Show k etO t > I THE COLLINGWOOD I A name in history depends upon two I things connected with a great undertaking undertak-ing a great success or a great failure I Mr Roach has made a great name in connection with the building of an Amer can navy but it cannot be said that he has made a great success In his building build-ing of the ship he was not so successful I as Longfellow But then Longfellow did not have a wicked Democratic Administration Ad-ministration arrayed against him nor was there at the head of the Naval Department I Depart-ment such a dude as Secretary Whitney nor was there a man as AttorneyGeneral I at the time Longfellow wrote who had declared an amendment to the Constitution I Constitu-tion unconstitutional as did Mr Garland Mr Garland did this because exSecretary Chandler says he did In England they are not troubled with such things and as they have no Democratic party there desiring de-siring to make political capital out of poor but honest shipbuilders their boats when completed generally come up to the requirements re-quirements Qf the contract and are accepted ac-cepted The newest of the British war ships is the Collingwood and which is somewhat some-what of a departure from the models heretofore She is rather a floating fort than an ironclad of the old style Her displacement is 9150 tons and her engines en-gines are of 7000 horse power She is built of steel and is plated with teninch armor she carries ten guns She is the first of a regular series of barbette ships now being built for the British navy and known as the Admiral type being named after distinguished British naval commanders The great height of the parapets above the water line will enable the barbette bar-bette arrangement to direct a powerful power-ful and most destructive plunging fire against an enemys boats and in naval warfare nothing so soon disables a boat as a plunging fire for as a rule the decks are not protected These barbettes are oval shaped and are formed of steel faced armor of twelve andfourteen inches thick and slope inward very much thus tending to secure the glancing of a shot when struck Ammunition is brought up from the magazine by means of an armored tube The guns are mounted upon a turntable twentyfour feet in diameter The Col lingwood has four 43ton guns and six 4ton guns These barbette ships have more speed than the turret ships such as the Inflexible the Dread naught the Devastation the I Thunderer and Colossus There are six of these barbette ships whose names are the Collingwood the Rodney Rod-ney the Howe the Camperdown the Benbow and the Anson The Anson will carry two 100ton guns and six 4ton guns All these boats will have steelfaced armor from fourteen to eighteen eigh-teen inches thick Such a fleet would seem almost invincible but it is thought by the friends of Mr Roach that one shot from the Dolphin would destroy all of them at once |