THE NEW WAR STEAMER MELPO MENE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 321, 1 December 1888, Page 3

THE NEW WAR STEAMER MELPO MENE.

The newly-built warship Melpomene is a steel twin-seieu cruiser ot 2,950 tons displacement, and her dimensions are:Length 265 ft, beam 41ft, mean draught ot water 19ft Her engines will be of 9,000 indicated h T.se-power, and they will be of the triple-expansion type. The diameter of the cylinders is to be 34. .">, 51, and 76.5 in respectively, and the length of the stroke is 36in. Steam will be taken afc a pressure of "1551b from four double-ended cylindrical boilers having a heating surface of 14,070 square feet, heated by 24 corrugated furnaces with a grate surface of 456 square ieet, an I the engines are intended to drive the three-bladed screws at the rate. of 150 revolutions per minute, in order to give the ship her maximum speed of 19J knots. The amount of coal carried will be 400 tons, and this will enable the Melpomene fo steam a di&tance of 8,000 miles at the economical speed ot 10 knots an hour. The Medea and Medusa are steelbottomed vessels ; the Melpomene and her sisters arc wood- sheathed and corner bottomed, so as to fit them for more extended cruises in waters in which there is bad dock accommodation. Along the whole of their length they are protected by means of an armoured deck, the greater part of which is on a level with the ship's -vater line. For 10ft on each side of the middle line of the vessel this steel deck is horizontal, and is one inch thick. Thence it slopes downwards and outwards at an angle of 25deg, the armour of the slopes being two inches thick, and weighing 801b to the square foot. The Melpomene's hull is fin Siemens - Martin steel ; the stem is formed as a ram, and is strengthened by a depression of the steel deck ; and the sternport ar.d rudder-frame are cast of phosphor bronze. The ship throughout has a double bottom and double sides, and she is further protected by being divided into 75 watertight compartments. In action she will be worked, steered, and foughteither from a protected conning tower onthepoop, orfromanother on the forecastle., The ship will be entirely lighted by electricity, and she will carry three powerful search lights. Sail power will not be of much use to her. She will, however, be fitted with two steel masts to carry fore-and-aft canvas. Her armament is to com sist of six 6-inch 5 ton breech -loading guns • placed in sponsors on Vavasseur centralpivot carriages: nine HotchkiSs quickfiring 6-pounders, several machine guns, and six torpedo ejector?, two of ,which will be on each 'broadside, one forward and the sixth aft. The total cost will, it is said, be ssonacwhat under '£lso,ooo.- '- .'>