the NagatO class and the Brit
ish ships of the Queen Elizabeth class,
of which there are Ave, having a displacs-
ment of only p. 500 tons. Both the Ma
cato and the Queen Elizabeth are armed
with ffteen-inch guns.
While Great Britain at present has no
battleship equal in au-round efficiency to
the Colorado she possesses one capital
ship which is larger. This is the battle
cruiser Hood which is the biggest war
ship now afiOat, thought 1t will be sur
passed in size speed and gun power by
the six battle cruisers of the Constella
ton type authorized in the American
naval bill of 1915, and four of which are
under construction
NEW L. $. CRUISER
TO SURPASS HOOD.
The Hood is $50 feet long, has a dis
placement Of Al 200 tons, a speed of thir-
ty-One knots and a main armament OF
eight ffteen-inch guns. The American
cruiser Constellation, the keel Of which
was laid IN August, 1920, will be ST4 feet
long, of 1880 tons displacement and
will have a sped Of 1925 knots and an
armament Of eight sixteen-inch guns
Though the Hood at first glance ap-
pears to be more formidable than the
Colorado, she is not a battleship, but a
battle cruiser and aside from her weake T
gun power. her armOr is scarcely one
third the thickness of that which pro-
tects the Colorado.
In addition to the six battle cruisers
Of the Constellation class the naval bill
Of 1915 authorized six battleships of even
greater size and power than the Colorado
tyPe{ They are the Iowa, South Dakota.
MODtsns, North Carolina, Indiana and
Massachusetts and the keels Of the Iowa.
SOuth Dakota and Montana have been
laid These battleships will have a
length Of 6S4 feet, a displacement OF 49,
200 tons and a main battery Of twelve 49,
inch guns They are believed to be the
most powerful fighting ships contem-
plated by any nation at present
According 10 the best Information avail
able in naval circles. Great Britain now
Continued on Page Two)