| Show HAIL THE KENTUCKY Will Be Uncle Sams Finest Battle Bat-tle Ship THE ARMOR PROTECTION I I WILL MAKE HER A GREAT FIGHTING MACHINE I X honlcl Defeat Any Warsliip in the I World in t Inrinc Duel The Kcursnsrc I Twin Ship Atlvan tageH of Liclit DranKlit Heaviest I Possible nitttcrlcs Tile Cruising Cruis-ing RntUtiK I Kentucky justly prides itself upon its lovely women its wonderful horses its dashing I its extraordinary whisky dahing colonels and a score of other rich possessions pos-sessions and soon it will be in a position posi-tion t add to all these treasures the finest battleship in Uncle Sams navy and for that matter in any of the navies in the world No one should criticise the BlueGrass Blue-Grass state if it pats itself upon the I bacL over this new acouisltion The battleship Kentucky will be a credit Ito I-to the nation if the nlans of Secretary Herbert are faithfully carried out for 1 iioi even in the highly esteemed navy of Great Britain is there any warship heavier guns and tour of these will be on the Kentucky mounted in two turrets fore and aft over which will be second turrets each carrying two efcrhts The waist fire will consist of fourteen four-teen 5inch rapidfire rifles while the secondary batteries will comprise twenty 6pounder rapidfire six 1 pounder and four machine guns There will be also five tornedo tubes two on each broadside and one in the stem Two military tops mounting machine guns will complete the ships armament arma-ment which is greater for a vessel of her displacement than that of any other vessel in the world I is doubtful doubt-ful if any warship can deliver more metal at a broadside than the Kentucky Ken-tucky will be capable of and none will have the same ability for concentration concentra-tion of fire THE ARMOR PROTECTION In adopting the new arrangement of main batteries the department has been careful to give a complete armor protection from a distance of 4 feet below the water line to the top of the Sinch turrets This armor as welt sal s-al other used on the ships will be of solid nickel steel Harveyized The lower part of the protection the barbette bar-bette so called will have armor 15 inches thick while the armor of the 13inch turrets also will be 15 inches except immediately in front where it will he 17 inches The armor ting t-ing the 8inch guns will be 9 inches but that also will be 2 inches thicker on the face of the turret In addition to this enormous main battery there will be fourteen 5inch guns mounted on the main deck between the turrets and protected by continuous armoT inches thick The protection of the hull against injury to the water line region will bo effected by means of a side armor belt of a maximum thickness of 161 inches THE KENTUCKY which could hold its own with her in a marine duel More modern features will be introduced in-troduced in the construction and armament arma-ment of the Kentucky that in any warship war-ship of recent build I will be the most destructive fighting machine ever 10St turned out by any country and will be a potent factor in commanding the respect of those foreign nations which have recently been sneering at the naval strength of Uncle Sam What is more the Kentuckv will have a sister mort battleship in the new Kearsargc and the twins will make an invincible pair of fighters fghters The contract for building these ships was recently given to the Newport News recenty fhip Building company and work will be begun immediately By the detailed drawings and specifications specifica-tions of the navy department it is easy to show exactly how the Kentucky Ken-tucky will look when equipped for either cruising or war Although the contractors have three years in which to complete her it is not probable that it will < require that length of time to I tuid the battleship Work will berried c be-rried on simultaneously on both the Kentuckv and the Kearsarge and it is probable that they will be ready for launching at nearly the same time SECRETARY HERBERTS PRIDE Each of the shins will carry a complement com-plement of 600 men and officers They designed un are the first battleships al der the administration of Secretary Herbert who has been anxious that they should be without question the best of their class hence all questions arising in their design have been investigated in-vestigated carefully and fully and advantage has been taken of the experience ex-perience gained lathe construction of other battleships in the United States and elsewhere There is little probability therefore that either ship when completed and in commission will be found structurally struc-turally weak or faulty in any respect AH the weights have been calculated carefully and if the vessels draw more than twentvfive feet when loaded wth full equipment1200 tons of coal and ammunition somebody will beheld be-held responsible for the error In general appearance both ships H seem rather short for their great hram their length being 368 feet extreme ex-treme beam 72 feet 2 inches freeboard forward 1 feet 3 l inches freeboard aft 12 feet 4 inches mean draught with 410 tons of coal on board 23 feet 6 inches which means a displacement of 11500 tons The speed under full power will be about sixteen knots or the same as that of the Indiana class These ships will be the first of the larger vessels of the new navy for which the department de-partment holds ct no speed premiums premi-ums but Penalties will be enforced for failure to make the speed called for in I with a mean depth of 7 feet so dis nosed in reference to the load line that the vessels with 410 tons of coal aboard will have 31 feet of this belt armor above water and with 1200 of coal 2 feet above the water line The belt will extend from the stem to the after barbette and will maintain the maximum thickness from the after end of the belt to the forward boiler room bulkhead whence it will taper gradually to a thickness of 4 inches at the bow Protection will be afforded above he main side armor by a steel belt 5 inches thick extending up to the level of the main deck and running in afore a-fore and aft direction from the center of the forward to the center of the after barbette On top of the main side armor belt there will be a fat steel deck 23 1 inches in thickness on the slones increased to 3 and 5 inches Additional precautions have been taken to protect the vessels against raking fires by athwartship bulkheads of armor 10 and 12 inches thick worked at the points where the deck is worked with incline sides In addition to all this armor cofferdams fled with compressed fireproofed American cornpith celluose recently tested with good results will be placed along the entire length of the vessel in the region of the water line DOUBLE TURRETS The feature of the vessels which makes them notably different from other battleships is the new form of turrets about which there is still some difference of opinion Their advantages advan-tages are said to be a large saving in weight which nermits of more guns and more powerful machinery for tie propulsion a better concentration of fire and the ability of the vessel to deliver all four guns in either forward or aft 1 turret almost simultaneously with the result of hitting a terrific blow to the tarset No battleship the ordnance officers contend could withstand the blow if every shot took effect The introduction I introduc-tion of the double turret system was I opposed by the constructors on the ground that it was too great a departure I I de-parture in the methods of mounting guns and that there was danger of both turrets being placed out of action by a single shot hitting either They also pointed out that there was no advantage in discharging the nuns both at once for the reason that if one shot missed a ship through pocr aim it undoubtedly would follow that all would and thus half of the ships broadside of heavy guns would be lost The objections advanced however were met by the ordnance bureau and Secretary Herbert finally decided to f place the new turrets on the two ships and have them mounted with the heaviest heav-iest guns made for the navyheavier even than the rifles adopted for the DECK PlAiN OF THE KENTUCKY the contracts The machinery is expected ex-pected to develop 10000 horsepower and i will drive twin screws THE ADVANTAGES OF LIGHT DRAUGHT One of the reauirements laid down by the secretary was that these vessels should draw less water when fully loaded than any other firstclass battles bat-tles i either in this country or elsewhere else-where The largest foreign ship draws about twentyeight feet while the shos of the Indiana class will draw but one foot less The new ships however have been designed to draw but twentrfive feet with 1200 tons of coal aboard They thus will bfc enabled to reach all of the principal navy yards and ports of the country and can be docked with less difficulty than those now building HEAVIEST POSSIBLE BATTERIES In deciding upon the batteries of the vessels there was much discussion whether the main turrets should be mounted with 13 or 12inch guns the ordnance officers holding out for the adoption of the larger calibre while the constructors favored lighter guns in accordance with the policy of foreign for-eign governments which have prohibited prohib-ited guns of greater than 12inch calf bre on new vessels The secretary nowevfr in view of the recent armor tests which conclusively proved that a 32inch shot was not capable of piercing some of the heaviest plates under normal conditions Doral coditonB selected the ci battleships ernmeuts now building by other jov The conning tower from which point the ships will be fought when in action ac-tion will be protected by 10 inches of armor and inside will be a tube with seven inches of armor leading down to the armor deck for the protection of I voice pipes telegraphs steering rods I etc Throughout the vessels the use II of w od will be reduced to a minimum mini-mum the stateroom bulkheads being constructed of steel covered with cork sheathed All wood materials before being placed in the ships will be process tested by the electric fireproofing I WIDE CRUISING RADIUS I The Kentucky and the Kearsarge will carry their full coal supply of I 1200 tons with the greatest ease their bunkerroom being so ample that the coal can simply be dumped into i I I without the labor of trimming This quantity will be ample for l ordinary contingencies of cruising and for service ser-vice in time of war along the coast a at cruising speed of 10 knots it will enable them to steam 6000 miles and at 13 knots nearly 4OQO or at full I speed to cross from New York to Ireland Ire-land Should the service of these ba tleships be required at a distance I however temporary provision could be made by which 400 or 500 tons of extra coal could be stored away with car I responding increase in the radius of action acton Externally the Kentucky will not be unlike the battleship Indiana as far as appearances go with the exception that the single large mast of the Indiana I In-diana will be replaced by two huge masts on the Kentucky and the lat I ters smokestacks will be several feet taller to give increased development of furnace power One of the strongest features of the Kentucky and one which is distinctly an advance in battleship construction I is the overpowering battery of fourteen four-teen 5inch guns thoroughly protected by 6 inches of the best armor These guns are of the largest calibre which can be fired with great rapidity and the protection given them such that It could be penetrated by but few of the guns carried by any opposing I battleships except the twelves |
