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i8 THE NEW BATTLESHIPS. DESIGNS ALL BUT COMPLETED FOR THE THREE GREATEST WAR VESSELS EVER PROJEOTED FOR THE AMERICAN NAVY—ARMOR THSTS. Wasuineton Orrick Marine Revirw, 1345 PaNnsyLvaNia AVE, WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, LYUU. j In a general way the designs for the three greatest battleships ever projected for the American navy have been agreed upon by the naval board of construction aiter several months of discussion over the impor- tant questions of battery, armor, speed, coal capacity and displacement. ‘Lhe three new vessels—to be called the Georgia, the New Jersey and the Pennsylvania—will equal in formidability the finest line of battleships yet laid down by any foreign power, and with the addition of typical Amer- ican improvements, will surpass in fighting force any ships now afloat. ‘The salient features of the design contemplate a displacement of approx- imately 14,000 tons as compared with the Oregon's 11,000 or the new Maine’s 12,300. The speed 1s to be at least 19 knots, with a coal bunker capacity of 2,000 tons. There will be two superimposed turrets—one fore and the other aft—each containing two 12-inch and two 8-inch guns of the new elongated bore and high smokeless powder velocity. Lhe remaining guns of the main battery will consist of twelve 6-inch quickfire in broadside. This arrangement of battery has been finally adopted in- stead of an alternative plan which provided for four 12-inch guns in tur- rets, and sixteen 6-inch broadsides which had been put forward to avoid the expedient of superimposed turrets. ‘The two-story turrets, which are a distinctively American innovation as applied to the Kearsarge and the Kentucky are regarded as no longer ot doubtiul success. It is known that foreign governments are preparing to adopt them to secure the con- centration and angle of fire. The board also definitely determined upon the use of the most modern Kruppized armor tor the new vessels, its precise distribution to be decided upon after the chief constructor has made sufficient progress with the ac.ual plans to determine the proper arrangement of weights. The armor problem has been the most difficult to solve, and to this cause is attributed the delay in planning the ships. ‘Lhe act authorizing the vessels was approved on March 3 of this year and it stipulated that no contract should be made for any portion of the vessels until a contract was made for the armor. As the weight of armor enter- ing into these ships was a very large item, the question of the adoption of Krupp or the Harveyized material was extremely important. This can be readily appreciated from the fact that roughly 3,000 tons of the former (the approximate weight required for each battleship) is equivalent as regards resistance to penetration to 4,000 of the latter. The adoption, therefore, of the material treated by the Krupp process meant that 1,000 tons of weight would be available for distribution among other vital characteristics of a battleship—weight of propelling machinery, speed, armament, coal carrying capacity and draught. The total cost of each of these three ships when ready for sea will exceed $7,000,000 each. They will cruise 7,000 miles straightaway, and there will not be three ships of similar offensive and defensive strength in the fleet of any possible enemy. In the presence of officials of the Russian government, United States naval officers, and representatives. of. the Carnegie Steel company, an 8-inch Krupp plate, a part of a lot of armor intended for the Russian battleship Retvisan, now building at the Cramps Ship yards, Philadelphia, was tested today at the Indian Head proving grounds. The plate was 190 inches long, 98 inches wide and.8 inches thick, and curved. The gun used in making the test was an 8-inch rifle, the projectiles being armor piercing shells 250 pounds each in-weight. The required striking velocity was 1,780 feet per second. Four shots were fired at the corners of a 28-inch square, drawn-in the center of the plate. The striking velocity was 1,837 feet per second for the first shot, 1,791 for the second, 1,815 for the third and 1,834 for the fourth. The penetration attained by the shells ranged from 1% to 25g inches. The plate did not crack under the test and was very little injured. The test was regarded by those present as entirely satisfactory. * * * Preliminary arrangements are now being made for placing the battle- ships Kearsarge and Kentucky in commission within the next few weeks. It is quite likely that the Kearsarge will be placed in commission at the Norfolk navy yard and the Kentucky at the New York yard. The en- listed force for these vessels is now being made up in the bureau of navi- gation. Capt. W. M. Folger will command the Kearsarge and Capt. C. M. Chester will command the Kentucky. Lieutenant Commander G. A. Merriam will be the executive officer of the Kearsarge, and Lieut. Emile ‘Theiss will have charge of her engines. Lieutenant Commander Karl Rohrer will be the executive officer of the Kentucky, and Lieutenant Martin Bevington will have charge of the engineer department of that vessel, * * * The secretary of the navy has arranged for the sale of the collier Scipio to Ludwig Rubelli of Philadelphia, at $41,550, and for the sale of the naval tug Rocket to James Tregarther & Son of New York, at $1,123. The purchaser in each case made the highest bid received for these vessels which were recently condemned for naval service. : * Rd * sees amet Capt. Peter A. Rearick of the engineer corps of the navy, will be placed on the retired list February 17 next, with the rank of rear admiral of the junior grade, in accordance with the provisions. of the personnel law authorizing such advancement in the case of officers. who served in the war of the rebellion, Admiral Rearick was born in Washington and en- tered the navy in 1860. He made an excellent record as an engineer officer, and was prominently identified with the construction of many of the new battleships, including the Kearsarge, Kentucky and Illinois, * * * None of the officers of the highest grade in the navy will retire on account of age during the last year of the nineteenth. century. This is somewhat unprecedented as it is usual for from one to four rear admirals to reach the retiring age every year. The next rear admiral to retire will MARINE REVIEW. [January 4, NA be Rear Admiral F. V. McNair, the superintendent of the naval academy, who relinquishes active duty January 138, 1901. Admiral McNair is at the head of the list of rear admirals and is second only to Admiral Dewey in lineal rank in the navy. Rear Admiral W. S. Schley also retires during the year 1901. The following is an official list of naval retirements during the year 1900. Pay Director Edward May, Jan. 10; Medical Director Grove S. Beardslee, January 22; Medical Director James M. Flint, Feb-: ruary 7; Naval Constructor William H. Varney, April 19; Medical Di- rector Thomas C. Walton, May 31; Commander William C. Gibson, July 23; Chief Sailmaker John C. Herbert, August 11; Medical Director George W. Woods, August 24; Professor Henry D. R. Todd, August 25; Chief Boatswain John B. F. Langton, October 8; Capt. Peter A. Rearick, November 12; Medical Director Charles H. White, November 19; Capt. John Lowe, December 11. * * * The serious illness of Representative Boutelle of Maine will cause a recasting of the work of the naval affairs committee of which he is chairman. The naval appropriation bill is now before the committee in the form of the annual estimates submitted and the committee will go to work early in January to frame the bill. This is a task of some magni- tude, requiring frequent hearings of bureau officers and also the adoption of a definite policy concerning the increase of the navy in extent and character. Mr. Foss of Illinois is the ranking member of the committee and will have charge of the bill. LIGHT DRAUGHT GUNBOATS DISABLED. The Helena and the Wilmington, twin vessels of the light draught gun- boat type, and generally regarded as the most useful all around craft in the United States naval service, have been for some time practically use- less, one at Manila and the other at Buenos Ayres. They were built to- gether three years ago, and both are now disabled with broken shaits. They are twin screw vessels, and even with one engine motionless can make more or less headway with their remaining power. It is recalled. in this connection, that some twin-screw ships have. made long cruises working only one shaft and proceeding with a somewhat crablike motion, as was the case with Dewey’s flagship, the Olympia, on her memorable voyage home to New York last fall. The affair was kept secret. at the time for fear of the unfavorable effect it might have had-in the European ports which she visited, and’ because Admiral Dewey never. thought the matter of sufficient importance to report to the navy department. It was a fact, however, that in her passage through the Suez canal, which was made at night to avoid possible plague contamination from bumboats, which would have swarmed around the ship in daylight, the Olympia bent her port propeller until it was worthless as a means of propulsion. From that day to this the Olympia has cruised 5,000 knots on one screw. Part of the time in the Mediterranean both engines were kept going, but before reaching Gibraltar the engineers discovered that the port engine was accomplishing nothing, that the ship was making as much speed and burning less coal without it, so it was disconnected and has not been used since. Yet no one suspected last October at the naval parade that the great ship was at best half. disabled and that her maxi- mum speed was only nine knots. The breaking of the shafts of the Helena and the Wilmington is attributed to the desire of the designers to save all possible weight in these vessels to enable them’ to ascend the shallowest rivers and cruise generally where other vessels of their offen- sive powers were prohibited by their deeper draught. On this account they were equipped with tubular shafts, the cores being bored-out for the en- tire length. Theoretically little. strength is’ sacrificed, with enormous saving in weight, but in practice it was found that the contractors for the vessels did not bore the long holes perfectly concentric with the outside diameter, resulting in weakened spots, undiscovered until the: fracture occurred. The navy department has undertaken to supply solid shafts of higher grade material, and two of these for the Wilmington will be com- pleted at the New York navy yard. next week and will be sent out to the South American station by merchant steamer early in January. Two more will go to the Helena by similar carriers in February. It is not known how the Helena broke down, but the Wilmington’s shaft cracked just outside the hull on the way to Rio, where temporary repairs were made which enabled her to reach Buenos Ayres. COMMERCE OF OUR NEW POSSESSIONS. Commerce with Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Hawaiian, Philippine and Samoan islands during the eleven months ending with November fully justifies the belief that the new relations which those islands sustain to the United States will result in a great increase in our commerce with them and especially in an increase of our exports to them. The total exports from the United States to the four islands or groups of islands will amount in the calendar year 1899 to considerably more than $40,000,000, the total for the eleven months ending with November being $37,854,110, as compared with less than $20,000,000 last year. When it is considered that neither Cuba nor Puerto Rico has yet returned to any- thing like normal conditions, and that there has been a condition of actual warfare in the Philippines during the year, the fact that the total exports to the islands in the year exceed those of the palmiest days of reciprocity, — shows that when normal conditions return, our exports to the islands will greatly increase over those of earlier years. Our total exports to Cuba Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands in the years of their greatest prosperity under the reciprocity relations of 1893 and 1894 amounted to but about 33 million dollars, while, as already indicated those of 1899 will be considerable in excess of 40 million dollars, the total for the month of November having been over 4 million dollars, The steamer to be used by the German : Antarctic expedition is well on the way to completion at Kiel. The vessel is constructed entirely of wood and the middle deck is approximately on a level with the wa i in. order to strengthen the ship against ice pressure. A triple toeiaece oak, pitch pine and South American greenwood will be put on as a pro-| tection against floating ice. The craft will be rigged as a three-masted schooner and will be lighted by electricity, Shes