The New Flagship for the Australian Station.

Evening Star, Issue 7362, 7 November 1887, Page 3

The New Flagship for the Australian Station.

The ' Illustrated London News' gives the following particulars of the Orlando, the new flagship lor the Australian station:—" This new ship of war, built in the yard of Palmer a Shipbuilding and Iron Company, at Jarrow-on-Tyne, is the best of the belted cruiser class, of which seven are being constructed for the Royal Navy. They are quite a new departure in warship design, and while Buperior to anything of this class of war vessel afloat in point of speed, are muoh more heavily armed, and have greatly more defensive power than the Mersey class, which approach them nearest from a constructive point of view, the chief difference consisting of a belt of armor at the water-line, which is fitted in the Orlando class, and from which they derive the name of belted cruiser. The following is a general descrip tion of the vessel:—Length between perpendiculars, 300 ft; breadth, extreme, 56ft; depth, moulded, 37ft; normal draught, 21ft; and displacement, 5,000 tons. The estimated speed is about nineteen knots. The armor is compound or steel-faced, and consists of a belt 200 ft in length, extending from Ift 6in above the water-line to 4ft below. The belt is lOin in thickness, and is backed with 6in of teak secured in steel plating of lin thickness. On a level with the top of the belt is a protective deck, which extends throughout the whole length of the vessel. This deck, along the. belt, is perfectly horizontal, and is formed of 7in of steel plating. Beyond the belt at both ends it is inclined downward to an angle of 30deg, and is 3in in thickness. All openings in this deck are fitted with either armor shutters or self-proof grating, and those necessarily open in action are fitted with cofferdams* By the armor-belt amidships, and the protective deck plating fore-and-aft, the whole of the vessel under this deck is rendered invulnerable to shot and shell, and form* an unsinkable raft, in which are placed the. engines, boilers, magazines, shellrooma, and steering-gear. The movements of the maohinery, the steering of the ship, and the firing of the guns are under complete control from the conning tower, a massive structure at the fore-end of the vessel. The look-out men in this tower are protected by I2iri steel-faced armor, and all the communications to engine-rwmsy magazines, and steering-wheel pass through a tube of steel Bin thick, fhe stem, which forms a ram, is -exceptionally strong, and is well by the framework of the vessel and the protective deck. The ram, stern-post a^. .propeller brackets are of cast steel. The null is built of Siemens-Martin iteel, and is divided into over 100 watertight oompartmentsj An inner bottom extends throughout the entire length of the engtae and boiler spaces, the r spaces -between the inner and

.puter bottoms belntf divided Into compartmeats whioh are fitted as water-ballast tanks. The vessel has three decks, exclusive of the plan forms which cover the magazines, etc. The engine and boilers occupy four separate compartments, arranged fore and aft along the middle of the vessel, bounded on each side by coal bunkers sft in width, the armament is exceedingly powerful, and consists of two 02-inch Bi-ton gum,, ten 6-inch 6-ton guns, six 6-pounder and ten 3-pounder Botohkiss quick-firing bum,, and numerous boat and field guns. The 92-inoh guns are placed on the tipper deok, one forward and one aft.