UNCLE SAM’S NAVY

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 17 December 1927, Page 11

UNCLE SAM’S NAVY

COST £10,000,000

THE United States aircraft carrier Saratoga, which was commissioned for trials oil October 31, is the most remarkable warship now in existence. Laid down seven years ago as a battle-cruiser of 43,000 tons, to be armed with eight 16-in. guns, her construction was suspended as a result of the "Washington Conference. Together with a sister ship, the Lexington, she was subsequently re-designed as an aircraft carrier. By deleting the heavy guns the displacement was reduced to 33,000 tons, this being the maximum tonnage permissible for a ship of the carrier type under the Washington Treaty. The Saratoga is 10,-' 000 tons larger than 11.M.5. Eagle, Britain’s largest aircraft carrier, and her length of 888 ft. —nearly 300 yards—exceeds by 28ft that of 11.M.5. Hood, hitherto the longest warship afloat. The Saratoga’s upper deck is, fitted as an aerodrome, 880 ft long by 90ft in breadth. It is 60ft above the waterline, and has an area of five acres. American wits suggest that the completion of this ship adds a new State to the Union. The flight deck is equipped with landing nets and other devices which will, it is claimed, enable aeroplanes to fly off from and alight on the ship with perfect safety in almost any weather. All the boiler uptakes are led into a single gigantic funnel causing, 120 ft in diameter, through which ten railway trains could pass abreast. This funnel is elliptical in shape, and together with the gun turrents, bridge, and other tophamper is placed on the extreme starboard side of the ship, leaving the flight deck practically clear for aviation purposes. This arrangement of the upper works was first adopted by British naval designers in the carriers Eagle and Hermes. The Saratoga, herself is a vast electrical generating station. Never before has electric pOAver been put to such multifarious uses afloat. Steam turbines operate the dynamos, which have an output of 180,000 horse-powei\ This power is transmitted to electric motors coupled to the four propeller shafts, which drive the ship at a speed of forty miles an hour. The Saratoga is therefore the highest-powered and fastest warship of major tonnage in the world. If is of interest to note that boilers of British design. Yarrow and White Forster, are installed @®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®@®®®4s

WONDERS OF THE SARATOGA

in ihe Saratoga and her sister, the Lexington. Auxiliary to the main driving units, there are upwards of a thousand electric motors on board, ranging from air-blowers of 400 h.p. to tiny motors not much larger than an egg-cup, which operate the delicate fire-control instruments. Every mechanical operation in the ship, from propulsion to peeling potatoes, is performed by electricity. The searchlights, mounted, in the superstructure, have an illuminating power of :»l million candle power. Seventy-two aeroplanes are carried in the spacious hangers below, deck, varying from tiny one-seater fighters to heavy bombers and torpedo planes, with a crew of three men. Aeroplanes are brought up from the hold to the flight deck by stored lifts. Single machines can be flown off by means of a catapult, regardless of the direction of the wind. The ship will be manned by a crew of 1200, but, in addition, she will have about 250 aviation ranks and ratings, so that the total complement will be 1450. So extensive and elaborately fitted are the workshops in the lower compartments, that they could, it is stated, build any type of aeroplane, complete with its motors. Not content with making the Saratoga the world’s greatest floating aerodrome, the American designers have contrived to endow her with powerful fighting qualities of her own. The hull is heavily armoured against gunfire and anti-torpedo bulges of the British pattern are fitted along the greater part of the waterline. Eight 8-in guns with a range of twelve miles are mounted in twin turrets, There are also twelve 5-in anti-aircraft guns and four torpedo tubes. The Saratoga is therefore armed more heavily than a modern cruiser of the “County” class. Her consort, the Lexington, is to be ready in January. American naval opinion as a whole is hostile to these ships on account of their prodigious size, vulnerability, and cost. By the time she is commissioned the Saratoga will have cost £lO,000,000, a sum which would have paid for four or five of the largest cruisers. A Washington service journal says that “the huge size of the two new carriers will be a serious handicap to their efficiency. So valuable and vulnerable are they that the mere question of protecting them in warfare presents a grave problem.” h®@®®®®®®®®®#«®®®®®®®®®®