A MODERN WAR VESSEL.

Evening Post, Volume LXIX, Issue 50, 1 March 1905, Page 5

A MODERN WAR VESSEL.

♦ VISIT TO TIJE EUUYALUS: w Grey and motionless, sitting heavily and lew in the Mater, and with her details indistinguishable even from tlio wharf, as she lies well out in the streim,. It roquires a vigorous effort of dlie iffiagiiiation to conjure up an adequate idea of tho vast strength and the potentialities for sudden death tJiat slumber inside the steel walls of a flrst-cUus cruiser of the British Navy. In quest of closer acquaintance with this strength and these potentialities, a .Post representative, armed with the profound ignorance, of warships thut comesof a study of Mr. Kipling's tales and. verses, was enabled, by Iho courtesy ou ■Ihe Vice-Admir»l, to wander all over theflagship m company with an explanatory officer. Tho tour of disco-very began on tho quarter deck, which ia the back end of tho second top-floor — that is, the after portion of the battery deck, as the olKcer kindly eipiUiraed. Everything on this deck is dwarfed by the huge 9.2 gun which projects stern wards 20ft from n mysterious looking house of Bteel whoso curved walls are 3in thick. The fi>.st surprise) conies on entering this little fortress by a small door. The interior »3 like a comprehensive engineering exhibit at a show. Strange machines — worked by hydraolic power or by electricity, bright braes wheels and polished levers, with "spare parts" too technical for description on the walls, and an intricate mass of cog-wheels and cranks under the gun glitter and sparkle oilily in the gleam of the electric light bulbs. Tho "breech mechanism of th« enormous is a tremendously complicated combination of levers, and though it weighs fome hundredweights, a child can open it, and look far down the shimmoring patch of tho 380pounds projectile that require*) 1671b of cordite to hurl it forth. A pulley worked by hydraulic power hauls the shell up from its bed under the steel floor and deposits it in a brass tray that swings out from the gun and is swept round to the breech, where it is rammed in hard. TJio charge follows, the heavy breech is snapped home, the gun is sighted, and a t«rigger-pu'.l sends an electric current through the charge, and the result depends on tho aim. It takes four men to work this monster, and in action tho door of the steel shelter is closed. This was sufficiently impressive, and a tour was made along the deck forrard. On either side, not far from tho 9.2 barbette, is a 6in quick-firer, a kind of younger brother of tho big fellow aft. At short intervals along both sides are 12-poundors and 3-poundcrs — all quickfirors. The latter can bo worked, and worked with speed by ono man, but threo men aro allotted to each. Everywhoro one meets guns, till guns pall on one. Arriving forward one meets tho twin brother of the 9.2 barbotto already described. And ovorything is spick and span. Such brass as there is is spotloss, the decks are beautifully clean, each gun is in "show" condition. There arc, ono learns, botwoon 700 and 800 men on tho vossel, and they aro evidently kep£ busy. Abovo tho battory dock is the boat deck, lined with davits and with crowds of boats of the saem bluish-grey tint as nearly everything on tho ship. Tho .boats range in size from the long gigs that have .been running to and from tho ship in tho last few days, to a fairsized gunboat, and a largo launch ample enough to accomodato fury men. Hero tho Maxims— eight in number, and looking natty and petite— aro located. Looking forward along this deck ono sees the conning tower— tho brain of tho vessel when in action— whoro tho commander takes his stand and directs by speaking tube and telegraph, every detail of destructive m'ovemont. ' Tho tower is circular, and is two or three foet higher than a man, and is built of steol, whose 12in of thickness onablcs it to resist almost any shell that may striko it. The 12in thickness extends from the deck to about tlio height of one's chin, and then there is a spaco of some 9in for observation purppses, with the curved domo of thinner steel surmounting all. Tho telephones and telegraphs have communication with every portion of tho ship— the tiller the various ongines, each of the guns, the torpedo-room. It is a nerve-centre m closo touch with every portion of tho gigantic body of tho ship, controlling every motion as tho brain centres of tho human body controls each big and little muscle. It requires a clear head, a steady hand, and p, quick and alert decisiveness to keep track of the multitudinous bundle of nerves. All the instruments are below the top of tho 12in armour. "A sholl may come through tho observation space," said the officer, and may decapitate those inside, but that doesn't matter ranch; it is tho instrumems which must bo guarded. They aro moro important than anything on tho ship. Unless a shell bursts insido tho tower thoy can't bo damaged, and nothing else matters. Abovo tho conning towor is the bridge nnd chart-room, which is just like the bridge of a largo mail liner. From the conning tower *a descent was made to tie deck whereon the men have their quarters. They had just finished their dinner, and wore enjoying a spell —some sleeping on benches *and in corners out of the* way, others reading or mending clothes, and others preparing for a trip to tho shoro and it* delights, lacking amongst the numerous tables and tho orderly' confusion of kits and benches, cooks and galleys, One suddenly bumped against the breech, of a great gun— « long 6-inch quick-firer— «. cannon in a dining-room. "How do they eat when this thing is in action right in the middle of their tables?" tho officer was asked. "They don't cat," was the reply. "Thoy just get their food the best way they can ; there are eight of these monsters stowed away in this deck, four on each side. Aft of tho mess is tho armoury, and the officers' cabins stretch away past the arinouiy on either aide, • Diving down a steep steel companion May one reaches the deck where the shells and explosives are sleeping in dark strong rooms and iron roofed wells. Each shell room contains a particular species of shell, and is located under a lift which runs up to tho gun to which that species of shell belongs. The shells aro hoisted to the upper decks by hydraulic power. Tho magazines are sunk in tho dock, and uro covered with steel tmp doors clamped down by many clamps and railed off with iron chains— conveying tho impression of grave-plots of dull cold steel. AH tho passages on this deck are lined with innumerable speaking tubes and telephone wires— tho norves of the Bhip. Still lower is tho torpedo-room, where ton of tho deadly "silver sharks" are stored. There are two tubes, which run out below tho water-line. Tho room is full of strange- machinery, and mnay rows of tubes, whioli represent tho mechanism for tho compression of the air which serves to drive the engines buried near the tail of the smooth and shimmering lorpedos. The heads of the torpedos ore not fitted to the bodies, but stand ready, looking for all tho world like tho point of a giant silver cigar snipped off by some monstrous cigarcutter. The torpedo men explain that Iho' silver shark is discharged from its tube by a tiny impulse charge. A metal catch on its (.urfoce clicks against the tubo in going out, and sets its own engines working, and it flies swiftly towards its quarry with wliimrur gcrent

The last of the tour led to a dim chamber, faintly lit by electric light, in the extreme stern, far below tho water line, where the " lust resource " steering gear— jrtix large wheels requiring a dozen men to man them— is located. This provision ia made for the possibility of all the steering gear being put out of action. It will prob-ably-never-l)e used, but it i&kept oiled and fresh and ready for use at a moment's notice. Tho impression ono carries away from a) .-visit to the cruiser is one of vashjosss— va«slness and detail ; o.f n. labyrinth of passages, of guns starting up m unexpect- . ed quarters, of thick prey steel walls, and of a pulsing life full of power for death anddcstoictkm, but it is too vast, too detailed, for complete comprehension- except by longhand caieful study.