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1903. ] MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. AQ cwt. guns, two 12-pounder 8-cwt. boat and field guns, three 3- pounder quick-firing guns, and eight Maxim guns, in addition to which the vessel is fitted with two submerged tubes, one on either side, for the discharge of 18-in. Whitehead torpedoes. The large guns are so arranged that a heavv fire may be maintained in any desired direction. T..e barbettes around the 6-in twin guns are of 4-in. armor and are well connected to the structure of the ship and efficiently supported, while the ammunition to these guns is served through heavy armored trunks from magazines and shell-rooms below. 'The casemate fronts are cf hard steel, 4 in. thick, with rear plates 2 in. thick; and the conning tower, fitted above forecastle, is of 1o-in. thick armor, with a communi- cating tube 6 in. thick carried down to the protective deck con- * taining the connections to all the gear throughout the ship. The side, bulkhead, casemate, and conning-tower armor is supplied by John Brown & Co., Ltd., and the barbettes bv William Beardmore & Co.. The vessel will have two masts with the customary light fore-and-aft rig, each mast being provided with a platform, well elevated to carry a search-light. POWERFUL SUCTION DREDGER. Wm. Simons & Co. Ltd., Renfrew, launched, a- few.. days ago, with engines and boilers on board complete, a large and pow- erful twin-screw suction pump dredger called the Nautilus, hav- ing a hopper capacity for 2,500 tons of sand, constructed.for the government of Natal. The dredger is 287 ft. long, 46 ft. 6 in. molded breadth, and 18 ft. 6 in. molded depth. The centrifugal sand suction pumps, two in number, are capable of raising about _ 4,0co tons of sand per hour from a depth of 4o ft. below. water - Jevel. . The large main suction pipe, 44 in. internal diameter, is fitted in a central well at the fore part of the ship, and-is con- trolled by powerful hydraulic gear. fitted on the upper deck. This pipe is connected to both pumps, and is fitted with an ar- rangement of flexible joints for preventing damage when the dredger is working on the bar at Durban, the lower. end of the suction pipe being so arranged that the vessel can plunge about -. jn a 25-ft. radius without disturbing the nozzle on the ground. 'Lue vessel is propelled by two sets of triple-expansion engines, fitted with all the most up-to-date appliances for efficiency and economy. Steam is supplied from three steel boilers of the Scotch type built for 180 lbs. working pressure and of ample power for the duty required. The boilers are fitted with an efficient arrangement for equalizing the temperature, and are designed to give a high evaporative efficiency. The vessel is supplied with two 33-in. suction pumps, each driven by one set of triple-expansicn surface-condensing marine engines. An auxiliary condenser and separate combined air and circulating | pump are provided for dealing with the exhaust steam from the auxiliary engines. 'Ihe combined power of the propelling, pumping, and auxiliary engines on board is about 4,000 I. H.-P. The Nautilus will run official trials during the early part of next week, and will immediately afterwards be got ready for the voy- age to South Africa. LAST ORDER UNDER NAVAL PROGRAM. It has been decided that the first-class armored cruiser. be- longing to this year's navy program shall be built bv the Thames Iron Works Co. and named the Black Prince. It is a sister ship to the Duke of Edinburgh, laid down in Pembroke dock yard, and will be engined by Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. of Newcastle. These - ships are the first desizned by the new director of naval construc- tion, Mr. Philip Watts, and in them there is an important depart- ure from the arrangement adopted in the armored cruisers of recent years. They will not have casemates but a citadel will extend for about three-fifths of tne length of the vessel. The side-plating will be of 6 in. cemented armor from about 5 ft. below the waterline right up to the main deck. On the waterline there will be, forward and abaft the citadel to the bow and the stern, armor plating tapering from 4 in. to 3 in. in thickness and the usual armored bulkheads will form the bow and stern 'thwart- ship walls of the citadel. The armored deck will be curved to the bottom of the side plating, increasing the protection on the broad- side. At each corner of the citadel will be mounted a 9.2-in. 27- ton gun, and there will be mounted a gun of the same caliber forward of the citadel and another abaft the citadel.. Those two will have gun-houses of 6-in armor protecting the gun mountings and other mechanism with an armored floor and an armored am- munition tube. The arrangement will enable three 9.2-in. guns to fire ahead and three to fire astern without interfering with either's sighting. There will be mounted ten quick-fire 6-in. caliber guns, five on each broadside, upon the main deck be- tween the 9.2-in. guns at the ends of the citadel. The battery of six 27-ton and ten 6-in. quick-fire guns makes these two ships the most formidable cruisers yet constructed. Hitherto our larger ships have had only two 9.2-in. guns, one for bow and the other for stern chasing. 'Although the displacement tonnage of the Duke of Edinburgh is less than that of the Drake, 13,500 tons, as compared with 14,100 tons) there is an increase in the weight of shot which may be fired per minute of from 15,840 Ibs. to 17,120 lbs. and in the total collective muzzle energy ~ from: 766,720 to 828,800 foot tons. The machinery is to be of the triple-expansion type, with one cylinder of 43% in. a second of 69 in. and two others of 77 in. diameter the stroke being 42 in. The engine power of 23,500 I. H. P. is expected to be real- ized when the engines are making 135 revolutions. The speed of the ships will be 22%4 knots. There will be in each ship twenty Babcock & Wilcox boilers, having 51,000 sq. ft. of heating surface and 1,400 sq. ft. of grate area, along with'six cylindrical boilers with 11,250 sq. ft. of heating surface and 360 sq. ft. of grate. In ~ one of the ships the tank boilers will be fitted with Howden's forced draft. The boiler pressure will be 210 Ibs. and the initial pressure at the engines 205 lbs. The placing of this contract finishes the work to be 'given, out. to builders under this year's program. The single battleship. ' ordered has gone to the Clyde, namely, the Hindustan of 16,350 tons and 18,000 I. H. P., ordered from John Brown & Co.- of Clydebank. The first-class armored cruiser will come from the Thames; one third-class cruiser from Elswick, and another from Laird Bros. of Birkenhead. The four scouts have been ordered-- one each from Fairfield, Elswick,. Vickers and Laird» Of the nine torpedo boat destroyers, which are to be of 25% knots speed, © four were ordered on the Tyne--two from Palmer's company and two from Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. "Two similar vessels are .. ordered from Laird of Birkenhead, two from Yarrow of London. | and one from Thorneycroft of Londori. Four torpedo boats have -- been ordered from White of Cowes and four submiarine boats -- from Vickers Sons & Maxim, while machinery for the déck yard | battleship has been ordered from Humphreys, Tennatit & Co. of - London, and for the dock yard cruiser from Hawthorn,' Leslie & . Co., Newcastle. 'The Clyde Las gct the 16,350-ton battleship 'and. * a 3,000-ton scout; the T'yne has orders for the 23,500-I.'H2 P.. . machinery of a dock ward cruiser, for a' third-class cruiser, a -- scout and four destroyers; the Vickers company has 'a scout*and™ four submarine boats; Laird brothers a scout, a third-class:criiiser | and-two torpedo boat destroyers; the Thames, the: 18,000-1.;H. P. machinery ofa: dock yard battleship, a 13,550-ton cruiser and three totpedo boat destroyers; and Cowes four torpedo 'boats. . CHANGES IN -NAVAL TECHNICAL DEPARTMENTS. - 74. "= Among changes which the admiralty is making in the naval -- "technical departments is a re-arrangement of the engineer's - branch. A new office is to be created, and Mr. H. J. Oram will - in the future be assistant engineer-in-chief to Sir John Durston, -- who hitherto has had no deptity, Mr. Oram having acted as as- ~ sistant.in technical matters only. . Hereafter he will be assistant to the engineer-in-chief and he will be succeeded in his present post by Mr Robert Mayston, who has for many years been engi- ""-neer of Devonport dock yard and of Keyham Institution for train- ing the young engineers of the navy. Mr. R. H. Andrews, -the chief at Sheerness, will succeed Mr. Mayston-at Devonport. © Mr. Oram has not only had sea and practical experience, but is recognized as one of the foremost authorities on the theoretical or scientific questions associated with steam machinery. In the constructive department Mr. rhilip Watts as director of naval construction is to be relieved by the creation of a new Officer, superintendent cf ship contracts, who will have under his con- trol the carrying out of all contract ship building, and need only confer with the director on important questions affecting the 'design of the vessel being built. There will -be a large electrical department with a chief having assistants at all the dock "yards. as well as at the admiralty, and he will relieve not only the direc- tor of naval construction, but also the director of dock yards of many of the details connected with the electric designs and equip- ment for war ships and also for electrically driving the dock yard machinery. : : 2 teh a ences _H. C. FRICK AND THE STEEL CORPORATION. It is the custom of the newspapers to identifv Mr. H. C. Frick - with every new steel enterprise that is started or about to be started, notwithstanding the fact that his primary interest is with the United States Steel Corporation. The newspapers also delight to speak of him as the probable successor of Mr. Charles M. Schwab, regardless of his many other interests, which are -- absorbing his time. Last week Mr. Frick took occasion to pay some attention to these reports. He said: j "T am much averse to newspaper interviews, but my name has been so persistently used in connection with positions in the United States Steel Corporation that I rather welcome: the opportunity of making this statement. I have retired from ac- tive business, and nothing would induce me to take any position that could ciaim my time from my own affairs. I am a director in the United States Steel Corporation, besides being a large stockholder, and am very much interested in its success, and while I am willing to give all the time and attention required of me as a director I could not accept any position that required my daily and exclusive attention." GRAIN IS NOT THE BIG ITEM OF FREIGHT. Total grain receipts at the head of the lakes for the calendar year 1902 are reported as 63,056,646 bu., against 64,251,054 bu. in | 1901. Not all of this grain was shipped eastward by lake, but | for the purpose of showing that the vessel interests should not. look upon Duluth grain as a big item compared with iron ore and coal, when they are makine calculations as to freights, let it be admitted that all the grain received during 1902--in. round numbers 63,000,000 bu.--went out by lake. The weight of this grain would be about 1,650,000 tons, compared with more than 27,000,000 tons of iron ore and about 9,000,000 tons of coal.