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24 - 2 RY RUE LAUNCH OF BATTLESHIP GEORGIA The launch of the battleship Georgia at the yard of the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Me., last week was a success in every way. The governor of Georgia and his staff attended and the event was made quite a social affair. The Georgia was named by Miss Stella Tate, sister of Congressman Tate, who broke the customary bottle of champagne just as the great hull ; began to move. The picture of the launch on the opposite page will be found to be very striking. ~The Georgia is one of the three battleships authorized under an act of congress, approved March 3, 1899, and is also a duplicate of the two battleships authorized under the act of congress, approved June 7, 1900. Bids for these five battle- ships were opened at the navy de- partment, Nov. 15, 1900, and in Feb- tuaty, 1901, the. Bath Iron Works was awarded the contract for the Georgia. The four sister battleships of the Georgia are the Virginia, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Nebraska. The Georgia has ae fitial displace- ment of 15,000 tons. She is 435° ft. lone, 76. tt: 1o- in. beam, and will draw <24 Tt. ot water under trial conditions, with an extreme draught of 26 ft. when fully loaded and equipped with stores, coal. am- munition, etc. The hull has a cellular double bottom and is divided into about 225 watertight compartments. Her armor consists of a main belt extending the entire length on each side of armor II in. to 4 in. thick. The upper casements armor and the athwartship armor is 6 in. thick. The 12-in. turrets and bar- bettes are covered with Jo0-in. armor, the 8-in. turrets and barbettes with 6-in. armor. The conning tower is 9 in. thick, the signal tower 5 in. thick, and the gun protection and splinter bulkheads are from :2 in, to 3 ..in. 'thick. © The 'total weight of the armor is about 3,700 gross tons. In -addition to the above the Georgia has a protective deck throughout her entire length and breadth at about the level of the water- line. All the vitals of the ship, that is the motive and steer- ing power, together with the electric light plant, are below this deck and consequently below the water line. In addi- tion to this protection, the Georgia has a complete belt of cofferdams at the waterline which are filled with cellulose which has the characteristic of promptly swelling to several times its original bulk when wet, thereby stopping any hole made by shot. Her main battery consists of four 12-in. breech-loading rifles, eight 8-in. breech-loading rifles, twelve 6-in.. breech- loading rapid fire rifles, twelve 3-in. breech-loading rapid fire rifles, twelve 3-pounder guns, four 1-pounder automatic guns, four I-pounder single shot guns, two 3-in. field. guns, two machine guns and six automatic guns. The Georgia is also provided with four submerged torpedo tubes, PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF BATH IRON WORKS AND BATTLESHIP GEORGIA. Re ye ee an -- The 12-in. guns are mounted in pairs in two turrets, one forward and one aft. Four of the 8-in. guns are mounted in pairs of two turrets, superposed on the I2-in. turrets. The other four 8-in. guns are mounted in two broadside turrets, one on each side, The 6-in. and 3-in. guns are mounted in broadside. Quarters are provided for the following complement of men, which the vessel will have when in commission: One flag officer, one commanding officer, one chief of staff, twenty wardroom officers, twelve junior officers, ten warrant officers and 658 crew, including marines, total 703. The Georgia will carry the following boats which are lifted and stowed by four large electric swinging cranes, two on each side of the ship: One -50-ft, steam cutter, one 30-ft. steam cut- ber, -bWow: do-te launches, four 30- {t. cutters, two 30- ft. whaleboats, one 30-ft. gig whale- boat, one 30-ft. barge, two 20 and one 16-ft. dinghies, at 60UtiS / i. | two 12-ft. punts, two 18-ft. life Tatts: The bunker ca- pacity = of fire Georgia provides for a. stowage of 1,900 tons of coal. The -- Georgia's propelling machin- ery «consists of two four-cylinder, triple - expansion engines, each driv- ing one bronze three-bladed _ pro- peller, about 18 ft. in diameter. Each engine consists of one high-pressure cylinder 35 in. in diame- ter, one intermediate cylinder 57 in. in diameter and two low- pressure cylinders 66 in. in diameter, all having a stroke of 48 in. The engines exhaust into two condensers each having a cooling surface of about 12,000 sq. ft. Each main engine is in a separate compartment together with its condenser, air pump, circulating pump and other auxiliary machinery. The boilers are twenty-four in number, installed in eight water- tight compartments. They are of the Niclausse type and have a total grate surface of about 1,440 sq. ft. and a total heating surface of about 57,220 sq. ft. The boilers are to be worked under a forced draft of 1 in} The above propelling machin- ery will give the Georgia a speed of 19 knots per hour, which is one knot faster than any battleship now in service in our navy. The Georgia has a very elaborate electric plant consisting of two 1o0-kilowatt generators, and six 50-kilowatt generators which are each direct connected to: its double engine. This generator installation will provide current for six 30-in. search lights, about 1,000 incandescent lamps, several arc lamps, night signaling sets, diving lamps, electric blowers for ventilation and will also provide current for electrically turn- ing the turrets, training the guns, ventilating: the ship, lifting and: stowing boats, lifting coal, stores and handling ammuni- tion from the magazines to the guns, providing power to run the machine shop, the laundry and for several other purposes. The Georgia is provided with an elaborate evaporating and