NAVY, UNITED STATES. 



G13 



shaft rests on an immense cast-iron step, pro- 

 vided with a wrought-iron key, and a composi- 

 tion seat or base upon which this is to advance : 

 the key being driven, the ways on which the 

 turret revolves are thus relieved of a portion 

 of its weight. Besides the blowing engines, and 

 the auxiliary ones for moving the turret, &c., 

 the vessel is propelled by the engines used in 

 her when a wooden frigate 2 trunk engines, 

 with 80-inch cylinders, and 36 to 42 inches 

 stroke ; the whole are supplied with 4 Martin's 

 boilers and a large auxiliary or donkey boiler. 

 The battery of the Roanoke consists of for- 

 ward turret, 1 15-inch smooth-bore gun and 1 

 250-pdr. rifle gun ; middle turret, 1 11-inch 

 and 1 15-inch smooth-bore gun ; after turret, 1 

 15-inch and 1 200-pdr. rifle gun. This is said 

 to be the heaviest battery ever yet put together 

 on a single ship. 



The Roanoke's bow is also furnished with a 

 powerful ram. To form this, the forward 

 plates project some feet beyond the stem, and 

 farthest at about the water line. At the extrem- 

 ity, a solid piece of iron is inserted and firmly 

 secured between the plates projecting from 

 the two sides; and the angular space between 

 this and the bow proper is filled in with solid 

 timbers firmly bolted together. The Roanoke, 

 now armed, is said to be as yet the most impreg- 

 nable and formidable vessel of the navy. She 

 is expected about the 20th of April, 1863, to 

 take her position off the Narrows, as the per- 

 manent guardship of New York harbor. 



The KeokiLk. This vessel, also named, from 

 Mr. 0. W. Whitney, her constructor, Whit- 

 ney's Battery, was built in New York. The 

 Keokuk is a two-turret ram, length 159 ft. 6 in., 

 breadth 36 ft., depth of hold 13 ft. 6 in., draught 

 9 ft. Her hull is of |-inch rolled plates, the 

 sides, above the water, sloping in at an angle of 

 37, to prevent a square hit by the enemy's shot. 

 The sloping sides, and the deck higher at the 

 middle of its length, in this and a few other 

 iron-clads of similar form above water, have 

 gained for them the name of " turtles." "With- 

 out going into all details of construction, it 

 may be said that the peculiarity of the Keo- 

 kuk's side armor consists in its being formed 

 of alternating bars of iron and strips of yellow 

 pine, each 4 inches thick by 1 wide, over the 

 whole of which there are applied 2 contin- 

 uous -inch plates: it is claimed that this ar- 

 rangement will give the strength of 5 inches 

 of iron, without its full weight. The turrets 

 do not revolve. Each is to contain an 11 -inch 

 gun, which is to be turned, as required, to 

 different portholes. The turret armor is con- 

 structed like that of the sides, its total thick- 

 ness being o| inches; but the turrets, also, are 

 sloping, being 20 ft. in diameter at base, 8 ft. 

 8 inches high, and 14 feet at top. A strongly- 

 made ram, 10 ft. broad at the hull. 3i inches 

 thick at the front and foot, and 5 feet long, 

 projects from the bow. By means of bulk- 

 heads, water-tight compartments are formed 

 within. These can be filled in 15 minutes 



when it is desirable to depress the vessel in 

 the water during an action, and emptied again 

 by the pumps in 40 minutes. The Keokuk 

 has two engines, each of 250 horse power, and 

 two propeller screws, by means of which she 

 can be manoeuvred with great facility. In the 

 action at Charleston, occurring since the above 

 was prepared, the Keokuk was struck by 90 

 shots : of these, 5 went through the after tur- 

 ret, 3 through the forward one, 7 through the 

 smokestack, and several through the side ar- 

 mor, some near the water line. One Whitworth 

 steel-pointed shot remained sticking in the 

 wall of the after turret. The vessel sank the 

 next morning, and was to be blown up. 



The Jjunderlerg. This, intended to be a 

 highly impregnable and, in all respects, formi- 

 dable iron-clad war vessel, is now building, 

 after plans designed by Mr. W. H. Webb, and 

 at his shipyard, New York. Her extreme 

 length will be 378 ft,, breadth 68 ft,, depth of 

 hold from the main deck 23 ft,, tonnage 7,000, 

 and she will be propelled by engines of 5,000 

 horse-power. The bow of this vessel, for a 

 length of 56 ft., will be a solid mass of timber, 

 and the frame and decks, in fact, the remainder 

 of the hull throughout, will be constructed of 

 an almost incredible weight of timber of the 

 largest size, and braced within with iron bars 

 diagonally crossing each other, of dimensions 

 of 6 by I inches. The sides proper of the ves- 

 sel, 2 ft. thick, are strengthened by an addi- 

 tional 2 ft. of timbers without. Before apply- 

 ing the armor, a projecting angle or " hip " is 

 built on over the 4 feet of wood already men- 

 tioned, and entirely round the vessel, the 

 greatest thickness occurring at the level of the 

 main deck, and being there 7 ft. in all : from 

 this level the hip slopes in at an angle of 58 

 with the vertical, until it terminates at the 

 sides, about 6 ft. below water line. This slop- 

 ing portion is completely coved with armor, of 

 course set at the angle just named. Upon the 

 main deck, for 170 ft. in the middle part of the 

 vessel's length, a casemate of long octagonal 

 form is built up, its sides sloping upward and 

 inward at an angle of 47. This, so far as it 

 extends along the deck at the sides, forms a 

 single angle with the slope of the sides be- 

 low ; and it rises by its entire height 7 ft 

 6 in. in the clear above the level of the deck 

 at bow and stern. The sides and ends of this 

 casemate are plated in the same manner as the 

 sides of the hull, with 44-inch solid plates. 

 The deck plating and that upon the casemate 

 roof is of f-inch plates. The total weight of 

 armor will be about 1,200 tons. The main 

 deck, and so the hip, is at 6 ft, above the 

 water line. Upon the casemate roof will be 

 erected two revolving turrets of great strength, 

 and each to contain two guns of the heaviest 

 caliber. There will also be at least 10 large 

 guns in the casemate, the port sills being 8 ft. 

 above the water line. There will be two rud- 

 ders, so that in case one becomes disabled the 

 other can be used ; and both the rudders, along 



