THE AMERICAN FLEET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 87, 1 April 1908, Page 4

THE AMERICAN FLEET.

A GREAT ITOUTING FORCE. I THE FLEET DESCRIBED! I The American iloet, which will prola My call at Auckland. consists of 1!) battleship,, 2 monitors, and 10 armored cruisers. The battleships comprise six classes: A.—The Vermont, Minnesota, Kansas, Connecticut, Louisiana. These arc vessels of 10.000 tons displacement, 10,000 indicated horse-power, and have a designed speed of 18 knots. Their main armament includes f»ur 12iu, eight Bi'i, and twelve iin gun- : iu addition there are 50 antitorpedo ' raft weapons, and four submerged torp do tnues. On trial the »|m lof these -'lips has varied between H.OW knots tor the Kansas !o 18,80 for :'■■ >'■' .. .'sota. They were launched in i.ui i, and cost over 1:1,000,000 each to complete. IS.—The Ocorgia, Nebraska, Viigiui.i, Rhode island, New Jersey. Displacing 14,048 tons, and steaming 111 knots, with a designed horsepower "of 1'.1,000. these five ships arc similar in many respects to the Vermont*. On trial the speeds were from l'J.Oll in the Hhode Island to 10.48 in the New Jersey. 'They were all put adoat iu I'.HU, "and cost nearly one and a-half million each, liotli the above classes of ships have been severely criticised on account of their narrow waterline belts fore and aft of the main barbettes. The above ten ships form the backbone of the Pacific fleet, and with their several faults taken into full consideration are said by experts to make a homogeneous, speedy, and well-armed squadron. (.'.—Ohio, Missouri, Maine. The three ships here mentioned are of but 12,000 tons displacement, and with an indicated horse-power of 10,000 should steam 18 knots. In the case of the Ohio, though 16,408 i.h.p. was registered, the maximum attained did not exceed 17.a----knots. The Maine, on the other hand, has steamed 18.'.1 knots as a maximum aud maintained a. mean of 18.3 for some hours. The armament is four 12in paired in barbettes fore and aft, and IU bin ii., 10 in the central main-deck battery, four in a small upper battery between the centre aud after funnels, and the last two iu casemates on the main deck forward of tile how 12iu barbette. In addition, there are 28 small uuickhrers aud two .submerged torpedo-tubes. These three ships look the water in 1!X)1.

U. Wisconsin, Illinois, Alabama. I Similar to the above, but rattier older, J these vessels mount four 13in weapons in place of 12in, and two tiin q. less in . the main-deck battery. The Illinois has no torpedo-tubes; the other two have I each four above water. The trial speeds for these three ships over a short course ■ were 17-17, 10.2, and 17.4-3 re-1 enectirely; with i.h.p. 10.50U, the designed velocity was Hi knots, so they may be considered fairly successful steamers. They displace U,5U3 tons, and were all launched in. 18118. Their cost approximate? €OBO,OOO. E.—Kentucky. Kearsage. These two vessels are, perhaps, tile heaviest-armed battle-hips lor their size in the world. They have a displacement of but 11.540 tons, and yet carry four 13iu guns paired in turrets fore and aft. four Sin guns paired in turrets superimposed above those carrying the lSin weapons, 14 din q. in a long main-deck battery protected by oiu armor, and 33 smaller weapons as a protection against torpedo attack. There are no torpedo-tubes. Their speeds on trial, run light, were for the Kentucky 10.8'J knots, for tlu Kearsage 10.84 knots. At a displacement of 12,000 tons the former steamed for four hours at a mean of 10.3 a knots. They co-t .CUOO,OOO each. F.—Oregon. This " old • stager"' is already historical, and knows something of the voyage now being undertaken. She has smelt lire, and her 10,288 tons bears well the age of lifteeu years. On trial she attained 10.78 knots, and al-

though her ends are entirely nnarmoured she is probably quite as valuable as a lighting unit as the Kearsage. The armament includes four 13in., eight Bin., four Oiu., and 30 smaller guns. The torpedo-lubes hav t . all been removed. The armoured cruisers are of three classes, the latest (A) being the Washington and Tennessee, each 15,080 tons, completed two years ago. Class 11 comprises five vessels, of l:j.08O tons each, and class C three vessels, each of 1)700 tons.

the rrw, in the battleships total 12.30U in the monitors 4111, and in the

armoured cruisers 7518—an aggregate .■I -Jii-iss ollicer- and men. For the -ixt I battleships and two armoured crui-iTs now on their way west, no less than 253.000 ion- of coal have been

provided at a cost of three-quarters of a million sterling: of this amount 10M.000 tons is the bet Welsh coal. Of the 4:12,000 eggs. 20.0001b. weight of dehydrated greenstiilfs equivalent to 270,0001b. of fresh vegetables, and the 8000 bu-hels of potatoe-, it is unuecessiry W speak; siilliee it to state that the voyage, costing, as it will, nearly £3,000.000. is the most remarkable ever undertaken in the history of the world—even that of Admiral Rozhdestventsky coming but poorly into second place.