AMERICAN CRUISER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21879, 15 August 1934, Page 8

AMERICAN CRUISER

VISIT TO AUSTRALIA FINE FIGHTING SHIP \ "MOST MODERN- IN WORLD * [feom oun OWN correspondent] HONOLULU, Ausruat 2 The first American Navy vessel to visit Australian waters since the visit of the United States Pacific Fleet in 1927, the U.S.S., Astoria, the nation's newest and .finest fighting ship, will arrive in Sydney on August 15, in the course of a three-months' cruise in tbo Pacific. The long cruise has been undertaken to test fully the latest equipment with which the Astoria is protected and to decide whether the Navy Department will continue building her type of cruiser. Gunnery, anti-aircraft and speed tests will be carried out at various points. The Astoria has already visited the American Navy bases at Hawaii and Samoa. Constructed at a cost of £2.500,000, the Astoria belongs to the 10,000-ton class, under terms of the Washington Navy treaty, and is described officially as the "most modern piece of naval fighting equipment in the world." She is 588 feet long, has a GO-foot beam and a draft of 21.5 feet, and is capable of a speed of 32.7 knots. She is of 107,000 horse-power. Four Years to Build Built at the Puget Sound Navy yard and placed in full commission on April 28 at Bremerton, the cruiser represents one of the finest products of private or navy shipyards afloat. She required four years to build, her koel having been laid in September of 1930. Two thousand men were employed or her construction. The might of tho new battle unit ii amazing. Her main engines are nearlj three times as powerful as those in the latest built 'battleships in the United States Fleet, and more than half as powerful as those in the giant aircraftcarriers Lexington and Saratoga, two of the most powerful ships on the seas. Some idea of her energy is gained when it is known that the Saratoga could pump enough water with her power plant to supply a city three times the size of Sydney, and generate enough electricity to furnish the city of Sydney. The Astoria carries a plant for making its own electricity and another for making fresh water from sea water, with a capacity of 50,000 gallons a day: Four Aeroplanes Carried The side armour of the vessel is 5-inch plate. Her armament consists of nine 8-inch guns in the main battery, two forward turrets and one aft of three guns each: two 21-inch triple torpedo tubes, eight 5-inch anti-aircraft guns and facilities for laying mines. Four aeroplanes are carried aboard, two in catapults and two on her anchor deck. The Astoria is commanded by Captain Edmund S. Root, a graduate of Annapolis in 1905, who relinquished the post of Governor of Guam to command tiiis new cruiser, which carries a complement of 49 officers and 584 men. Civilians aboard the cruiser include Mr. W. G. Beardsley, a representative of the Westinghouse Electric Co., who is making the cruise as observer. His firm supplied electrical apparatus for the ship. Mr. Wilford L. Jessup. managing editor of the Bremerton Daily News Searchlight, and a lieutenant in the naval reserve, is making his fourth cruise in the Pacific.