A- 



[Entered at the Posi-Offlce of Xew Ynik, N. V., as Secoiul-C'lass Walter.] 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Sevknth Year. 

 Vol. XIII. No. 321. 



NEW YORK., March 2g, t5 



Single Copies, Ten Cents. 

 ^3.50 Per Year, in Advance. 



THE SUBMERGING MONITOR CRUISER. 



The calls for models and designs of battle-ships and other war- 

 vessels issued at various times by the Navy Department have re- 

 sulted in the collection of many valuable plans and much data that 

 will tend toward the construction of a navy of which the country 

 may justly feel proud. Among the designs submitted that possess 

 some novel features is that of Hon. J. R. Thomas, United States 

 Representative from Illinois. It is intended in this vessel to com- 



This cruiser is 235 feet in length, with a beam of 55 feet. She 

 displaces 3,030 tons on a draught of 14* feet. One great point to 

 be observed by war-vessels intended for service on our coast is 

 that of keeping the draught as small as possible, in order to insure 

 the entry of these vessels into our ports on the south-eastern sea- 

 board and the Gulf coast, many of which are so shallow that the 

 heavy class of armored vessels at present afloat cannot enter. In 

 this vessel the trouble has been overcome in a very great measure 

 by keeping her draught inside of 15 feet. Her 7,500 horse-power 



THE SUBMERGING MONITOR CRUISER. 



bine large powers of offence and defence on as small an amount of 

 displacement as is possible, recognizing that the efficiency of an 

 armored vessel intended for ocean or coast purposes is to be 

 measured by the disposition and character of her armament, the 

 ability to use it in all reasonable weather, the protection afforded 

 by the armor, the rate of speed both going ahead and turning, her 

 cruising capacity without recoaling, and her habitability. 



promises a speed of 17 knots, which may quite possibly be increased 

 before the final plans are approved. The main battery consists of 

 two lo-inch breech-loading rifles mounted in a turret, armored 

 with 10 inches of steel plating. There is, in addition, a 15-inch 

 Zalinski dynamite gun capable of throwing Soo pounds of high ex- 

 plosive at any distance within a range of two miles. There are 

 two under-water bow torpedo-tubes, and a 6-inch rapid-fire gun on 



