United States Navy.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 11665, 26 January 1901, Page 3

United States Navy.

NEW BATTLESHIPS AND CRUISERS.

The three new battleships authorised by the Act of March, 1899, were never contracted for, owing to delays in procuring armour bids and in the completion of designs and controversy as to whether the new superimposed turrets should be used in their construction. Inability to reach a satisfactory conclusion in regard to sheathing delayed construction of the three armoured cruisers authorised by the same Act. These points (says the San Francisco Chronicle) have been adjusted. The five new battleships, namely, the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Virginia, and Rhode Island, are divided into two classes to compromise upon the controversy as to their turret systems. Three are to be sheathed and coppered, and will carry superimposed turrets; the other two are to be unsheathed vessels, having the "quadrilateral arrangement" of Bm. turrets. To meet the contingency that the bids may be in excess of the autho rised cost, the bidders were, however, invited to submit plans in each case for both sheathed, and unsheathed ships. The sheathed vessels are to be of 15,000 tons displacement, with a length of 435 ft., breadth of 76ft. 10in., and greatest draught of 26ft. The unsheathed ships art) slightly smaller, and on the same length are 7sin. narrower and 400 tons less displacement. Both classes of battle ships will compare with any in the world, not only afloat, but projected, for they will have a speed of at least 19 knots, which is expected to run up to 19$, a great pace for a battleship,* which will be maintained by twin-screw engines of 19,000 horse-power, supplied by 24 watertube boilers. The radical difference in thp battleships to the outward appearance will lie in the turrets. Each ship will carry four 12-inch guns. These are of the extraordinary length of 40 calibres, of 20ft. in the bore, of the new type just turned out by the Ordnance Bureau, and superior in efficiency to any 12-inch gun in the world, and at least equal to the 12-inch guns which have marked the maximum calibre in the American navy. In the three sheathed vessels a pair of 8-inch guns will be mounted on the top of each of the 12 inch turrets. Four other 8-inch guns will be distributed in two turrets amidship« on theßO two vessels. The unsheathed vessels will have all of their 8-inch guns mounted in four independent turrets, ono placed at each corner of the oblong superstructure. Both classes of vessels, sheathed and u!i*!ieath«d, will have a broadside of 12 6-inch rapid-fire guvs on the main deck, besides 12 14 pounders and 12 2pounders and a number of automatic

guns, making the battery more for midable than any other fleet as far as ability to concentrate fire and throw weight of metal is concerned. In the matter of defensive poorer the battleships of both classes are Unsurpassed, carrying an eight-foot-wide water-line belt of armour, llin thick over the vitals of the ship, tapering to 4in at the ends. The 6-incn guns will be placed behind the protection of 6in of solid hardened steel, and the turrets will vary from 10 to 11 inches in thickness. A curved t turtle-back protective deck and a cofferdam belt all round the water-line, stuffed with cellulose, will afford further protection. Electricity will be used in the battle ships to much greater extent than in any other ships afloat. The six armoured cruisers represent the highest development of the raval constructor's art, for Chief Constructor Hichborn has uot only managed to design in them ships as fleet as any foreign navy can boast, but has endowed them with the qualities of battleships at many points. Three of these [ships are to be sheathed and three are to be unsheathed. Of a less displacement than the battleships, 13,800 tons in the case of the sheathed and 13,400 in the case of the unsheathed cruisers, theie vessels are still considerably longer, being 502 ft. on the water line, with a breadth of 70ft. and a draught of 25ft. 6in. Quadruple twin screws of 23,000 horse-power, supplied by 30 boilers, will propel these great ships at a spwed of 22 knots per hour, and that, with the capacity for 2000 tons of coal in their bunkers, their endurance will surpass that of any similar foreign vessel. Each cruiser will carry four Bin guns in Hichborn-balanced turrets, four 6m guns in sponsons at each corner of the superstructure, and ten 6in broadshide guns, besides the usual secondary battery. Six inches of hardened steol will extend in a belt around the ships, 7ft 6in broad, and the guns in the citadel and superstructure are proportionately protected. A (heavy protective deck and cofferdam belt complete the protection'