Year: 1863




The United states steamer IdahO-Speed


Ia vessels War.


The United idsno being constructed
by Mr. Henry yard In Green ,oin Her chic
Characteristic q eel Her general Dimensions are as
follows Length, $50 ieet width az eet and depth Of
no d. "a lee Her caracty is about 2, 200 tons burthen
The model Of the Idaho Is narrow running out both for
ward and aft very sharp. and not unlike that OF
the famous Niagara. built by the lamented
Gorge Steers. In vessel designed TOT
carry fre ht, a merchaptman, the model Is
very u and de while the is the case with the
Idaho. The model is fautessy rounded that
could not rest upon any part OF the exterior
surface of the vessel She Is strongly put together as
bridge truss goes through the upper deck down
keson and extends the whole length Of the vessel
When anoat her sides will present surface twelve feet
above line giving her rather long and raksh
appearance She will be very buoyant, and will certainly
excellent boat The faster she Is propelled tho
higher will her bows bc forced up from the water Tho
cabin and ward rooms will be fitted up according
to the latest style. They will be more than usually
roomy for vessel Of her class owing great measure
the comparatively small space the engines occupy
The cabin thirty feet long, eighteen feet Wide and six
and half feet high The wardroom thirty six feet
long and the width OF the vessel Tho storage twenty



tlatou OF the vessel will be accomplished according 70
the best method, by means Of two blowers driven by
engines. with air tubes communicating with the ward
and other parts or the vessel The magazines are
placed one the and the other the aft OF the
vessel The gundeck is six and half inches thick OF yel
low pne The frames Of the decks white and live oak
There three decks six and half feet between them-
the gundeck, the berthdcck and the orop deck. The
battery the gundeck the berthdeck Is occupied by
the Sailors where hammocks swung each side Of
the whole length Of the craft sufficient to accommodate
the full complement Of mon. which will be three hundred
souls


Under canvass she could take the palm over any
other vessel of class that floats the She
will carry twenty thousand feet Of canvass and this will
her 60 In q good breeze twelve knots an nour.
She will be bark rigged. At first II intended
to hrve her ship rigged. The mainmast and fore
mast ninety feet high and the mzzen mast eighty feet
high; the topgaant and gallant mast are all n one.
The fore and yards eighty five feet. There will
be yards the mizzen mast being barkrigged. The
topsail yards sixty five feet She will have the I'm
proved wire rigging


Her armament will be very heavy. consisting Of four
teen broadsde guns the ports being situated at regular
intervals along the whole length OF the vessel their cali
bre is nine inches, Parrotps design She will also carry
one two hundred pound PARROT ried gun forward and
one AFT.


The engines for this splendid craft are being con-
structed at the Morgan Iron Works in this city and will
be completed in about two and half months. They
Of peculiar construction direct acting and have greater
speed Of piston than thought could be attained
tho piston travelling eleven thousand feet minute. An
important objection among naval people Tor the construc
ton OF vessels in which almost everything sacrificed
for speed is the fact that their engines being powerful
and large, take up immense amount Of room In the
In ho ohi Sa AZ the
gnes take up less than Is usual In vessels Of her
class, and weigh only four hundred and my tons. On
the other hand ordered engines for the
Wambanogs and smother vessel whose chief character
istic will be speed, which Will weigh twelve hun
dred TONS The cylinders Of tho Idaho will be four In
number each thirtysix inches In diameter and eight
feet stroke Of piston. The dimensions OF the cylinder OF
the iron clad Puritan will be hundred inches In dame
ter indicative Of the peced speed Of that YES
SELL The Idaho II will be seen, surpasses this amount
Another new feature tho situation Of the propeers
each side Of the stern post Each propeller will
be worked by small and large sssew the reason that
there light draught Of water, and 10 necessary to
surface than usual 70 deop the power. Tho
engines will give ordinarily nvo thousand horse powor
but hey capable Of developing seven thousand horse
SUFFICIENT almost drive the vessel under
The furnaces arranged burn i've tons Of coal
hour. She carry six hundred tons Of coal. II Is
expsdent she can steam eight knots an hour and use
eighteen tons Of coal Per DAY. She has two blowing
gines, and It IL necessary they can carry hundred
pounds Of steam, the boilers are 20 arranged that It
can be easily accomplished.


Her draft Of water s very light-ourtsen feet Next
power Of the engines nothing affects the speed Of
ship than her draft OF water OF course, vessel
that only i've feet Of water be driven faster
than vessel which draws teu As an illustration Of tho
draft Of water speed In some Of tho fastest vessels
that came into New York, we append the following
table