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Show fV" " " "' ' """ H j t . - - i vif all ill lift Km BBl i 7MIiiT;';?-s5!raJ'V BBl f ja- -' rf7' ' j7rv - ,s:2m3 BBl Two Ilrat-class battlealilps fur tho BBb fe United Stntes navy, tho Now .lereoy BBb nml tho Uhoilo Island, mo brliiK litillt BBl ft slilo by side fiom the name designs BBg ', nnd nt the samo time nt the now Foro BBb. "1 Htvcr 8lii) yard, down in I lie Kontli- BBm 'I eastern corner of Iioston Harbor. Tho BBl fj llku Is not heliiK done In any other BBg .i Atncrlrnn b1iI yard, bo thai tho vis- BBm fi Itor wlio takes plcasuro In watchlnt; J V his white navy In actnnl process of BBV l, construction may llml hero a hhkkcs. BBl .' tlon of tho formldahlo power of tlila BBV ., new class of fighting shlpR that he can BBg ljj( liardly look for elsewlnre. H ) Tho battleship Is lmllt to tnko many BBY hard blown, ns well as to give them, BBB I though knowing all tho time that BBl I ,t these hard blows, coining from mod- BBh cm, twelve-Inch rillcs, wilt probably BBB : shatter tho heaviest armor she can BBB ' tloat tinder. Tor Micro aro certain BBB i vital organs within her alien e all, BBB I her engines nnd hollers that must BBB 'I ' bo mado absolutely safe against BBB 1 ' shots, and tho only way to make them BBB i ' so, since Impenetrable armor has not BBV 2 yet hcon Invented, Is to ndd one safe- BBW j , guard to another until rhanco of Injury BBB J In practically ellmlr.nted. So If you BBW 'I will clamber down tho slopo of tho BBfi I "protective deck" and look over tho BBB I I side you will sco below you . Jog or BBB' ' shelf running along tho vessel's Bide, !" j above which sho Is narrower than sho Is below. Upon this Is to go tho cloven-Inch nickel steel armor plating, V , extending a Tow feet above nnd below BBBj I the water line, and going nearly nil BBBj around the vessel from end 4o end, BBBj I , like a stout belt around n man's body, BBBj ' I This Is to take care of all small shots BBBj i i ' from the enemy's guns. For tho larg- BBBj '( er, more penetrating shots, the V-shap- BBBj ( cd spaco between tho upright side of BBBJ " tho vessel and tho slant of tho protcc- BBS tlvo deck, will bo lUlcd solid with coal, BBBJ I as a part of tho ship's bunker capacity, BBBj t to a horizontal thickness of nearly ten BBBJ j feet. This Is a much more elllclent I shield thnn tho steel nrmor Itself, on tho snmo prlnclplo that a rlllo bullet I can bo shot through a chilled steel plowshare, but not through a feather pillow. I As for any destruction which may tnko place nbove tho armor belt and tho protccthe deck, thcro aro hero but BBB j two points wnlch at tho last resort, BBBJ 13 I aro really Indispensable the two tnr- BBBJ i. rets, that Is, which carry tho twclvc- J E Inch rillcs. And these, from their j -A combination of rounded shape nnd j ill oxtra heavy nrmor, are Biipposed to :R bo Invulnerable. After all. then, wo i havo In tho modern battleship little - J more, as far ns principle goes, thnn an 'Jj old-fashioned monitor for liupeue- trnhlo "whnleback," If you like with M t j n few stories of superstructure added j . above It, and If our vessel really lived iV, up to tlio naval constructor's Ideal wo mlg find her nt tho end of a hnrd engagement totally dismantled above tho protectlvcdeck, with all her small- HjVjVl jjt er guns disabled and her gallant crews M ;, killed, with her deckhouse knocked Into Junk, and her funnel, masts, boat 4( derricks and all tho rest of It over- M board, but with four twelve-Inch rillcs ! still swinging toward the enemy nnd BBS : below decks a perfect set of boilers H and engines ami n still workable H ! emergency steering gear. In order to appreciate tho reasons H f for the tremendous strengthening In H spcclnl plates one has to think of tho B J I battleship not as on tho stocks but BBBB m In action. In the first place tho bull BBVBJ rl I of such n craft, according to the recent H Jj calculations ot a Japaueso naval otll- BBVH I cer, compriBe only about 3S per cent H ' of lior total weight. Tho remaining O'J !i per cent Is simply loaded on In tho Dhnpo of guns, nrmor, machinery nml I gpnornl outfit. Yet this wembt Is not, H . llko tho cargo In a freighter, evenly BBpBV J distributed nor can It bo got rid of BBpBB J wbllo the vessel Is In dry dock. Then BBVBT fj again as soon ns tho olllcer In com- BBpBJ A , H maud orders her "full speed ahead" BBpBJ J , tho engines In the narrow spaco al- BBpBJ 11 lowed thorn, must begin to put forth BBpBJ ' tho energy of about 20.000 horses on R I' I 'tho run, poundliiK on tho sbnft benr- BBpBJ f I lugs, nnd from them on to tho very BBVBJ l.ccl Itself, with n prcssuro of about B I r.lxty tons or sny six Umos tho K weight of an ordinary trolley ear. Tho BBpBj pressure ii tho thrust benrlngs, us BBBB1 well us on tho foundations, which BBpBJ receive tho push of tho propellers In BBpBj their struggle to drive the ship ahead, H Is collectively over 100 tons. Sovcn B heavy-weight freight engines collided BBpBB ono ahead of the other could hardly BBBBB f nxert tho snmo force So, too, when- BBpBB 1 j 1 over tho commnuder wants the helm BBBBB ' i put hard over the stern post ami ndja- BBpBW t.f cent framings must annd the strain of BBpBM I jl pulling U10 squaro feot.ot rudder sur- BBpBV, U 'I face much moro than tho area of a BBBpB 'J big barn door eldoways through tho BBBBB. ,' water at tho rato ot twenty miles an H1 ' a hour. Kvery tlmo ono of tho twelve- BBBBE' , Ut .".- inch rillcs Is fired the result Is much BBBBB&V 'laMik. BBBBBk ' JBBBBk BBBBBB '"BBBBBBi tho same, so far as stresses and strains on the mountings aro concern cd, as If a healthy passenger locomotive locomo-tive running nt ten miles an hour wcro to llnd the gun sitting Inopportunely on tho track nml cngago It In end-on collision, whllo ns to tho strains ro suiting from t dually ramming nn enemy In battle nobody has ever more thnn vnguely tm'sst-'d nt what they may amount to. All points of battleship building aro Interesting, of courso, because of tho tremendous Importance of tho result. Thero Is little Batlsfnctlon, cither in building a battleship unless sho Is to bo n hotter sh'p and n moro powerful power-ful lighter than all those that havo gone before her. Consequently battleship battle-ship designers must bo engineering pioneers hunting for new facts and new Ideas nnd employing now methods nnd materials to accomplish results hcbml what havo already been achieved. Consequently, nlso. battleship battle-ship builders mint bo mechanical pioneers to carry out tho designer's Ideas. Imagining our tvo lighters ns they will appear when complete, wo seo two wnll-bldcd warships UK feet long, proceeding with a p.lo of foam at their bows at tho tato of nineteen knots an' 'hour at an oxpendituro of twenty tons of coal and tho conversion of 1C0 tons of water Into stem, llelow the gracefully grace-fully bheered main deck Is visible n row of small guns forming tho "sco ondaty battery." At Manila and also at Santiago It was cbterved that although big guns were of tho greatest ultimata advantage, advan-tage, most of the fight, when tho distance dis-tance allowed, went on, and with tho greatest execution, among tho smaller rapld'-llrlng rllles which may well account ac-count for tho strength nnd Importnnco of secondary batteries of these twin ships. Above tho main decks rlso tho main turrets foro and aft, topped by Btnnller ones. A pllo of upperworks Intervene between them, surmounted by two stout military masts with fighting fight-ing tops nnd signal yards, and three funnels pouring out volumes of smoko nil eonti Unite to a very solid, cnstle-llko cnstle-llko effect. Finally tho all-Important question of what these two battleships can do and how they compare with similar craft In other navies can bo effectually answered by quoting a recent para graph trom one of tho best-known scientific weeklies. A vessel's guns, for purposes of comi.nrlson, nro spoken spo-ken of in terms of u standard gun, Just as electric lights are measured In cnndlo-powers." Speaking of tho now French battleship Hopublique, this scientific weekly says: "Tho artillery predominance of tho Hopublique Hopub-lique Is hero very marked, savo against tho New Jersey." If, how over, we roduco nil guns to the common denomination of tho twelve-pounder, wo get tho flro values for one broadside as follows: Now Jersey, 09; King Kdward. 78; Itopub-llquo, Itopub-llquo, 71; Vlttorlo ICmanuele, 01; Suf-fren, Suf-fren, CO. All of which means In nontechnical non-technical terms, that In n given tlmo and under equal conditions, tho Ilhodo Island nnd Now Jersey could throw moro metal nnd make the other fellow sorrier for it than tho premier ships of any ot our friends the enemy. And tho nrtkio goes on to say that "by dividing the displacement Into theso figures wo can plaeo tho values of tho ships In gun (Ires per thousand nnd toiiB of displacement ns follows: Now Jersey. C.3; Vlttorlo ICmanuele, -l.S; King ICdwnrd, 4.7; Itopubllquo, 4.7; Suffieu, 1.7." In other words, wo hnvo not only the greatest artlllory strength on theso i.ew vessels for what Is said ot the New Jersey applies Just tho same to tho Khodu Island but havo obtained It with tho least proportionate pro-portionate amount of vessel. This provided no other Important feature has been sacrificed, Is tho very Ideal to bo sought greatest fighting powoi with least dead wolght. "So far as paper comparisons aro confirmed," continues this critic, "compare them by whatovor system wo may select, and thoy will nlways como out at tho head of the list." And so. In tho light of previous ovents, It Boems but rcnsonnblo to assume that thoy will do so In tlmo of war. CIn 'innntl Knqulror. |