THE ORLANDO.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7990, 1 March 1888, Page 3

THE ORLANDO.

H.M.S, Nelson will shortly be replaced on the Australian station by the Orlando, which has just been completed, and which is considered to be the fastestarmor-plated ship alloat, she having attained a speed of 19 knots per hour. The Orlando was built by Palmer's Shipbuilding Company, at Jarrow-on-Tyne, and is the first of tho belted cruiser class, of which seven are being constructed for the Royal Navy. The dimensions of the Orlando are : — Length, between perpendiculars, 300 ft ; breadth, extreme, 56ft ; depth, moulded, 37ft; normal draught, 21ft; and displacement, 5000 tons. The estimated speed is about 19 knots. The armour is compound or steel-faced, and consist* of a belt, 200 ft in length, extending from lft Gin above the water-line to 4ft below. This belt is lOin in thickness, and is backed with Gin of teak, secured in steel plating of lin thicknes. 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 2in steel plating. Beyond the belt, at both ends, it is inclined downward tn an angle of 30 degrees, and is Sin in thickness. All openings in this deck are fitted with either armour shutters or shell - proof gratings ; and those necessarily open in action are fitted with cofferdams. By the armour 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 forms an unsinkable craft, in which are placed the engines, boilers, magazines, shell - rooms, nnd steering gear. The movements oi the machinery, 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- cud of the vessel. The look-out men in this tower are protected by 12-inch steel-faced armour ; and all the communications to engine-rooms, magazines, and steering-wheels pass through a tube of steel Sin thick. The stem, which forms a ram, is exceptionally stroug, and is well supported by the framework of the vessel and the protective deck. The rani, sternpost, and propeller brackets are of cast steel. The hull is built of SiemensMartin steel, and is divided into over 100 water - tight, compartments. An inner bottom extends throughout I the entire length of the engine and boiler spaces ; the space between the inner and outer bottoms being divided into compartments, which are fitted as water ballast tanks. The vessel has three decks, exclusive of the platforms' which cover the magazines, <S:c. The engines and boilers occupy four separate compartments, arranged fore and aft along the middle of the vessel, bounded on each side by coal buukers, 5 feet in width. The armament is exceedingly powerful, and consists of two 92-inch 22-ton guns, ten (i-inch 5-ton guns, six 6-pounder and ten 3-pounder Hotchkiss quick-firing guns, and numerous boat and iield guns. The 92-inch guns are placed on the upper deck, one forward and one aft. She is litted with tubes for the discharge of Whitehead torpedoes above and below water. The Orlando is one of the five vessels of the same type that were laid down in ISBS, after the public agitation on the state of the navy. In many essential points s^he is considered to bo specially litted for the work required of her. She is far more powerful than any vessel in the Hussian Pacific squadron, and will therefore be a most valuable addition to our naval strength in Australian waters. ,■ ' ' '"