UNITED STATES XAVY. 



789 



tion the department has maintained an inti- 

 mate relation with the mechanical industries 

 and ingenuity of the country ; its requirements 

 for vessels, guns, armor, torpedoes, and the 

 munitions of war have been of the highest 

 standard, and every suitable encouragement 

 has been given to all ship-builders, manufact- 

 urers, and inventors whose efforts promised 

 success. In 1885, forgings for guns of more 

 than 6-inch caliber, armor, steel shafting, rapid- 

 tire and machine guns, torpedoes, and torpedo- 

 boats, could be procured only from abroad. 

 Before the end of the present year (1889) the 

 domestic manufacture of guns of 8-inch, 10- 

 inch, 12-inch, and 16-inch caliber, steel armor 

 of the highest character and greatest thickness, 

 steel shafting for engines of enormous power, 

 rapid-fire and machine guns and ammunition, 

 dynamite-guns, torpedoes, torpedo-boats, and. 

 submarine boats will be fully established. As 

 a result of Secretary Whitney's policy, the 

 United States will soon be absolutely independ- 

 ent of foreign aid for the production of every 

 component part of the modern war-ship. 



The modern war-ship represents the highest 

 effort of mechanical skill and ingenuity, and 

 has become a machine of the costliest produc- 

 tion high-power guns, armor, machinery of 

 the greatest power, torpedoes, torpedo-boats, 

 and electric lights, all find places in its con- 

 struction, and the battle-ship of to-day is, under 

 the most favorable conditions, from three to 

 five years in building, while its cost is more 

 than double that of its prototype of twenty 

 years ago. The sentiment throughout the 

 country seems to be decidedly in favor of 

 building a fleet capable of efficiently aiding in 

 the defense of our coasts, and of maintaining 

 our rights and interests abroad. Such a fleet 

 must be composed of a variety of vessels, 

 armored and unarmored, and can be created 

 only at considerable expense, and the appro- 

 priations must be continuous and liberal if the 

 object is to be speedily and economically ac- 

 complished. 



The development of the fleet by new con- 

 structions authorized since 1882 is shown in 

 the tables on pages 790 and 791, indicating the 

 principal characteristics of each vessel. 



Notes to the Tables. In all oases, unless noted, boil- 

 ers and machinery are placed in water-tight compart- 

 ments: the material of which the vessels are built is 

 steel, except the monitors, which are built of iron ; 

 the armor is steel, and will be furnished by the Beth- 

 lehem Iron Company, except that for the " Miantono- 

 moh," which is com'pound armor, purchased in Eng- 

 land ; the hulls are divided into numerous water-tight 

 compartments, and the bottoms of the lanrer vessels 

 are double. All are twin-screw vessels, so far as de- 

 signed, except the "Boston," "Atlanta," "Dolphin," 

 arid Petrel." Rapid-fire and machine guns, form- 

 ing what is known as the secondary battery, are 

 mounted about the upper and superstructure decks, 

 and in military tops. The main and secondary bat- 

 teries are placed so as to secure all-round fire. Trial 

 speeds given are for vessels at load draught. Where 

 two amounts are given in the column " Coal Capac- 

 ity," the first is the normal supply ; the second the 

 total bunker capacity. Coal is placed about machin- 



ery and boilers for additional protection against gun- 

 fire. Boilers are of the horizontal tubular "type, single 

 or double ended. 



The " Puritan " is a low free-board, double-turreted 

 monitor, built of iron ; armored with a steel belt ex- 

 tending the entire length of the vessel ; and carrying 

 four 10-inch breech-loading guns in two armored'tur- 

 rete, besides an efficient secondary batten,-. The mo- 

 tive power is furnished by two direct-acting horizon- 

 tal engines. The armor on the turrets is Hi inches 

 thick. The side armor is 12 inches thick amidships, 

 reduced to 8 inches at the ends. The conning-tower 

 is 12 inches thick. 



The " Miantonomoh," "Terror," " Amphitrite," 

 and " Monadnock " are of similar type, though smaller 

 than the " Puritan," but carry the'same battery. The 

 machinery of this class, except the " Monadnock," is 

 of the compound tvpe. The machinery of the " Mo- 

 nadnock " is of the triple-expansion type, of recent 

 design, and of much greater power than that of the 

 other vessels of this class. The armor on the turrets 

 of the " Terror," " Amphitrite," and " Monaduock " 

 is Hi inches thick, and on the sides the armor- belt 

 varies in thickness from 7 inches amidships to 5 iuches 

 at the extremities. The conning-tower is 9 inches 

 thick. The "Miantonomoh" is similarly protected 

 by compound armor, purchased in England in 1884. 



The "Maine" is an armored cruiser, designed by 

 the Navv Department, building at the Brooklyn Navy- 

 Yard. The material for her construction is on hand, 

 the keel has been laid, and several of the frames 

 placed. The 10-inch guns are mounted in pairs, in 

 two turrets placed en echelon on upper deck ; two 

 6-inch guns are mounted in recessed bow ports ; two 

 are similarly placed in quarter ports, and two are on 

 the superstructure deck in broadside. The engines are 

 of the vertical triple-expansion type. The protection 

 of the " Maine " consists of an armor-belt 180 feet long 

 and 11 inches thick ; the two forward ends are joined 

 by a 6-inch armored athwartship bulkhead. Above 

 th*e belt and below turret, oval redoubts carrying 

 10-inch armor protect turret-bases, loading-tubes, ma- 

 chinery, etc. ; the turret-armor varies from 10'5 inches 

 to ll'o inches in thickness. The conning-tower is 10 

 inches thick, and a 4'5-inch tube runs down from it 

 to the protective deck. The armored deck is 2 inches 

 thick, except on the slope at the alter end of the belt, 

 where it is 4 baches. 



The " Texas " is an armored battle-ship building 

 at the Norfolk Navy-Yard on designs by William 

 John, of England, submitted in competition in reply 

 to proposals issued by the Navy Department. The 

 material for its construction is "now being received. 

 The 12-inch guns are mounted singly in turrets placed 

 en echelon on the upper deck. Four 6-inch guns are 

 mounted on the lower deck, and two on the upper 

 deck, near the 12-inch guns. The engines, driving 

 twin screws, are triple expansion. For defense, the 

 vessel has a water-line belt of 12-inch steel armor in 

 wake of magazines, engines, and boilers. The ends are 

 connected by ath wart-ship <> -shaped, 6-inch armored 

 bulkheads. An armored redoubt runs diagonally 

 across the vessel on the main deck, inclosing and pro- 

 tecting bases of turrets and their macliinery ; this, as 

 well as the turret and conning-tower, carries 12-inch 

 armor. The ammunition-tubes and the tube from 

 conning-tower down to protective deck carry 6-inch 

 and 3-inch armor, respectively. The protective deck, 

 3 inches thick, covers the armor-belt and curves down 

 forward and abaft it to stem and stern. 



The Coast-Defense Vessel Xo. 1 is a formidable 

 low free board, barbette, twin-screw vessel. The 

 main battery assigned consists of one 16-inch 110-ton 

 breach- loader in forward barbette ; one 12-inch in 

 after barbette ; one 15-inch pneumatic dynamite-gun 

 in bow : and six 33-pounder rapid-fire guns mounted 

 on the light superstructure that joins the barbettes. 

 The protection consists of an armor-belt extending 

 the entire length of the vessel, sixteen inches thick 

 along vital parts, reduced to six inches at the extremi- 



