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18 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. on the water line, being reduced to 3 in. near the ends. Four of the 7.5-in. guns are in casemates of 7-in. armor on the upper deck, and the 10-in. guns are in I0-in. armored barbettes at the forward. and aft ends of the ship. The smaller 'guns, while sheltered, are in positions to command the enemy from all points. In action, the ship and all the guns may be controlled from a. conning tower built of r1-in.. armor. Although these spiendid » fighting qualities have had to be provided' upon 'limited dimen- » sions--the length being 436 ft.; the beam 71 ft. andythe draught - only 24 ft. 714 in., with a: displacement of 11,800 tons--a. sea speed of 19 knots is to be realized. The two engines' driving separate propellers will develop collectively 12,500 I), H. P. Nor have the high speed and fighting power been attained at the sac- rifice of radius of action, as the ship carries fuel and supplies to enable it to steam at 10 knots for 12,000 sea miles. Concerning the ship Lieut. Dawson, one of the directors of Vickers, Sons & Maxim, said: : "T would like to refer to some of the salient features in the design of this ship, and especially to the artillery, which has been selected with so much of experience and discrimination by the naval authorities of the republic of Chili to meet the naval re- quirements, having regard to the special strategic position that the country holds amongst the other American nations. 'This selection is due to a large extent to the very able advice given to the government by the present commission, who have realized the importance of combining a high gun-power with special armor protection and great speed in a ship of moderate draught, capa- ble of operating in shallow waters, and yet with particular pro- perties to insure a steady gun platform in heavy seas such as would be experienced off Cape Horn and in the South Pacific generally. She is, for her displacement, the most-powerfully- armed ship afloat. Her main armament includes four high-power 10-in. guns, capable of perforating at a range of 3 miles the 11-in- Krupp plates on the latest American battleship of the Louisiana class. These guns will have a muzzle velocity of 2,840 ft. per second, and will therefore secure the great advantage of a flat trajectory at moderate ranges, ensuring precision along with a high rate of fire. The fourteen 7.5-in. guns have a muzzle veloc- ity of 2,958 ft. per second, and will be capable at a range of 4 miles of perforating the 5-in. Krupp side armor of the latest American cruisers of the Tennessee class, which have 2,000 odd tons greater displacement than the Libertad. These guns, too, have a rate of fire of seven rounds per minute. It may be said that it is not fair to compare a battleship with a cruiser, but whilst the ship we have just launched will have all the advan- tages of the battleship proper with regard to armor, having a 7-in. belt, a 10-in. barbette and I1-in. conning tower, she has also high gun-power and great speed. In connection with the ability to perforate the armor to which I have referred, I should say that this is secured by the adoption of the very wise policy sug- gested by Admiral Simpson of employing nitro-cellulose powder, which enables such high energies to be obtained, and that. too, without the excessive wear in heavy guns that is unavoidable from the use of powders such as cordite, ballistite, or other com- positions of nitro-glycerine. The great perforation is also ma- terially assisted by utilizing the most modern forin of capped shot and shell, similar to those employed now by nearly every first-class foreign naval power. I should not leave the subject of armament without noticing the forethought displayed in install- ing fourteen 14-pounder guns, four 6-pounder and a number of Vickers' pom-poms, for the purpose of resisting torpedo boat and submarine boat attack. The government of Chili may be said to have had the most modern experience in connection with naval warfare, and therefore realize the importance of adopting the most effective weapons against such attack by the employment of such a heavy and suitable secondary armament. 'The United States of America have also adopted the means of combating at- tack. Experience in the French submarine boat maneuvers has shown the impossibility of guarding against submarine attack except by the most vigilant look-out and the use of the heaviest secondary armament. It is of vital importance to be able to concentrate the quickest possible rate of fire on any portion of a submarine boat which may be seen, because such period of time of exposure must be very brief. Accuracy as well as rapidity are the only safeguards." PACIFIC MAIL BUYS TWO STEAMERS. The steamships Minnelora and Minnuahta, which the New York Ship Building Co., Camden, N. J., is constructing for the Atlantic Transport Line have been sold to the Pacific Mail Steamship Co. of San Francisco. 'lhese steamships, among the largest ever constructed in the Wnited States, were ordered : by the Atlantic Transport Line about two years ago. Since that time, of course, the Atlantic Transport Line has been taken into the Morgan shipping combination, officially known as the Inter- national Mercantile Marine Co. 'The ships are yet on the stocks but it is expected that one will be launched in June and the other in August. Both are to be completed as speedily as possi- ble. The Pacific Mail Steamship Co. has been on the lookout for vessels for some time past, as there is at present considerable rivalry for first-class tonnage on the Pacific. The vessels will ply between pan Francisco and the orient. Nothing is known regarding the price paid for them but it is undoubtedly an ad- vance over the contract figure. [Mar. 26, BIG NAVAL PLANS. Details of British Program--Many Unemployed Workmen in Scotch and English Ship Building Districts--Considering Question of Light Load Line. Glasgow, Mar. 16.--Your readers will be interested in more -- of the details of the naval program, just submitted to parlia- ment, than were given-in the cable dispatches to newspapers. The program calls for an increase of £3,202,000 in the naval vote of the year, and provides for building no fewer than forty-three warships of all kinds, from battleships to shallow draft gunboats. With the single exception of one cruiser, the whole of the new work is to be given out on contract. The repair work is also to be distributed as much as possible among the private firms which do the building. All the money voted for the year 1902-3 will have been earned and spent by the end of this month. 'Lhe amount proposed in the estimates for 1903-4 for new construc- tion is £10,137,c00, of which £1,150,000 will be devoted to the commencement of new ships. Since the last statement was pre- sented to parliament the board has considered carefully the re- port of the committee on the past arrears in ship building. 'They believe that the light shed on the subject by that report has been of much value, and they have accordingly taken every oppor- tunity of profiting by its recommendations. Between April 1, 1902, and Mar. 31, 1903, inclusive, the following ships wiil have been completed and passed into the fleet reserves: Battleships-- London, Venerable, Russell and Montagu; the first-class armored cruisers Bacchante, Good Hope, Drake, Leviathan and King Alfred; the sloops Odin and Merlin; also four destroyers, three torpedo boats, six submarines, the repair ship Assistance and the distilling ship Aquarius. On April 1, 1903, there will be under construction eleven battleships, nineteen armored cruisers, two second-class cruisers, four third-class cruisers, four scouts, two sloops, nineteen destroyers, eight torpedo boats and three submarines; and it is expected that between April 1, 1903, and Mar. 31, 1904, inclusive, there will have been completed six bat- tleships, eleven armored cruisers, one second-class cruiser, two sloops, four destroyers, eight torpedo boats and three submaiines. 'It is proposed to commence during the financial year 1903-4 three battleships, four first-class armored cruisers, three third- class cruisers, four scouts, fifteen destroyers and ten submarines ; also a new admiralty yacht, a shallow-draught river steamer for the China station and two vessels for naval reserve work. Much progress will have been made by Mar. 31 next in the policy of reconstruction. announced in the admiralty statement of last year, naniely, completion of the battleships (Royal Sovereign class) Empress of India, Resolution, Revenge and Royal Oak; first- class cruiser Powerful; second-class cruisers (Talbot class) Doris, Venus, Dido and Isis; and in hand battleships Balfleur and Centurion and first-class cruiser Terrible. The admiralty note says: "Owing to the great pressure of work in the dock yards it has been decided to allow the contractors who are buiid- ing the ships to complete them in all respects ready for commis- sion, by which means all the ship building firms which con- struct war vessels will gain further experience and be better pre- pared to undertake naval work. The policy of relieving the con- gestion of repairs in the dock yards by sending ships to be re- paired by the private firms which built them has been largely followed and the board propose to continue the policy." MERCHANT CRUISERS--BOILER QUESTION. On the subject of subsidized merchant cruisers Lord Sel- borne, first lord of the admiralty, says: "Subsidized merchant cruisers can never be a substitute for his majesty's cruisers, but they will have their special uses. It did not seem to the board right than any ship should be in existence which, in the case of war, no ship at the disposal of the admiralty could not reasonably expect to catch, and they were accordingly glad when, for this reason among others, his majesty's government decided, should parliament approve, to give such a subsidy to the Cunard com- pany as will enable them to build two steamers of superior speed to anything afloat, which will be entirely at the disposal of the admiralty in time of war. This, in the opinion of the board, was definitely the most economical method of effectually meeting a special need before the current agreement in respect of sub- sidized merchant cruisers with the various steamship companies expires two years hence. The board will have to reconsider its policy in respect of ships of no special speed in the light of the reports of the two committees already mentioned." Lord Selborne of course refers to the vexed boiler question, and his remarks deserve repeating. "I have never attempted," he says, "to minimize the difficulties which have been caused to the fleet by the adoption of Belleville boilers. 'I'hese difficulties were due partly to the faulty manufacture of the first series of such boilers, partly to the great increase of pressure, and partly to the initial want of training of the personnel in their manage- ment, but they were mainly ejusdem generis with those which the navy had for years 1o contend with on the first adoption of the various kinds of boilers which preceded them. As each of the earlier Belleville-boiler ships comes in for refit on the termi- nation of her commission, she is being placed in thorough re- pair and made absolutely efficient for service. Owing to the experience gained no further difficulties ought to occur with these ships, and although the board agrees with the boiler com- mittee in considering other types of water-tube boilers to be