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16 - MARINE REVIEW. [November 30, NEW BUFFALO FIRE BOAT. THE HANDSOME STEEL OCORAFT FOR WHICH A CONTRAOT HAS JUST BEEN LET TO THE UNION DRY DOOK OO. OF BUFFALO. The general plan and midship section herewith reproduced give a very good idea of the new fire boat for the city of Buffalo, for the construc- tion of which the Union Dry Dock Co. of Buffalo, as the lowest bidder, recently received the contract at a figure slightly in excess of $90,000. This bid was some $16,000 in excess of the appropriation for the vessel, but the shortage was speedily provided and the work of construction will go for- ward at once. Some of the best fire fighting craft afloat are to be found in cities on the great lakes, and the new Buffalo vessel bids fair to rank with the finest of them. She will be built entirely of steel, without any woodwork whatever except for fenders and a little finishing inside the pilot house. The vessel will be 118 feet in length over all, 106 feet 2 inches length between perpendiculars, 24 feet molded beam and 12 feet 10 inches molded depth. She will be fitted with a double, high-pressure engine with cylin- ders of 20 inches diameter and 22 inches stroke, built for a working pres- sure of 140 pounds of steam per square inch. The pumps are to be three _ in number with steam cylinders 17 by 11 inches and water cylinders 10 inches in diameter and 11 inches:'stroke. Steam will be supplied from two Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers having a total heating surface of 3,700 square feet and a total grate surface of 112 square feet, built for 300 pounds of steam and with safety valve set at 225 pounds of steam, all to be according to the best practice of the Babcock & Wilcox Co. The hull is to be of steel with steel houses and everything in the way of equipment of the best quality. In addition to the usual plating, or skin covering the frames, there is to be a heavy water line belt of 34 inch in me me ee eae ee es ae ee a ee ee ee eK He 106*42-- --- = - -- -- a SC = ae a eH ee te - + = 077 = = COALING STATIONS FOR THE NAVY. KEYNOTE OF REAR-ADMIRAL BRADFORD'S REPORT--DIJFFIOULTIES ENCOUNTERED DURING THE WAR_WITH SPAIN. ANIA AVENUE, ESSENCES ENA ee CN Geena iat Rear Admiral Bradford, chief of the bureau of equipment, has just submitted his annual report to the secretary of the navy. Its keynote is a plea for more and better coaling stations. He relates the difficulties en- countered during the war with Spain in securing coal, transporting it and getting it aboard the ships. While these efforts were successful, the ad- miral says it was due almost entirely to the proximity of the theater of war to our own coast. Should a United States fleet have to act across the water it would have to encounter more difficulties than those encountered by Admiral Cervera. "Asa matter of fact," says Admiral Bradford, "it may be stated with- out fear of contradiction that at present it would be impossible for a United States fleet to carry on active operations during a war anywhere along the coast of Europe, Africa, a large portion of Asia and South America for want of coal. Not only was there a great drain on the stores and appliances supplied by the bureau during the war, but numerous and extensive repairs to all ships were necessary after its close. Repairs to 157 different ships were made during the war. "A total of 281,169 tons of coal, costing $1,679,510.55, or an average of $5.97 per ton, was purchased during the last fiscal year, as against 452,551 tons costing $2,122,005.28, an average of $4.68 per ton, during the fiscal year ended June 3, 1898. Of this amount 85,953 tons were purchased. abroad, costing $441,155.15 at an average of $5.13 per ton, as against 74,111 tons, costing $601,885.53, at an average of $8.12 per ton, during the pre- I 1@ a dael pr Ee Uae Man AI yo eg Sena Seer ge a) (PS BRE a ee Se er ee eee) INBOARD PLAN OF THE NEW BUFFALO FIREBOAT, BUILDING BY THE UNION DRY DOCK coO., BUFFALO, N. Y. thickness worked all round the vessel at the water line, for the further protection of the boat against the heavy ice, which is common in Buffalo harbor. This is in accordance with the experience of the fire com- missioners with the George R. Potter, another fire boat, which since being strengthened in this manner has been of much more service as an ice breaker with no expense for repairs. TRIAL OF THE VIPER. The torpedo boat destroyer Viper, successor of the Turbinia as an exponent of the practicability of the Parsons steam turbine for purposes of marine propulsion, appears to have met all the expectations of its builders, the Parsons Steam Turbine Co. of Wallsend-on-Tyne, Eng- land. A trial of the boat was made a few days ago in a rough sea. The first reports reaching this country were to the effect that the boat attained a speed of 87 knots (about 42 miles) but this is seemingly incorrect, as an official statement published later is to the effect that the vessel made 32 knots with three quarters of her power and that "85 or 37 knots are ex- pected from the utilization of full power.' The Viper is 215 feet in length, 21 feet beam, 12 feet depth and of 320 tons displacement. She is fitted with engines capable of developing between 10,000 and 12,000 horse power and was guaranteed to make 30 knots. Kevolutions of screws are estimat.d at 1,000 per minute. The Viper has four shafts with two screws to each shaft, and the turbine engines are so arranged that the vessel may go backward at a rate of 15 knots with four screws working. It is understood that as a result of the showing made on this trial Mr. Parsons, the designer, has decided to decrease the diameter of the screws and vary the pitch. He believes that by so doing it will be possible to secure additional speed. The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. which was recently incorporated by Clemént A. Griscom and others with an authorized capital of $10,000,- 000 will give special attention to the manufacture of instruments to be used for telegraphing between vessels at sea. Active operations are to be com- menced at once, and the manufactory will probably be located in the vicinity of New York city. The company will early make an effort to equip with wireless telegraph instruments the signal and life saving sta- tions along the coast, so that approaching vessels may be warned when fog and storm hide them and their lights. vious fiscal year. There were purchased at home during the fiscal year 195,216 tons of coal costing $1,238,355.40 at an average of $6.34 per ton, as against 378,437 tons costing $1,520,119.75, or at an average of $4.02 per ton during the previous year. 'The increased cost is explained that during the fiscal year of 1898 the greater part of the coal was transported by government colliers and was therefore on no cost to the bureau. During the past fiscal year but very little coal has been transported in this manner and the bureau has been obliged to charter ships for this purpose. Large amounts of coal have been forwarded to Manila and Honolulu from the Atlantic coast. The consumption at Manila is about 4,000 tons per month. The increased average cost of coal purchased during the fiscal year is due to a larger percentage of coal consumed at distant points where its cost is much greater than at or near home ports. During the year 50,789 tons of coal were shipped to Manila at an average cost of $8.84 per ton and 12,000 to Honolulu at $8.42 per ton. "In the opinion of the bureau the best coal is the cheapest. It is not alone a question of knots a ship can make per ton of coal: the preserva- tion of boilers, freedom from spontaneous combustion and the endurance of the fire room force are all to be considered in selecting the kind of coal to be used. The quality of coal cannot be determined by inspection--that is to say it may be apparent that it is bad and it may be bad without being apparent." According to Admiral Bradford the only safe method to insure a supply of really good coal is to deal with firms of high repute. In a chapter advocating the establishment. of coaling stations Admiral Bradford says: "At the breaking out of the Spanish-American war in 1898 there was but one foreign coal depot, viz., Honolulu, Hawaiian islands. Here the government possessed one dilapidated shed on rented ground with a capacity for 1,000 tons of coal. Efforts were made when it was foreseen that war was inevitable to procure coal depots in the West Indies. In this the bureau failed, and the only remaining source was to supply the fleet with coal by means of steam colliers. Refer- ence was made by the bureau in its report of last year to the success of this method. It was due almost entirely to the proximity of the theater of war to our Own coast, where supplies of coal could be obtained in the absence of Spanish cruisers and to the early capture and control of certain ports in Cuba. "Tn the Philippines success was also due to the immediate capture of the port of Manila for use as a naval base and to the fact that ships carry- ing supplies of coal to this port were not molested by the Spanish navy.