OCR Text |
Show Tlio gpsrd of Naval Flu (pit. The speed of English naval veasels is generally determined by a ran over a measured mile. This is as if a sprint runner were allowed to take a flying start, and as if the speed he attained by spurting 100 yards on a good track were assumed to be the speed he could make iu chasing a pickpocket in tho street. It is notorious that these vessels rarely if ever attain in actual service the speed with which they aro credited. It will therefore be understood bow much more accurate was t he tost imposed ipon tha new cruiser Philadelphia when who was Ziuido to run forty miles and back along tho coast of Long Island. The record she made was of course materially aided by the work of the most skillful engineers engi-neers and stokers employed by the Cramps, and by tho rise of picked coal, but thero seems to be little reason for , doubting hor ability to run twenty knots Bn hour in actual service.- |