THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MAY 15, 1898. 19 OUR NAVY AND THE KINDS OF VESSELS THAT ARE FIGHTING FOR US. READ THIS AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THE DIFFER- ENCES BETWEEN BATTLE-SHIPS, CRUISERS, MONITORS AND THE "UNTRIED WON- DERS" OF THE SEA. warships, are is a in spite fam- battle-ship rarely displaces less than tion of somewhat flexible. question, of the We may find a battle-ship like 12,- iliarityof the public with the tech- 10,000 tons, and in some foreign navies the the displacement runs up to nearly 16,- 320-ton Yashima (Japanese), with a nical phraseology of the warship, understood by trial speed of 19*4 knots. On the other average 000 tons. This will be view, hand, whether the reader has a reference to the perspective we see cruisers like the Viscaya very accurate idea of the distinc- the armored portions of the ship (Spanish), with a 12-inch belt and car- IT where shading, rying heavy guns of tions between the various of are by fulllines and 11-inch caliber. classes indicated battle-ship ships and between the various ele- the ordinary shell plating being dotted. The and the cruiser of a
A battle-ship, as we have already- home port; and, finally, she must be draught gunboats authorized in 1893. shown, is essentially a fighting ma- armed with a powerful battery of me- The ship was specially designed for chine, and when the designer haa given dium caliber guns, to enable her to service on the rivers of China, and was her sufficient structural and armored fight ships of her own class. originally intended for the Asiatic sta- protection to enable her to take her The earlier ships of our navy were tion. With a beam of 40 feet she place in the first line of battle, his next entirely of the cruiser class, and at draws only 9 feet of water. Sha is object is to arm her with as many ar- the present time these ships consti- driven by twin-screw engines of 1988 mor-piercing and rapid-fire guns as the tute the most numerous portion of our indicated horsepower and her twin limits of her displacement will allow. fleets. screws, coupled with her large rudder Judged by this double standard, the In- The monitors of our navy form a area, give her excellent turning power, diana is without a rival; for it is a fact early and a valuable feature in river work. connecting link between the was being which has never been disputed that she systems warship con- While the boat planned a later of armored Japanese happened to see carries the heaviest armament of any struction. They embody in the original officer the ship afloat to-day. This preponderance design the lessons which had been designs, and he suggested the utility of power is due to the eight 8-inch guns learned in the naval operations of the of a conning tower of sufficient eleva- which are carried in four turrets flank- War, and, their name implies, tion to overlook the banks of the Yel- Civil as low China, Yang-tse- ing the two turrets of the 13-inch guns. they are modeled after the plan of River of the They are an entirely novel feature in Ericsson's famous Monitor. The chief Kiang. These banks are so high that battle-ship design, may be called they exclude the view of the country and characteristics of this style of ship are ordinary ship's the chief distinctive feature of this moderate speed, low freeboard, from those on an deck. ship. accepted type battle-ship mak- The Navy Department acted on tho The of ing them a difficult object to hit, thick carries usually a main battery of four hint. guns turrets, armor, and an armament of a few ex- heavy disposed in two ceptionally heavy guns. Sitting low in One of the earliest successful at- fore and aft, supplemented by a broad- tempts to make use of the torpedo- the water, they are not suited for work in naval side secondary battery- of 5 or 6 inch high seas, their sphere boat warfare occurred in tho guns, the first being capable of piercing on the and of Civil War, when the Housatonic was armor and the latter being used against operations lies within sheltered wat- sunk by a rebel craft, which paid for ers, such as are found in our bays and its own the lightly armored or unarmored por- sphere its daring with destruction, be- tions of the enemy. harbors. This is their proper ing sucked into the -hastly hole which action, to to man- Thus the Camperdown of the British of and enable them it had torn in the man-of-war. This euver in shoal waters they have as lit- was one the lessuns of navy, a ship of the same size as the In- draught possible. of the Civil diana, tle as War which "was laid to heart by tha and less effectively protected, Strictly speaking, they floating guns are European nations, and out of this and carries four 67-ton of about the batteries, and as they are in- same power as the heavy guns of the such later successful tests of the torpedo secondary tended to co-operate with the land has sprung that vast fleet of miniature American ship and a battery batteries of our But of six 6-inch guns. Against this the In- In defense coasts. craft which forms such a formidable though the monitor is designed especi- feature of the equipment of the navies diana carries in addition to her main defense, secondary eight B- ally for harbor it would be of the world. The earlier boats wero ENGINE and batteries the quite taking INDIANA, SAID TO BE THE FINEST FIGHTING OFLOOT inch armor-piercing guns above men- capable of part in a fleet what is known as spar torpedo-boats, FORWARD TURRET OF THE BATTLE-SHIP — action off the coast in ordinary from the fact that the torpedo was car- «;• «»»»>• a preponderance power navy same mutual re- OQUS. XT. nets great uucusivc pu»> tioned of ments from the combination of which the ship lying below the water line is modern hold the which should give her the victory in a weather. ried at the end of a long spar whicti of steel lation as the three-decker and the swift equally great powers of resistance. By most unique ship in our these ships derive their distinctive shut in by a continuous roof : only one great naval naval duel. far the projected forward from the bow of tho which is three inches in thickness for- frigate in the days of the Bailing ship. There has been navy, and, indeed, the only craft of its boat, the torpedo exnloding by con- ciass characteristics. set days fight warships— the The cruisers are the light cavalry of Over When a fleet sail in the olden between modern world, \u25a0 a bat- ward and aft of the bulkheads. Yalu, Japanese navy. As name implies, kind in the is the armored ram tact. He is told that the Indiana is the central armored citadel it is two to find the enemy and bring him to bat- battle of the —-between the their Katahdin. The ram as a weapon of Then came the automobile Whitehead tle-ship, the Brooklyn an armored Allthe tle upon the high seas, the heavy and and Chinese fleets and the :most, by their duty is to cruise the seas, keep- and three-quarter inches thick. ships far the most, important fact developed ing enemy's naval warfare is one of the most an- torpedo, with its ability when once dis- cruiser, the Columbia a protected plating indicated by dotted lines might somewhat slow line-of-battle in touch with the fleets cient of which we have any recorded charged to run (JOO or 800 yards of its away kept together in a methodical forma- by that engagement was the correct- and acting as the "eyes" of the llne- cruiser, and the Puritan a monitor. be shot without the 'vitals" suf- upon which history. It was used with deadly ef- own accord. The size and speed of the only a fering injury or the ship being sunk. tion, while the fr'~ates cruised at a dis- ness of the theories mod- cf-battle ships. They are also intend- naval fights of Greece torpedo boat were rapidly increased, But it is probable that he has miles, where they ern battle-ships are designed.. The ed duty of attacking fect in the and vague what qualities it is The reader will see that it is its loftier tance of several could for the double an Rome, and in later times, as at Lissa especially the latter, and the impor- idea as to report the first appearance of the en- brunt of the Japanese attack fell upon enemy's commerce and defending distinction, or why sides and the extra deck and freeboard battle-ships, that and during our own Civil War, it tance of this method of attack that mark the the provide which constitute emy and signal to the main fleet his two somewhat antiquated of the country whose flag they carry- instantly recognized. exist at all. which they Yuen, and for proved a terrible engine of destruction. was The torpedo distinction should need to practically the difference between a position and maneuvers. When the the Ting Yuen and Chen Fleets of merchant vessels or of trans- ram as to boat of twenty-five years ago with its diagrams a perspective main brought within several hours the swift Japanese ;-cruis- port ships will "convoyed" by The value of the attached These and battle-ship and a monitor. fleet had been grim ships be cruis- the huge and swiftly moving warships spar torpedo, was a diminutive affair, drawing which show the constructive striking distance, the brunt of the bat- ers circled around these two ers from port to port. Upon the cruis- having a speed only or This brings us to the consideration war, pouring in a perfect of modern navies has yet to be de- of twelve thir- of types of war- away from tle fell upon the three-deckers. of hail of er will devolve the duty of hunting termined, many teen knots. features the several of the monitor type. Take rapid-fire shells, with occasional shells down, and authorities claim been prepared to answer battle-ship all that portion which is To-day the swift protected cruiser capturing or sinking the armed ship which uses the ram is In 1877, however, it had grown to ship have a will perform same the from their great 66-ton guns; yet the merchantmen, known as that the questions. shown in our drawing in dotted lines the duties for auxiliary liable to be only less badly strained have a length of from 85 to 100 4!eet and these heavily armored and more cumbrous two battle-ships came out of the fight cruisers, and the regular cruisers a speed of from eighteen to diagrams 1 to 3 the armor is in- above the water line; lower the bar- and big guns practi- of and shaken up by the shock than her twenty-one In only a battle-ships. When the attack takes with their armor the enemy, and she must be ready at knots. As the demand increased the by black lines or by shad- bettes until they rise few feet cally intact. The same deadly concen- opponent. dicated full the deck, and we have a place it willbe the battle-ships and ar- '< any time to make a dash at her top- Katahdin, however, was designed builders paid particular attention to re- ing, approximate thickness of the above steel tration of shell-fire would have sunk speed important The weight the ship of the general monitor type. The mored cruisers that willdecide the is- cruisers. the most with naval dis- for the express purpose of ramming, duction of- and increase of boiler armor being shown by the thickness of very sue. Hence the battle-ships will con- a whole fleet of Had Chi- patches. and engine efficiency, and in 1887 tha shading. monitor is distinguished by low nese battle-ships been manned by bet- and her hull has been constructed with the lines and the depth of the — in ex- stitute a nation's main line of offense these special requires her being to Ariete, built by Thornycroft for the represents freeboard only a tew inches the ter crews the Yalu would have had an- For duties she a view to able withstand The fine line the unarmored — a heavy and defense upon the sea. A cruiser a good high a ship Spanish Government, astonished the portions or ordinary plating of the treme type the absence of will engagement a battle- other ending. to be seaboat with free- the terrible wrench which that by running mile a speed the secondary battery and the possession —avoid with board adapted for steaming at a high runs its nose at full speed into a mov- world a at of ships. In the perspective view the ar- guns. ship it willbe no disgrace to her if she The new navy, of the United States is twenty-six knots an hour. Five years shading of a main armament of heavy in battle-ships. rate of speed in all weathers. She ing vessel is certain to suffer. mor is shown by full lines and in shows it a clean pair of heels, trusting relatively strong We powerful Vesuvius, later the Daring, a 220-ton boat, built Such a ship labors heavily bad safety; first-class ships must be furnished with en- The like the Katahdin, is and the ordinary ship plating by dotted ser- to h<=r great speed for for she have now twelve of this is only by Thornycroft for the British navy, weather and is not intended for hope pierce type built, building or gines, and her lines must be fair and a type of vessel that to be hour, lines. the coasts. could neither to the armor either author- fine; large coal navy. made 28.65 knots an and in 1595 sits down vice at any distance from resist great guns heavier Four, the Indiana, Massachusetts, she must have a sup- found in the United States She Sokol, by for Rus- When the naval architect seagoing vessel out of her nor the of the ized. enabling her to keep to the sea for was designed for carrying dynamite the built Yarrow the at his desk to design a warship of a To make a ship. Oregon and lowa, are in commission; ply, sian Government, passed the thirty it would be necessary to add one, or Kentucky Kearsarge, are lengthy periods; she must have ample guns of considerable range and enor- certain size he knows that there is one guns The battle-ship is built to fight. It two, the and crew, knot limit. is even two decks, placing the well designed object launched; three, the Alabama, Illinois berthing space for a numerous mous power, and it is upon these that torpedo element of the vessel which fixed is with this sole in to placed for her offensive power. The later boats are known. asi unalterable, is her dis- up above the water, after which view, prepared fight Wisconsin, are about half com- some of whom will have be she depends destroyers. They are large vessels and and that no longer moni- and it must be to and carry a one light- of placement. By displacement is meant changes she would be at any time, and ifneed be against big pleted, and three others are authorized. aboard her prizes to them to The Helena is of three 300 to 400 tons displacement and po