A FIGHTING MONSTER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1803, 2 October 1884, Page 2

A FIGHTING MONSTER.

The new Brazilian ironclad' liiachuelo, built by Messrs Samudu Brothers and said to be the most perlect fighting ship afloat, has just been inspected by Lord Alcestei', Admiral ITay, and other British naval officers. The Rinchuelo is a twin-screw ship, of 6,000 tons displacement and 6,000 power. She is 305 ft long, 521t extreme beam on water-line, and 30ft extreme depth, her displacement tonnage being 5,700 tons at load-line, Her estimated speed with 872 tons of deadweight on board is fifteen knots an hour; but on her official trials sho attained a speed of sixteen and a-half knots with a forced draught. She is protected by armour llin and lOiti thick and her armaments consists of four 9in twentyton breechloading rifle w^'iSrtwo revolving turrets, and sixWKbreechloaders, besides. fifteen machine guns. She also carries Whitehead torpedoes. The hull is built entirelyofSiemens-Martinsteel, and her armour is compound or steel-faced and consists of a belt 253 ft long and llin thick amidship, where it protects the engines, boilers and magazines. It is then reduced to lOiii thick, while, for a depth of -f ft below water-line the the armour is partly lOin and partly 7in thick. Beyond the 250fc of side armour, at both ends inclined armour 3in thick is placed internally at an an«lfl of 15 deg, and reaching from the top of the side armour to the stern and stern respectively. A horizontal deck of 2in steel armor runs through the ship and joiiMk the inclined armor at each eudrw On this are two oval breastworks, built of plates and angles, and proteotm}J>y ]oin armour plates and teak The breastworks are en echelon, j|E&re so carried out as to enable the guns in each turret to command an unbroken fire for 180deg on their own side of vessel, and 50deg on the opposite side, Thus, the whole four guns can be brought to bear ahead or astern, while an all round fire can always be maintained with two guns, and all four of them can be used for broadside firing on either side of the ship. The guns are loaded by hydraulic machinery, and the turrets are revolved by similar means. The engines are 6,000 horsepower indicated, and the ship can run a distance of 4,500 miles witUgt recoaling. I® -