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ah 8 | MARINE REVIEW. Our Ship Builders. FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY OF NAVAL AROHITECTS AND MARINE HNGINEERS--INTERESTING PROFESSIONAL PAPERS--STIRRING AD- DRESS BY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, THEODORE ROOSEVELT. New York, Nov, 12--The fifth annual meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, which concluded with a banquet at Delmonico's this evening, was well attended and in all respects a successful gathering. Through the courtesy of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the meetings were again held in the quarters of that organiza- tion, No. 12 West Thirty-first street, the sessions continuing through Thursday and Friday. In the absence of the president, Clement A. Gris- com, one of the vice-presidents, Charles H. Cramp, of Philadelphia, called the meeting to order and Mr. John C. Kafer of New York was made chairman. The first act of the society was the adoption of resolutions thanking the British Institution of Naval Architects for the hospitality lavished on delegates from this country who attended the International Congress of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held in England in July last in connection with the celebrations attending the diamond jubilee of the queen's reign. It was agreed that a suitably engrossed copy of the resolutions should be sent to the British institution through its president, the Earl of Hopetoun. Another resolution expressing the society's ap- preciation of the chivalrous character and knightly loyalty of the late. Admiral Richard W, Meade, who was a vice-president of the society,. was adopted by a standing silent vote. Of the late Admiral Meade the resolu- tion said:. "He had brilliantly filled all positions in the navy with honor and ever aimed with jealous tenacity to defend, afloat and ashore, the honor and dignity of the land. He honored us by acting as one of the vice-presi- dents of this society, and had, both through written articles and executive talent, done much to advance the development. of the science of naval archi- tecture and its interests." _ Quite a large number of active, associate and junior members were taken into the society by a unanimous vote, and new officers were then elected for the ensuing year. Clement A. Griscom of Philadelphia was re-elected president. Commodore Bunce of the. United States navy was _ chosen to succeed Admiral Meade in the list of vice-presidents. Gen. T. W. Hyde and E, A. Stevens were elected vice-presidents. W.M. Mc- Farland and C. H. Peabody were added to the council, and Francis T. Bowles was re-elected secretary.and treasurer. In accordance with these changes, the list of new officers is as follows: President, Clement A. Griscom; secretary-treasurer, Francis T. Bowles, U. S..Navy, No. 12 West Thirty-first street, New York; vice-presidents, F, M. Bunce, Charles H. Cramp, Philip Hichborn, Charles H. Loring, T. W. Hyde, William H. Webb, George W. Melville, George W. Quintard, Irving... Scott, E. A. Stevens 'arid Frank L. Fernald; members and associate members of the council, Francis T, Bowles, French E. Chadwick, Washington L. .Capps, James E. Denton, William. F.. Durand, Edward Farmer, H. T. Ganse, Nathaniel G. Herreshoff, William H. Jacques, John C. Kafer, Frank -B. King, Frank E. Kirby, W. M, McFarland, Jacob W. Muller, Lewis' Nixon, - John F. Pankhurst, C. H. Peabody, Harrington Putnam, William T. parison Horace See, E. Platt Stratton, Stevenson Taylor and George E. eed. < <aus 7 an 3 _ The papers, extracts from'some of which have already appeared in the Review, were all at hand excepting that of Edwin S. Cramp of Philadel-. phia--"Performance of Scotch Boilers and their Durability under Forced Draught." Mr. Cramp was unavoidably absent and was also unable to - prepare the paper that was expected from him. At two sessions.on Thurs- - day, the papers were as follows: "Watertight Bulkhead Doors--Long-Arm - System on the U. S. S. Chicago," by Wm. Barnum Cowles, Esq., member; "Regulations for Loading Vessels," by Lewis Nixon, Esq., member; "Torpedo Boat Design," by Ass't Naval Constructor H. G. Gillmor, U. S. Navy, associate; "The Commerce of the. Great Lakes," by C. E. Wheeler, Esq., member; "Progressive Trials of the Guardian," by Prof. C. H. Pea- body, member; "An Expérimental Study of the Influence of Surface upon the Performance of Screw Propellors," by Prof. W, F. Durand, member. When the paper on "Torpedo Boat Design," by Asst. Naval Con- structor H. G. Gillmor was under discussion, Mr. A. F. Yarrow, head of - the firm of Yarrow & Co., English torpedo boat builders, who was present,: addressed the society upon request of the chair. He said: "We have great difficulty in arriving at a conclusion as to the value or- capacity of torpédo boats, on account of the absence of a definite standard and the difference in conditions under which trials and tests have been made. In the development of the ideal torpedo boat in the various points of - construction, there is no doubt but we have found water. tube boilers to be superior to the locomotive boiler. It is also a fact that the elastic -por- tions of boats should not be joined directly to the hard plates, but that the change from rigidity to elasticity should be gradual in order to obtain the best results." Mr. Yarrow said that a torpedo boat built by his firm for the Chilian navy crossed the ocean, a distance of 11,Juu miles, under her own steam, without replenishing her coal bunkers. The trial test of the boat.for the government was made two days after her arrival in a Chilian port,. before her boiler was cleaned. She-stood the test in a most' satis- factory manner. -He thought a little speed might be 'sacrificed 'to safety by increasing the thickness of the shell to:¥4 inch: which would be suffici-' ent to resist rifle bullets. The shell at present, he said, is usually about 3-16 of an inch. To increase it to %4 inch would cause the boat to lose a half knot or perhaps a knot an hour. He was not altogether sure, he said, that a little additional speed was worth the cost of securing it. It in- creased the cost of a torpedo boat 50 per cent. to make the speed 30 knots an hour instead of 27 knots; or in other words, three boats of 27 knots speed can be built for. what it will cost to build two that will go 30 knots an hour. The society showed its appreciation of Mr. Yarrow's presence by gener- ously applauding him when he rose to speak, a distinction shown to no other speaker during the day. Col. E. A. Stevens was accorded the honor of presiding at the opening of the sessions for the reading of papers on Friday. The attendance was somewhat larger than on Thursday, several. members. having arrived too late to take part in the first day's proceedings. The papets were as follows: "Some Notes on the Speed Trials and Experience in Commis- sion of our New Battleships," by Chief Constructor Philip Hichborn, WS. Navy, vice-president; 'Use of Water Ballast for Colliers mn the Pacific Coast Trade," by Wm. P» Frear, -Esq., member; "Estimated Weights of Machinery," by Prof. Geo. R. McDermott, member; "Navy Yard Ex- penses," by Naval Constructor W. J. Baxter, U. S. Navy, member; Pneu- matic Steering Gear as Applied to the U. S. Monitor Terror," by H. A. Spiller, Esq., member. OUR 10,000-TON BATTLESHIPS. Chief constructor Hichborn's notes were about the four battleships of over 10,000 tons now in commission. 'lnese are the Indiana, Massa- chusetts, Oregon and Iowa. The first three named are of the same class, and the first two, being by the same builder, are practically identical. The vessels are all practically of 10,250 tons displacement and 24 feet draft. The indicated horse power and speed, as reported from speed trials, are: Indiana, 9,738 I..H. P. and 15.55 knots; Massachusetts, 10,403 and 16.20; Oregon, 11,111 and 16.79; Iowa 12,105 and 17.09. i "The predominant opinion among our naval officers who have had experience with these vessels," says the chief constructor, "1s that a trial speed of 16 knots is sufficient for our battleships under present conditions, and will not need to be materially increased until foreign battleships prom- ise greater speeds than they now reach, and that the policy which the navy department has followed from the first with these battleships, name'y, to give them offensive and defensive power sufficient to enable them to cope with those of any foreign country, without insisting on giving them the speed or carrying the amount of coal and supplies which the circumstances of various foreign navies render desirable, thus making our ships mate- rially smaller and less costly than they would otherwise require to be, is correct. J do not wish to be understood as stating that our battleships are perfect, or that in our experience with them so far there have not been troubles and difficulties and minor accidents of various kinds. It should be remembered, however, that these were the first battleships designed or built for our navy, and I do not hesitate to sta'e that they are vessels con- cerning which no one who has any connection with them has cause to be ashamed. I may mention as perhaps the most serious accident which has occurred on any of these vessels, the breaking adrift of the unbalanced forward turret of the Indiana in a very heavy gale about a year ago. The revolving weight of this turret is about 489 tons, and its center of gravity is about 3% feet from the axis of rotation. The conditions and circum- stances were stich as to call for the display, in the highest degree, of what the builder of the Indiana has characterized as 'battleship seamanship,' and I believe the difficulties on that occasion were grappled with and overcome promptly and fearlessly. "The behavior at sea of the Indiana class has been all that could be expected, from vessels of that type. Owing to their comparatively low freeboard, they are wet in heavy weather, but they have rarely encountered weather conditions sufficient to interfere with the manipulation of their guns. As a general rule, they have been remarkably steady, but, as was to be expected, there are possible conditions of sea which make them roll heavily. They were originally designed to have bilge keels--the value of bilge keels to check heavy rolling being well known; but when it be- came evident that docks adequate to take in the vessels with bilge keels ~ would not be completed as soon as the vessels, it became necessary to leave the bilge keels off. Experience at sea demonstrated, as was to be expected, the desirability of these appliances. They have already been fitted on the Massachusetts, and will be fitted on the other vessels of the class at the earliest opportunity. The Indiana would have had them before _ this date but for the unfortunate breaking down of dry dock No. 3 at New York. As illustrating the behavior of the Massachusetts at sea, I may quote from the report of her commanding officer, on a trin from Boston to St. Johns. During this trip the Massachusetts passed within 250 miles of the center of a cyclone, encountering a wind wh'ch reached the force of ten on the Beaufort scale, and was accompanied by a very heavy sea. The vessel slowed down during the height of the storm, and her com- manding officer reports as follows: 'During this time the ship behaved beautifully, never making less than six knots per hour, nearly on her course, and never rolling over five degrees. Her steadiness was so re- markable during the whole passage that it must be, in a great measure, attributed to the bilge keels.' One feature of the Indiana class, as regards which they have been markedly successful, is their steering. Turning trials of the Indiana, made Feb. 24, 1896, showed a tactical diameter of but three times the length of the ship, an exceptionally small value. Her mancetvering qualities and steadiness on a course are all that could be _ expected from a short, broad, comparatively shallow vessel." ASSISTANT SECRETARY ROOSEVELT'S ADDRESS. About 100 members and guests wer present at the annual dinner at Delmonico's. Col. E. A. Stevens was the toast-master and at the guests table were Assistant Secretary of the Navv Theodore Roosevelt, A. F, Yarrow, Cant. J. W. Muller of the naval reserves. Louis Nixon. V. N. Haywood, Prof. W. F. Durand, W, H. Webb, Capt. Mertage, Russian naval attache, Congressman Belford, Harrington Peckham and E. Platt Stratton. The dinner was served in the main dining room which was lavy- ishly decorated with American flags. Assistant Secretary Roosevelt indi- cated at the beginning of his address that, although the present heads of the navy department will do all in their power to secure appropriations from the present congress for more ships, their first thought will be of dry docks. "We are confronted at present," Mr. Roosevelt said, "with the fact that the development so far has not been entirely symmetrical. The building of our warships has outstripped not only the building of dry docks. but even the gathering of a suitable quantity of projectiles, and es- pecially of powder. Secretary Long has from the beginning shaped the ' policy of the department with a view to remedying these needs, so that, while the addition of new ships to the navy is not discontinued, yet existing deficiencies may be made good. as otherwise the ships will be useless. We need a large increase in the force both of officers and of enlisted men; but - the most crying need of the navy at the moment is the need of first-class dry docks. Next comes the need for an ample quantity of smokeless powder and projectiles. We cannot get the best results with our excellent guns if we do not have the proner ammunition to put in them, and at present the supply of smokeless powder is insignificant." Referring to the memorial of the New York chamber of commerce _ dsking congress and the president for more batteries for the protection