MODERN WARSHIPS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5666, 10 September 1896, Page 2

MODERN WARSHIPS.

' No. 111. The illustrations of modern battleships this week Consist of the French coastdefence ship Jemmappes and the United States cruiser New York. THE FRENCH SHIP JEMMAPPES belongs to a class of war vessels known as ■ coast-defence ships. As the name im--1 plies they are intended more for the protection of forts and commercs than for going to sea arid " courting a quarrel " . with any hostile ship they might fall in with. Hence they are much smaller, less formidable in the matter of armament and possessed of less speed than the . firstclass battle-ship. They are, in fact, battleships of an inferior or second-cla.?s. The • French navy claims four sister ships 1 of the Jemmappes class, or to speak > more accurately, four of this class '< ' were originally laid down, but two > of them were slightly modified in ■ design, and are now, in reality, small sea-going ironclads. These two. are the 1 Bouvines and Trchouart, while the Jem--1 mappes and Valmy have been built^to the original designs. The dimensions are ; 285 ft long, 57ft. 4in beam, 22ft mean load ' draught, which gives a displacement of 1 6590 tons. The hull is of mild steel, and the stem and stern post and shaft brackets are castings of the same kind of material. She has a double bottom, and is divided into 1 ten transverse and two longtitudinal watertight compartments, the bulkheads extending up to the decks. She is protected by an 1 armour belt, having a maximum thickness 1 of I7fin, the armoured deck being 2i|ih to 4in thick. The arinotir of the turrets is 17fin, while the conning tower is protected by 3£in plates. The armament consists oftwo thirtyfour cm. (13;4in) breach-load-ing guns .which form's the prlnpipal, armament, and are placed in turrets, and four 10am quick-firing guns, besides the usual machine guns and two tubes for the discharge of torpedoes. The larger guns are of a new pattern, and have a muzzle velocity of 2624 ft per second. Each of these guns is placed in a separate turret, supported on a fixed tower or redoubt, inside of which the turning gear is placed. Both turrets are at the middle line, one forward and the other aft. The four quick-firing guns are contained within the short deck-house between the turrets, which is protected by. steel shields 3in in thickness. Four machine guns are placed in the lower top of the one military

mast with which the ship is provided. The torpedo launching-tubes are placed on the armoured deck, abreast of the after funnel. The larger guns are of 76 tons, , firing a projectile weighing 88ilbs and burning 4401bs of powder, are Capable of perforating 33in of wrought iron at the muzzle. The Jemmappes completed her steam trials during 1894 with satisfactory results. The propelling machinery, which was made by the builders of the ship, the Societe de la Loire at St Nassaire, consists of two horizontal three-cylinder engines, each driving one screw. Steam is supplied by three groups of boilers of the Lagrafelle and d'Allest types, which were designed to develop 8400 horse-power with forced draught, a power which has been considerably exceeded. On her trials she attained a mean speed of 16 - 7 knots, to attain which the engines indicated 7760 horse-power with natural draught, and 9201*3 with forced draught. With natural draught she consumed l'Bo37lbs of coal per horse-power per hour, while with forced draught the consumption rose to 2 1 07711 b per horse-power per hour. The vessel has been commissioned for active service, and is now attached to one of the squadrons. Her total cost was .£525,000.

Behind the belt, which extends throughout; the entire length of the ship, there is a cellular space which is filled with waterexcluding material. The armament consists of six Sin guns, two mounted forward in a barbette, with lOin armour, two more mounted in a similar barbette aft, and one on each side of the upper deck amidships. The revolving shields on the guns are 7-in thick. The secondary armament consists of twelve 4in and' sixteen smaller quick firing guns. There are four torpedo launching tubes— one forward, ofle aft, and one on each side amidships ; those amidship admit of being trained. The height of the axes of the Bin guns is no less.thau 25ft above the water, while the 4in guns are 165 ft above the sea level.. The bunker space has a capacity for 1500 tons of coal, ; while tho designed load draught provides for ' 750 tons being car- ■ ried. With the larger quantity the radius of action at a 10 knot speed will be no less than 13,500 knots. The total cost is set down as .£597,000. r