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MARINE REVIEW Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. Published every Thursday at 418-19 Perry- Payne Bldg., by the Marine Review Pub, Oo. VoL. XXI. CLEVELAND, O., APRIL 26, 1900, Foreign $380 a year. No. 17 EVOLUTION OF ARMOR PLATE. SHORT HISTORY OF ITS MANUFACTURE BY REAR ADMIRAL CHAS. O’NEIL, CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF ORDNANCE—ABOUT 50,000 TONS THUS FAR USED BY THE UNITED STATES. Rear Admiral Charles O’Neil, chief of the bureau of ordnance, has written an interesting article descriptive of the manufacture of armor plate, which is printed in Collier’s Weekly. Admiral O’Neil is partic- ularly qualified to write on this subject, and the history of armor plate development which he gives is full of instructive information. According to Admiral O’Neil the credit for the first systematic inves- tigation of the action of projectiles on solid substances belongs to France, although Sir Isaac Newton, Robbins, Hutton and Rumford had pre- viously experimented to some extent in the same field. The French experiments were carried on at Metz, beginning in 1830. Previous to this, however, John Stevens built at Hoboken in 1812 a vessel whose guns were protected by inclined armor. Congress paid no attention to this, but in 1842 Robert Stevens made a report on the effect of projectiles on armor, and submitted a design of a steam-propelled, armored war vessel, which was referred to the committee on coast defences. Congress acted, and in 1854 the keel of the Stevens Battery was laid, a few months before the construction of ironclads began in ‘Europe, where France led the way. By 1868 solid plates of 6, 7 and 8 inches thickness were tested, and in 1875 the first steel plates of Bessemer steel 2% inches thick were tested showing only a slight advance over wrought iron. Then came the compound plates of iron and steel, which proved of greater resisting power than the all steel plates, but they flaked badly. Then, by the in- troduction of a small percentage of nickel into the all steel plates, the desired toughness was produced. “This,” Admiral O’Neil says, “was the armor situation when the United States government commenced the building of armored vessels for its new navy, and while the armor ordered for the first vessels was of plain steel, it was quickly followed by that containing nickel, as the result of the first important armor test made in the United States at the An- napolis proving ground in September, 1890; this test being made princi- pally to determine the respective value of plain steel and of nickel-steel plates and also of compound armor. Three plates of equal dimensions, namely, 8 feet by 6 feet by 10% inches, were subjected to similar attacks. They consisted of a compound plate made by Cammel & Co., of England, a plain-steel plate made by Schneider & (Co. of France, and a nickel-steel plate also made by the ijatter. All three plates were subjected to five’ impacts by a 100-pound projectile, fired from a 6-inch gun with a striking velocity of 2,075 foot-seconds, one shot being directed at each corner of the plates, and a fifth impact ‘by a 210-pound projectile, fired from an 8-inch gun with a striking velocity of 1,850 foot-seconds at the center of the plates. All three plates were supported by 38 inches of oak backing. The compound plate was perforated by all the shells, and practically de- stroyed by the 6-inch alone. The plain-steel plate kept out all the shells, but was badly cracked by the s-inch. The nickel-steel plate kept out all the shells and remained without cracks.” These tests decided the government to adopt nickel steel armor. The next important step was the introduction of the Harvey process. Mr. Harvey’s experiménts attracting the attention of the navy department, it procured from Schneider & Co. a steel plate 10% inches in thickness. This plate was treated at the Washington navy yard in January, 1891, under the direction of Admiral O’Neil in accordance with instructions prescribed by Mr. Harvey. The Harvey process, which consisted of hardening the face of the plate, was @ secret, and no one was allowed in the building except the officer in charge and a few selected workmen. The admiral continues: “The plate, having been placed in the furnace, was covered with a layer of carbonizing material (probably a mixture of animal and vege- table charcoal) about a foot thick, over which was laid a covering of tiles to exclude the flame and air from the plate. The doors of the furnace having been bricked up, the fires-underneath were started, and it was brought up to a high heat and so maintained for about 100 hours. Ar- rangements had been made for withdrawing the plate from the furnace and for sprinkling it with cold water from a large trough with perforated bottom, suspended overhead at a height of some ten feet. When the time arrived for taking the plate from the furnace the brick work was knocked away and a yoke of oxen were hitched to a chain made fast to the plate. The oxen tugged in vain and a second yoke was ‘brought into requisition, but still the plate remained immovable, the high and prolonged heat having vitrified the sand, tiles and brick into a solid mass. A large force of men was brought up to aid in the work, and, with the assistance of tackles and levers, the plate was, after five hours of labor, hauled out of the furnace and under the sprinkling trough.’ Naturally it had lost a good deal of its heat, and was of a dull cherry red when the water was applied, which formed hissing jets of steam as it fell on the hot plate, which, to the dismay of the spectators, began to. curl up like a huge saucer as its upper surface contracted under the influence of the chill. The spraying was continued until the plate was cooled to a black heat, when it recovered its shape to some extent. The warping was then re- garded as a serious objection to the process, but in future plates this was overcome by sprinkling on both sides, and in the regular furnaces the plates were thereafter laid on iron cars, and could thus be quickly with- drawn.” ; This plate showed remarkable powers of resistance, and the navy department conducted a series of experiments which resulted in proving the superiority of the Harvey plate. Admiral ‘O’Neil gives much of the credit of bringing it forward to Capt. William M. Folger, U. S. N., who carried out the tests. The Harvey plate kept its place in the front rank until 1895, when the Krupp process, a modification of the Harvey process, was introduced. England was quick to recognize the value of the im- provements, and acquired the rights thereto in 1895. In 1898 the rights were acquired in this country. The first tests were of plates made by the Carnegie company and the Bethlehem company in October, 1898, when the excellence of the process was demonstrated. Krupp armor differs from Harvey armor in the character of the alloy and in the method of its treatment. The manufacture of modern armor plate for service use began in this country in 1886. The total amount of armor furnished when present con- tracts are completed will be 35,773 tons. At the present time there is re- quired for three battleships of the Maine class 7,360 tons. This armor has not yet been contracted for, as the question of kind and price is now before congress. The department desires to use armor made by Krupp’s new process for these and for other vessels authorized but not yet con- tracted for, for which about 12,000 tons more will be required. FOR LAKE AND COAST SERVICE. _ _A Cleveland vessel owner who is close to some of the large nego- tiations which the American Ship Building Co. has under way says he would not be surprised to learn a little later that some twenty steel vessels of Canadian canal size will be built by Mr. A. B. Wolvin. of Duluth and his associates, who are planning for the operation of these ships on the Atlantic as well as on the lakes. He says that. the fleet of four or six now under order with the ship building conso!idation are only the forerunners of a very large undertaking that is qui:e certain of enlisting the necessary capital. ig Canadian vessel owners on the lakes are also alive to the advantages that are offered in this kind of vessel. R. O. & A. B. McKay of Ham- ilton, Ont., recently formed the Hamilton & Fort William Navigation Co., a corporation that is having built at Dundee and New Castle two steel steamers of full Welland canal size. These vessels are expected to arrive in this country in June. They will be employed during the navigation season on the lakes in carrying ore from Lake Superior to the blast furnace plant at Hamilton. A steel works is also building at Hamilton. The Canadian bounty on pig iron is said to admit of the successful operation and even the enlargement of the Hamilton works, as indicated by the building of the steel plant. It is expected, of course, that these Canadian steamers will engage in salt-water service during the winter period or when trade is dull on the lakes. Mr. A. B. McKay is now in England looking after them. One of them will be named Strathcona and the other Winona. R. O. & A. B. MicKay also have due in Montreal next month a steamer called the Carlo, which they propose placing on the route between Fort William and Buffalo. This vessel will carry about 2,000 tons. NOT A STRONG OPENING. The change in general business conditions, and especially towards lower values in iron and steel lines, has of course had its effect on the lake freight situation, at least to the extent that shippers of ore who had not fully covered the output which they planned from the head of Lake Superior are feeling more comfortable now than they were a few weeks ago. They are of the opinion that the market will be rather in their favor than against them. But this year is one in which the aver- age vessel owner is not much interested in “wild” freights, excepting as to coal. His vessel property is to a large extent under contract. The Rockefeller interest stands practically alone with a large surplus of vessel capacity, but even if this capacity is chartered piecemeal during the season at rates below the $1.25 ore basis the Rockefeller ships and their allied interests will probably have profited largely on the whole by the fact that in taking up this surplus tonnage the contract rate was made $1.25. This tonnage is still the key to the season’s freights. With a decline in grain freights at the outset, it must be admitted that the opening is not encouraging, but some allowance must be made for the fact that as vessels were gotten under way ten days earlier than was expected, the ore shippers, as well as the producers of coal in many cases, were caught unprepared, and were even unable to take care of contract vessels. The decline in grain, both at Duluth and Chicago, was largely due to a rush for first grain cargoes for these vessels. NAMES OF CARNEGIE VESSELS. Some of the leading colleges are to be honored in the naming of the: six large steel vessels that are building at works of the American Ship Building ‘Co. for the Pittsburg Steamship Co., which is the corporation controlling Carnegie vessel property on the great lakes under the direc- tion of ‘Mr. Edwin S. Mills of Cleveland. The first of these vessels, a steamer, to be launched about May 5, will be named Harvard. Then will follow the names Lafayette, Princeton, Cornell and very probably Columbia for the other four steamers to come out in the middle and latter part of the season. The one steel tow barge in the new fleet will be named Bryn Mawr. Vice-president Farrington of Buffalo says he knows of no grounds for the report that the Northern Steamship Co. is making arrangements for the construction of two new passenger steamers similar to the North’ West and North Land now operated between Duluth and Buffalo. The story. came from Minneapolis, but there was nothing official. about it. It was to the effect that the Chicago- Buffalo route will be covered by the two ‘new boats and that the schedule will be so arranged that the boat from Chicago will meet the Duluth-bound boat from Buffalo at Mackinac, while the Buffalo-bound boat from Duluth will meet the ‘Chicago-bound boat from Buffalo at the same port.