482 



NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



contract for the construction of the " Iowa " was 

 awarded on Jan. 11, 1893, to the William Cramp 

 Shipbuilding and Engine Company, at their bid 

 of $3,010,000, on the plans furnished by the 

 Navy Department. 



The armored cruiser " Brooklyn," while simi- 

 lar in a general way to the " New York," differs 

 in several respects. She is about 1,000 tons 

 larger ; the freeboard at the bow has been in- 

 creased about 8 feet by raising the deck forward 

 to the level of the superstructure, as in the 

 " Iowa '' ; the armor has been slightly diminished 

 in thickness and increased in extent ; the battery 

 has been heavily increased, as has the coal 

 supply at load draught. The dimensions and 

 other details are as follow: Displacement, 9,150 

 tons ; length on load water line, 400 feet 6 inches ; 

 beam, 64 feet ; mean draught at load displace- 

 ment, 24 feet; freeboard at bow, 29 feet 10 

 inches; at stern, 21 feet 4 inches; total coal 

 capacity, 1,650 tons, at load draught 900 tons; 

 speed to average not less than 20 knots during a 

 four-hour run, with the usual premiums for ex- 

 cess. The engines are triple expansion, of about 

 16,000 maximum horse power. The protective 

 deck will be 6 inches thick on the slopes amid- 

 ships ; an armor belt, 8 feet wide and 3 inches 

 thick, will extend along the water line abreast 

 the machinery and boilers ; behind this armor 

 belt, extending forward and aft the whole length 

 of the ship, will be a thick belt of cellulose, and 

 behind this, still amidships, will be the upper 

 coal-bunkers ; the armor on the conning tower 

 will be not less than 71 inches, and on its com- 

 munication tube not less than 5 inches; the 

 armor on the 8-inch gun barbettes will be not 

 less than 8 inches, and on the turrets 5^ inches ; 

 on fixed shields of 5-inch guns, 4 inches ; and on 

 splinter bulkheads 1| inch. The battery of 

 the " Brooklyn " consists of 8 8-inch breech-load- 

 ing rifled guns, 12 5-inch rapid-fire guns, 12 6- 

 pounder rapid-fire guns, 4 1-pounder rapid-fire 

 guns, 4 machine guns, and 2 light field pieces. 

 The 8-inch guns will be mounted in pairs in 4 

 barbette turrets one forward and one aft, and 

 one on each side amidships ; the 5-inch guns will 

 be mounted in sponsons. There will be 5 tor- 

 pedo tubes. 



The bid of the William Cramp Shipbuilding 

 and Engine Company of $2,986,000 for the con- 

 struction of the vessel on the plans approved 

 and furnished by the Navy Department, was 

 accepted on Jan. 11, 1893, and the work will be 

 undertaken at once. 



(inns. There has been no change in the sys- 

 tem of constructing heavy guns, but the in- 

 creased length of the pieces, and the use of 

 smokeless powders in which the pressure is 

 longer sustained, have caused modifications of 

 the design in the way of increasing the strength 

 and stiffness along the chase, particularly in the 

 larger calibers. The capacity of the gun factory 

 is such that all the guns needed for the new 

 ships will be ready some time before the ships 

 are far enough advanced to receive them. 

 Eighty-three guns of the following calibers were 

 completed in the year ending Nov. 1, 1892 : 28 

 4-inch, 11 5-inch, 18 6-inch, 4 8-inch, 17 10-inch, 

 and 5 12-inch. There were in hand at that date, 

 partly completed : 32 4-inch, 31 5-inch, 12 8- 

 inch, 1 12-inch, and 1 13-inch. 



The very excellent qualities of nickel-steel have 

 caused attention to be drawn to its probable value 

 for gun construction, and it is likely that it 

 will be adopted by the Ordnance Bureau for all 

 future work. Nickel-steel forgings for guns have 

 already been ordered. 



Smokeless Powder. The results of the ex- 

 periments with the new Navy smokeless powder 

 are particularly gratifying. This powder has a 

 gun-cotton base, and the tests show it to be supe- 

 rior to any powder so far produced either at home 

 or abroad. The facts that it was unaffected by 

 long-continued exposure to heat or cold (within 

 ranges considerably beyond any possible atmos- 

 pheric temperatures), that it was uninjured by 

 moisture, even by boiling in water, and that it 

 was exceedingly safe to handle, were mentioned 

 in the article on the Navy in the " Annual Cyclo- 

 paedia " for 1891. Further tests and experiments 

 confirm these conclusions. It is now manufac- 

 tured for calibers up to 6 inches, and the use will 

 be extended to the larger calibers as soon as prac- 

 ticable. The latest results of firing tests are : 

 With a 6-inch gun, charge 26 pounds, muzzle ve- 

 locity 2,469 feet a second, pressure in gun 13-9 

 tons to the square inch ; in a 5-inch gun, charge 

 13'4 pounds, muzzle velocity 2,578 feet a second, 

 pressure in gun 15'6 tons. The ordinary service 

 charge of brown powder gives a muzzle velocity 

 of only 2,100 feet a second, with a pressure in the 

 gun of 14 tons to the square inch. In referring 

 to the tabulated report of these tests, Commodore 

 Folger, chief of ordnance of the navy, says : " A 

 comparison of these results with those published 

 as obtained abroad (giving due weight to the dif- 

 ferent lengths of bore and weight of projectile) 

 shows the marked superiority of the American 

 smokeless powder, which gives higher and more 

 regular velocities with much lower and more uni- 

 form pressures." 



Torpedoes. A few each of Whitehead and 

 Howell torpedoes have been delivered and tested. 

 The latter are not quite satisfactory in point of 

 speed, but experiments now being made indicate 

 that this difficulty will soon be overcome. 



Submarine Gnn. A gun of this type, mount- 

 ed on board the " Destroyer," was tested in the 

 spring of 1892, and the excellent results show 

 the great importance of this weapon. 



Submarine Boat. No satisfactory submarine 

 boat has yet been constructed. The most promis- 

 ing of recent efforts is that of Mr. Baker, of De- 

 troit. Several fairly successful trials have been 

 made, and, after some changes have been com- 

 pleted, further experiments will be had. 



High Explosives. Recent experiments with 

 gun-cotton and emmensite have demonstrated the 

 value of these high explosives for naval use. 

 Their employment as bursting charges in armor- 

 piercing and certain other forms of shell is ex- 

 pected in the near future. 



Armor. The greatest advance of the year 

 has, perhaps, been in the development of armor. 

 All armor for our naval vessels except the first 

 few deliveries will be of nickel steel, supercar- 

 bonized and surface-hardened by the Harvey pro- 

 cess. The decisive victory of" the nickel-steel 

 plate at Annapolis over its rivals has been re- 

 peated this year by the Harvey nickel-steel plate 

 tested in Russia in competition with English and 

 French plates of the most recent make, nickel 



