The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1925-04-07
7 OGA
TAKES To
WATER
Giant AirpIane Carrier Launch
ed, With Mrs. Wilbur
Doing Honors
By HARRY WARD,
international News Service.

CAMDEN, N. j., April IA
new queen Of the seas took the
water today when the United
States airplane carrier Saratoga
slid down the ways of the New
York Shipbuilding Corporation,
giving the United States the
largest and fastest craft of the
kind in the world.
Amid a din of whistles and in
the presence of many high Gov
eminent officials, Mrs. Curtis D..
Wilbur, wife of the Secretary of
the Navy, pulled a silken string,
releasing a flock of pigeons and
officially christening the new
naval giant, Saratoga"
Carries 12 Planes.
The new vessel is expected to be
completed and commissioned toward
the end of 1926. and when she
takes her place with the fleet she
will carry an equipment Of seventy
two combat, observation and bomb
ing planes. Half of these planes
will be of heavy duty type.
They will be operated from the
flying deck of the ship, which will
afford them ample space in which
to take the air and upon which to
aIight at the completion Of flights.
AS designed, the Saratoga is 1888
feet over all, with a maximum beam
of 105 feet, and she has a flying
deck reaching from stem to stern.
Her displacement is $4,000 tons,
and she is equipped with engines
of 10000 horsepower. which Will
give her a speed of between thirty
three and thirty-four knots: Her
main battery will consist of eight
S-inch guns, in four turrets, the
limit Of size for ships Of her type,
under the Washington treaty.
The Saratoga was authorized by
Congress in 1916, under the three
year building program. Originally
the vessel was one of six battle
cruisers included in that program.
The contract was let just before
the entrance of the United States
into the world war, and work was
DELAYED In order to facilitate the
building of a smaller type of YES
sells. After the war the vessel, as
a battle cruiser, was redesigned to
give 1t the benefit of the experience
Of the war. and the keel was not
laid until September 25, 1920.
Exceeds Fast Ships.
At the time of the limitation of
arms conference the vessel was
about one-third completed. and while
four of the six battle cruisers were
ordered scrapped by the terms of
the Washington treaty, the Sara
toga and her sister ship, the Lex
ington, were retained and permits
sion was granted to the United
States to convert them into airplane
carriers. The Lexington will be
launched this fall at Quincy. Mass
The Saratoga will excel in pro
pulsive power speed and length
those other queens OF the navy,
the u. s. S. Maryland and West
Virginia, heretofore the most pow
erful battleships in the world.
The new vessel is not only a
literal floating airplane field, but 1t
Is also a floating electric gener'
ating plant.
Its power plant will be capable
of developing the tremendous force
OF 100000 horsepower. This IS
greater than the combined rated
output Of the six electrically driven
capital ships now in commission
New Mexico, California, Tennessee,
Maryland, Colorado and West V1r-
ginia. ~,
Powerful turbine generators will
create the electrical power which
will drive the propellers by means
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