fyxmll WLuivmity pta*g THE GIFT OF iJ&lAdtiJ^ A-.4xih.74 3 Ai/l± Cornell University Library V230 .1158 Report on European dock-yards olin 3 1924 030 752 186 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030752186 REPORT EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS, BY NAVAL CONSTRUCTOR PHILIP HICHBORN, U. S. N. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1886. EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. CONTENTS. 1. ORDERS AND LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 2. NATIONAL DOCK-YARDS. 3. DETAILS, FITTINGS, AND EQUIPMENT OF NAVAL VESSELS. 4. TORPEDO-BOATS. 5. SHIP-YARD APPLIANCES AND TOOLS. 6. BRITISH PRIVATE YARDS. 7. MANAGEMENT OF WORK AND EMPLOYES. 8. IRON AND STEEL WORKS. 9. DOCKS. 10. CONCLUSION. ORDERS AND LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. Navy Department, Washington, June 2, 1884. Sir : It is believed that the interests of the naval service can be materially advanced and much valuable information obtained by send- ing a competent naval constructor to Europe to make a tour of the dock-yards of England, France, Germany, and Italy, for the purpose of observing personally the improvements in naval architecture, particu- larly in the construction of steel vessels of war. The Department has selected you for this special service, and you will proceed to New York, and thence by steamship to England, and make the best and most profitable use of your time in visiting the important Govern- ment and private dock-yards, first obtaining permission from the appro- priate authorities in each case, and examining the improved classes of ves- sels completed, or in process of construction. You will closely observe the arrangements and tools for ship-building, and the fact that the navy- yards of the United States may in the near future require to be fitted with the most modern tools and appliances for steel-ship construction makes it important that you should give considerable attention to that subject, collecting such information on this, and all other matters con- nected with your branch of the service, as you can with propriety. You will carefully note all your observations, and on your return to the United States, which should not be later than October of this year, you will make a general report of the results of your visit. You are desired to acquaint our ministers to England, Prance, Ger- many, and Italy, as well as all other representatives of the United States at the places you may officially visit, with the object of your tour, and ask their kind offices in aiding you as far as possible in secur- ing admission to the establishments which it may be desirable to visit, and such facilities as can be conveniently and properly extended. Your actual expenses will be allowed while absent from the United States in carrying out these instructions, and you will keep an accurate account of your expenses, a taking vouchers where you can conveniently obtain them, and render an account to the Fourth Auditor of the Treas- ury on your return. Very respectfully, WM. E. CHANDLER, Secretary of the Navy. Naval Constructor Philip Hichborn, U. S. N., Navy- Yard, League Island, Pa. 6 eueopean dock-yards. Navy Department, Bureau of Construction and Repair, Washington, June 2, 1884. Sir : The honorable Secretary of the Navy has sent your orders to the Bureau, for its information, with instructions to forward them to you, which duty the Bureau performs with pleasure, believing that you will execute the duty imposed upon you with credit to yourself and profit to the naval service. Wishing you a pleasant and successful trip and a safe return, I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, T. D. WILSON, Chief of Bureau. Naval Constructor P. ETichborn, U. S. N., Navy- Yard, League Island, Pa. Navy Department, Bureau op Construction and Repair, Washington, D. C, June 9, 1884. Sir: While abroad, the Bureau requests that whenever it is possible to obtain plans and specifications of vessels of modern type, whether as a whole or of any details, together with photographs of work in de- tail, or vessels completed, showing their fittings, &c, you will make arrangements to have them sent to the American dispatch agent for payment and transmission to the Bureau ; or, if you deem it best, you can communicate with the Bureau and let it order them direct. Tou should gather all information possible relative to improved tools for steel and iron ship-building, getting plans of tools when possible to do so, even though they may have to be purchased, and obtaining all the illustrated circulars with prices that you can. Should you have an opportunity so to do, ascertain the number and kinds of tools used in the best-fitted dock-yards, both public and private, in the several countries you will visit, and somewhere near the value of such a com- plete plant. Such tools as can only be had by manufacturing them to order, you will ascertain the price at which they can be contracted for, and the time required to prepare and ship them. There will undoubtedly be many things that you will see in the course of your travels which it would be to the best interests of the Bureau to have, or to know where to obtain. In this matter the Bureau relies upon your known good judgment to decide what is best to be done, without losing time by having to communicate with it. Very respectfully, &c, T. D. WILSON, Chief of Bureau. Naval Constructor Philip Hicheorn, U. S. N. Navy Department, Washington, August 15, 1884. Sir : The Department's order of June 2 last, directing you to make a tour of the dock-yards of England, Germany, and Italy, are so modified that you will proceed to Russia in place of Italy ; and, on your return, you will avoid the cholera districts as much as possible. Very respectfully^ WM. E. CHANDLER, Secretary- of the Navy. Naval Constructor Philip Hichborn, U. S. N., London, England. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. Washington, October 12, 1885. Sir : In obedience to the foregoing orders, I have completed a tour of some of the principal public and private dock-yards of Europe, and respectfully submit the following report : After arriving in Liverpool and visiting the docks, which constitute the most interesting feature of the second city of Great Britain, I proceeded to London, and studied the ship-building industry of the Thames. While my application to visit Her Majesty's dock-yards was being forwarded, I went to Sheffield and saw the manufacture of compound armor, as produced by the systems of Cammell and Brown. I then visited Newcastle and the private works on the Tyne. Glasgow was my next center of observation, and in the body of my report will be found the result of numerous visits to the yards of the Clyde, and to the leading makers of ship-building tools in that district. I next crossed to Belfast, Irelaud, and saw the fine yard of Messrs. Har- land & Wolff, and then proceeded through Wales to Pembroke, and returned to London, stopping in succession at the several dock-yards of Devonport, Keyham, and Portsmouth. After visiting Chatham and Sheerness, I departed for the Continent, and visited the German establishment at Kiel, and thence proceeded to St. Petersburg. I came back by way of Paris, examining there the ex- cellent naval collection of the Louvre, and devoting some attention to the system of education for naval constructors in the Ecole Polytech- Dique. Lorient, Brest, and Cherbourg were then visited, and I returned to England and then to the United States. At the suggestion of the Bureau, and by the politeness of the Hon. Secretary of the Navy, Draftsman F. B. King was ordered to report to me for duty in connection with my tour. Since my return he has been of great assistance to me in the preparation of my report; and has performed his duties, both at home and abroad, to my entire sat- isfaction. His services in the future will be of much value to the Gov- ernment from the knowledge gained. In conclusion, it gives me great pleasure to recur to the courtesies received from many sources during this tour, which have added greatly to its enjoyment, and, I trust, to its usefulness as well. Of these afr tentions, so numerous and kind, I prefer to mention none in particular ; because I should inevitably omit many deserving my most sincere ac- knowledgment. I found in every country -which I visited, the most gratifying respect awarded to our national character, and a disposition to forward my professional labors, which I shall long remember as one of the most pleasant features of the tour. I have, sir, the honor to subscribe myself your obedient servant, PHILIP H1CHBORN, Naval Constructor, U. 8. Navy. Chief Con structor Theodore D. Wilson, U. S. N., Navy Department, Washington, D. 0. NATIONAL DOCK YARDS GEEAT BRITAIN. The home dock-yards of Great Britain are Chatham, Sheerness, Ports- month, Devonport aud Keyham, aud Pembroke. Some of these yards have been laid out under great engineering difficulties and at enormous expense, notwithstanding the fact that much of the labor, such as re- clamation and brick-making, has been done by convicts. The total value of the above-named yards was returned on March 31, 1884, afc $63,684,570, under the following heads: Land, $2,324,725 ; buildings, including slips, basins, storehouses, and shops, $55,121,700; machinery (plant), $6,238,145. To this should be added timber and other ma- terial for ship-building and the outfit of vessels, amounting to about $12,000,000, making a grand total of $75,000,000 represented in the dock- yards alone. About 18,000 men were employed throughout the year, and their average pay per day was $1.03. The policy of the British Admiralty is to utilize the yards to their fullest extent ; and, while all the machinery for the ships is supplied by private firms, nearly two-thirds of the ship-building and all the repairs are done at the national yards. The total sum expended in the fifteen years between April 1, 1869, and April 1, 1884, upon new building aud repair of vessels of the royal navy aggregates $179,649,625, to which add $37,745,650 for incidental and establishment charges, making a grand total of $217,395,275, or twenty-eight one hundredths of the total naval appropriation during the same period. Of this armored ves- sels built in dock- yards aggregated $46,078,105; unarmored vessels, $29,219,010, against contract built at $21,035,290 and $23,115,285 re- spectively ; thus indicating that while $44,150,575 were expended on contract work, $173,244,700, or four-fifths of the sum appropriated for building and repairs was alloted to the dock-yards. PEMBROKE DOCK- YARD. (Barbette ships Anson and Howe; partially protected cruisers Thames and Forth.) The best adapted of the British dock-yards for building operations is Pembroke. It comprises 77 acres, and has eleven building slips, which are covered by substantial ship-houses. Having but one dock, no basins, and few shops and stores, it is not a fitting-out yard, and can only be rendered so at very great expense. Vessels built there usually go to Plymouth, Portsmouth, or Chatham to complete. THE ANSON. Two ships of the British Admiral class, the Anson and the Howe, were under construction at the time of my visit. Both were well advanced, and the latter was being made ready for launching. 9 10 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. The Anson is 330 feet long, 68 feet 6 inches beam, and 26 feet 2 inches hold. Her displacement will be 10,000 tons on a load draught of 26 feet 9 inches. The engines are vertical, turning-twin screws, and will in- dicate 7,500 horsepower, and be capable of developing with forced draft 9,500 horse power and a speed of 16 knots. She will carry four 13J-inch 63-ton B. L. R. guns, disposed in two barbettes, one placed for- ward and the other aft. The barbettes are pear-shaped, and between them extends a superstructure in which six 6-inch guns are mounted. The ends of the superstructure are protected by 6-inch compound ar- mor, but the sides are unprotected. The barbettes are built up of sec- tions of steel-faced armor from 12 to 14 inches in thickness, placed at a large inclination from a vertical line. The armor on the water-line and citadel is 18 and 16 inches in thick- ness, ver the citadel an armor deck 3 inches in thickness extends, and over the forward and after parts of the ship there is a similar deck 2J inches thick. Armored tubes, or trunks, 12 inches thick and about 7 feet in diameter, connect the barbettes with the spaces below this deck and protect the hydraulic elevators by which ammunition is passed up to the large guns. In addition to the armament already mentioned, twelve 6-poiinder quick-firing shell guns, eight Nordenfeldts, and two Gardner guns will be carried; there will also be twelve Whitehead tor- pedoes, which are to be discharged from four torpedo ports on the main deck. The coal capacity is 1,200 tons, and the estimated cost is £581,000. THE HOWE. The Howe is of slightly smaller dimensions than the Anson. Her length is 325 feet ; breadth, 68 feet; and the displacement 9,700 tons on a draught of 26 feet 9 inches. The armament and indicated horse- power are identical in the two ships. They are built wholly of steel, and the same plan of construction is carried out in both. The frame may be divided into five portions : That forward and abaft of the double bottom, which is comparatively simple and resembles that of an ordinary merchant ship; that within the double bottom; that ex- tending from the wing-plate of the double bottom to the armor shelf; that in the wake of the armor ; and that above the armor. Within the double bottom a series of longitudinals extend uninter- ruptedly forward and aft, cutting off all the irames and reverse bars. In constructing this portion the brackets and plate frames are built out, section after section, their outer ends resting temporarily upon ribands, by which the shape is retained until the longitudinals are inserted and rivetted up. Forward and abaft the double bottom the longitudinals taper into ordinary keelsons, and the frames are of Z-bars, 6"x3|"x3"xl4 pounds, spaced 3 feet apart. Within the water bottom the frame space is 4 feet. From the wing plate to the armor shelf there are deep web frames, spaced 4 feet, apart, and in the wake of the armor Z-bars 10"x3£x3£"x20 pounds are used at intervals of 2 feet. Above the side armor the principal frames are 7" x 3" x 12-pound angles, 4 feet apart, with an intermediate frame 4"x3"x8 pounds. The armor deck is constructed with a flat portion in the center, from which it descends with a very gentle slope to the sides and lands on the armor, to which it is securely tapped. Forward and abaft of the side armor the deck, maintaining the same cross-section, descends to the ram and the stern-post, and attaches to the side plating at the edges by two stout angles, one above and one below, both legs of the angles being EUROPEAN DOCK- YARDS. 11 double rivetted. With a view to making the plating below this deck secure from injuries which may occur to the parts above, the plating is cut off, iu the wake of the armor deck, and a strip of steel about 3 inches in width is inserted. A multiplicity of water-tight compartments is a conspicuous feature in these vessels, there being sixteen in the double bottom ; and, in ad- dition to numerous athwartship bulk-heads, a longitudinal center bulk- head, runuiug through the middle of the ship and rising to a height of 6 feet 6 inches above the water-line. I found the Howe sufficiently advanced to receive some of her joiner work. With a view to making the skin of the ship perfectly accessible from the inside, the ceiling was being worked in panels and secured by screws in such a way that the interior can easily be inspected. The weight of hull, including armor and backing, is 6,640 tons for the Anson, and 6,330 for the Howe, and the estimated cost of hull and fittings is £475,000 for the former and £440,000 for the latter, or about £70 per ton of weight. THE THAMES. The Thames and Forth, twin screw protected cruisers of the Mersey class, which latter is a development of the Leander in the direction of ad- ditional protection, were also building here. They are of 3,550 tons dis- placement, 6,000 indicated horse-power, and will carry two 8-inch 13-ton and ten 6-inch guns, all breech-loaders. There are also a number of ma- chine-gun towers distributed along the side. In the Leander class the protective deck is but 1£ inches iu thickness, and it extends only over the machinery spaces ; in the Mersey class it runs from end to end, and is composed of two 1-inch layers over the crown, which is nearly fiat, and three 1-inch layers on the sloping sides. It cuts the framing en- tirely off, and is supported on angle bulbs, one on every frame. A double bottom extends throughout the eugine and boiler spaces,, of a construction similar to that of the Anson and tlowe, already de- scribed. The water-tight connection of the inner bottom to the side, however, is made by bending down the inner plate and attaching it to the skin by a continuous angle, the frames being entirely cut off and dependent on a gusset for their attachment to the wing plate. Forward and aft of the double bottom the longitudinals become inter- costals. The frames throughout are Z bars, and this shape is much used in the keelsons also. There is a poop and forecastle and a high waist extending between them. A frame of light beams covers the deck from end to end, and is utilized for the stowage of boats, spare spars, and other purposes. The rig is of the simplest description ; two steel masts with military tops and a small spread of fore-and-aft sail. DEVONPORT AND EE7HAM. (Composite sloops of the Mariner class, the Royalist; a specimen troop-ship, the Am- phion.) The dock-yards of Devonport and Keyham are really one. They con- tain in the aggregate 140 acres, and are connected by a tunnel through which a railway has been laid, and locomotives belonging to the yards transfer materials and men from one to the other. * The accompany- ing plan will give a better idea of the yards than an extended descrip- tion. Keyham has received most of the recent improvements and is-. 12 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. more modern than Devonport ; and in addition to its excellent shops it has extensive fitting-out basins, provided with every facility for trans- porting and hoisting heavy weights. The building slips and most of the dry docks are located in the Devonportyard. One of the latter has just been completed ; it is of excellent masonry, but has the precipitous sides and general inaccessibility which seems inseparable from Euro- pean dry-docks. There is also a large floating platform worked in con- nection with the dry docks, intended to be submerged and used to float out vessels while under repair. It has been but little employed, and was not recommended by the constructors. COMPOSITE SLOOPS. v In the Devonport yard three small composite vessels were building. These were the Mariner, Eacer, and learns, single-screw ships of 950 tons displacement, carrying two 6-inch breech-loading rifles and two 5-inch. The dimensions of these vessels are: Length between perpen- diculars, 167 feet ; breadth, extreme, 32 feet: breadth, molded, 31 feet. Their draught is 11 feet inches forward and 14 feet aft, with a free- board of 6 feet. The engines will be horizontal, compound, surface- condensing, 32" and 54" by 36" stroke, supplied with steam by three boilers, 7 feet 2 inches diameter and 16 feet 9 inches long. Ninety pounds of steam will be carried, and the engines are to indicate 890 horse-power. A brief outline of the construction of these vessels is as follows : There is a flat keel-plate of three-eighths-inch steel, 21 inches wide amidships. To this is attached, by three-fourths-inch copper bolts, an English elm keel, siding 12 inches. The stem is a similar combination of wood and steel, the plate being flanged to receive the hoods. There is an intercostal center keelson, which ends forward in a vertical plate attached to the stem by double angles. The rudder-post is of oak, siding 11 J inches. A composition shoe connects the posts to each other and to the keel of the vessel. The rudder is of wood and has a com- position stock. Wherever steel comes in contact with oak a facing of teak is interposed to prevent corrosion. The transverse frames are 20 inches from center to center throughout the vessel, and are of Z bars, 6^" x 3£" x 3"x 15 pounds per foot. Up to the turn of the bilge they are split and worked at the top and bottom of an ordinary floor-plate, which is of 12J pounds per square foot. The floor-plates are continuous across the center keelson. Every other frame, where it passes through the upper deck, is reduced so as to form a 4" by 3£" augle in the wake of the waist. This is also the case in the poop and forecastle. Sheer- strakejs are worked on the forecastle and poop and along the upper deck; the latter are 18 inches wide and 15 pounds per square foot. The teak planking is put on in two thicknesses, breaking joints all the way forward and aft. The garboard strake is in one thickness of English elm. The fastenings of the inner thickness are of three-fourths-inch naval brass screw-bolts, tapped through the frames and having a nut on the inside. The diameter of these bolts is increased one-sixteenth inch above the thread. They are made of 62 parts of best selected copper, 37 of Silesian zinc, and 1 of tin. They are tested by being bent cold to an angle of 40 degrees. Any slacking back of the nuts is prevented by center-punching* the threads after heaving up. The outer thickness is fastened to the inner by one-half-inch copper bolts riveted on the in- side on composition rings. The heads of .the inside fastenings are kept three-eighths inch inside of the outer surface of the plank, and those of KEYHAM >. ■<.»-■. if ■•;•■■ ■ *. ' •■ * .7". *« - ,J rV^ C7> I) p EUROPEAN DOCK- YARDS 15 THE CAMPERDOWN. "The Oatnperdown was laid down in December, 1882. Nearly 3,000 tons of material have now been worked into the ship. She lias been so far advanced that the spar deck beams are in place, and the plating of the bow is almost finished. The whole of the side bulkheads and hori- zontal armor has also been fitted, while the engine and boiler rooms are practically ready to receive the propelling machinery. At the after part of the vessel the brackets are being fastened off, and the plating above the armor-deck is being closed in. An addition has been made to the stem of the ship above water to enable a torpedo to be discharged right ahead ; and the formation of the side torpedo- ports, of which there are two on either side above water, is being proceeded with. The large and heavily-armored tubes to afford protection to the passage of ammu- nition and the loading-gear are ready to receive the armor, which, with the whole of the armor-plate*, has been supplied by Sir John Brown & Co., of Sheffield. The greater portion of the forty steel-faced plates, each weighing 20 tons, and forming the armor belt at the water-line, have beeu placed ou board, and some idea may be formed of the enor- mous strength of one of the latest proposed additions to the armored ■ fleet. "The Camperdown is one of the largest of her class under construc- tion, being 330 feet in length between perpendiculars, 68 feet 6 inches beam, and will have a displacement of 10,000 tons on a mean draught of 26 feet 9 inches. She is thus longer than the Inflexible and the Colossus, and broader than the latter ; and while her displacement is 1,080 tons less than the Inflexible, her draught exceeds that of either ship. In the horse-power of her engines she will also surpass both ; the contract pro- viding for 9,800 horse-power. She is designed to steam at the rate of 16 knots per hour, and will be fitted for forced draft ; and judging from the result of trials of vessels of the same class already built, the actual result wdl, in all probability, exceed the estimated speed. "The armament of the ship will comprise four 63-ton guns, mounted in a couple of barbettes, and six 6-inch B. L. E. in a covered upper-deck battery, the sides of which are of 1-inch plating, while the ends are formed of armored bulkheads, composed of 6-inch plating to protect the gun crews from a fore-and-aft fire. The battery will also contain four 6-pounder quick-firing guns, and six similar guns will be mounted on the upper deck, while ten 5-barreled 1 inch Nordenfeldts will be disposed between decks in towers projecting beyond the sides of the vessel. " The offensive powers of the Camperdown will be further increased by Whitehead torpedoes, which will be arranged to fire from four broadside positions, and from one right-ahead port cut through the upper part of the stem. The construction of the ship is of the usual type. An ar- mored belt protects the vital parts amidships, while forward and aft there is an armored deck, about 5 feet below the water-line, and extend- ing from the belt to the stem and stern, dividing the hull horizontally. The ends are further subdivided into several small compartments, so that should the bottom be damaged, only a small portion of the hold is likely to be filled with water. No definite period has jet been fixed for the launch, but in all probability it will take place in August, 188ff." THE EDINBURGH AND COLOSSUS. The Edinburgh, formerly known as the Majestic, a turret ship of 9,150 tons displacement and 6,000 indicated horse-power, was in one of the docks. Little was being done on her, as she was awaiting the comple- 16 EUEOPEAN DOCK-YARDS. tion of her sister ship the Colossus. These vessels are of the Inflexible type, having the echelon arrangement of turrets, with a central super- structure extending forward and aft. They carry four 43-ton B. L. B. guns in the turrets, and five 6-inch 4J-ton breechloaders, upon Vavas- seur mounts, with protecting shields. The 43 ton gun fires a projectile of 700 pounds, with a powder charge of 400 pounds, and gives a muz- zle energy of 2,200 foot-tons. The length of these ships is 325 feet; breadth, 68 feet; mean draught, 26 feet. The water-line armor is 18-inch steel faced ; that on the turrets is 14-inch. Sketches are appended, showing the side armor and the dis- position of the internal coffer-dams and cork chambers in the unarmored ends. The estimated speed is 16 knots. The Edinburgh was launched at Pembroke in 1882, having been about three years on the stocks. With the exception of the guns and the torpedo battery, about which there is some delay, both ships may be said to be completed. The mode of managing the breech-plug of the large guns has been under advise- ment since the ships were laid down, and until very lately was still undetermined. That contemplated is said to be something novel and unique. The fittings of the magazines and the ammunition elevators are also in abeyance. The cabins are made of thin steel, not covered with wood, but merely trimmed with light moldings around the blinds and ventilating aper- tures. The engines of the Colossus, buillj by Messrs. Maudslay, Sons & Field, were given their six hours' trial on the 10th of January, 1884, developing a mean indicated horse-power of 7,514. There are two three- cylinder compound engines, 58" and 74", and 74" by 39" stroke. The shafts are hollow, and are made of Whitworth's fluid-compressed steel. The propellers are four-bladed, of manganese bronze, 17 feet 6 inches diameter, and 18 feet 6 inches pitch. The boilers are disposed in four water-tight fire-rooms, and represent a grate surface of 650 square feet. The working pressure is 60 pounds. The mean speed was 16J knots. There is bunker capacity for six days' full steaming, or 2,343 knots. Sir Thomas Brassey has spoken of these ships as " reduced Inflexi- bles." Though smaller and of similar design, they possess several advantages over the more powerful iron-clads. They have higher speed by almost 3 knots. Their 43-ton breech-loaders are not considered much inferior to the 81-ton muzzle-loaders, and in light guns the new ships have the superiority. They carry ten Nordenfeldt and four Gardner maehine guns. In the matter of torpedoes the Inflexible is better equipped, having seven discharging tubes as against two on the Colos- sus and Edinburgh. There are now five ships of this type in the British navy. Immedi- ately upon the launch of the Inflexible, in 1876, the Ajax and Agamem- non, smaller vessels of the same general design, were begun. Their armor ranged from 14 to 18 inches, and their large guns were 38-ton M. L. R. The Colossus and Edinburgh followed, and take rank between the Ajax and Inflexible. They have less power than the Collingwood, al- though their displacement is as great. THE IMPERIETJSE. The Imperieuse, a twin-screw barbette cruiser, of 7,390 tons and 8,000 indicated horse-power, was also completing in one of the docks. She is 315 feet long ; 61 feet beam, molded, and 62 feet extreme ; depth, of hold, 23 feet 11 inches; draught forward, 24 feet 5 inches; aft, 25 V) CO 3xSx& SCALE^INCH= ONE! FOOT 1 — ' 1 ' 1 1 o ^yy o ' o 1 o o tn o o — . 1 ' o - o ?} o o ' ojl o i o;| 1 II o o o o o o — H / 1 V u 1 4i /Q\l I o o o o o vJ \ * v«*yi i — 1 ' o a o 1 ° 1 o o o o o 1 !° fe / ^^ \ o 1 1 1 r> o / \ o o o o o 1 u 1,1 o 1 1 1 1 o oooooooo o ,o ' Q. z 1 lo o o o o o o -tr 1 ■ x 1 111 o o 1 1 fo "1 o o o o o u o 1 1 , -J X o z o . X i Jo! o o oo oooooo o o o o y 1 1 < o u -J -1 OO o 1 1 1 o o ° 1 < 2 o V / 1 1 o 1 o J l-?f-> 1 Oi h o v - — - / o 1 1 1 1 |0| Ul bl 2C o o 1 ' z -I < *,%•* -Q? /^\! 1 o -1 1 fcTj ' 1 \!*y! ^ 1 o ( ) K o v -^| o h V_x o ' ej 1 1 EC > o o IZ 1 ] ; 1 1 / O | | ij 1 s ° I rrTm . rlV . r ..iii-J...'M.l!K""" l '»WM gyjgg 1 U l| o o o o o <^e ■a .W.WM 1.9 Jwro^t^CT»»«crv^w»cg;cgg^^s5a«i«iM»M«ta!SSSSS o 1 o ' 1 o o o o 1 o 1 oi 1 h a — -~- 1 ' i ! IMIW9& n u i ; r r CD CALLIOPE SCALEHlNCH = ONE TOOT H Mis %Jjr. 49 1 u a o j < • z < O o -1 L a Ld u. z o O n tf n z z ^M — z <■« u u < (0 o < r m O »>l- > ^2 O r r wm^ II o 2 "0 I'l n O o H EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 17 feet 5 inches ; her estimated speed is 16 kuots, and she carries a com- plement of 450 men. She is sheathed with two thicknesses of wood, and, at the time of my visit, was being metalled. The armament con- sists of four 18-ton guns, B. L. E., disposed in four barbette towers. Two of the. towers are placed on the center line of the ship forward and aft ; the other two overhang the ship's sides, which are tumbled home ami rounded into the deck to accommodate the fire. There are also six 6-inch gnus, unprotected on the main deck. To avoid all interference with the fire of the forward barbette, an unusual and inconvenient stowage of anchors has beeu adopted ; they are secured in pockets re- cessed in the side. The barbettes are round and are protected by 8-inch compound plates placed vertically. A belt of water-line armor, 8 feet in width and 10 inches in thickness, composed of steel-faced plates, is carried along in the wake of the boilers and engines. At its ends there are, athwartships, bulkheads 9 inches thick. The conning tower is of 10-iuch armor ; and the armored deck, which extends forward and aft, connecting with the stern-post and the ram, is 3 inches on the flat and 4 inches on the slope. The sloping sides descend 4 feet 9 inches under water. The crown is composed of three thicknesses of 1-iuch steel plates fastened with 1^ rivets ; and the sides of a 1-inch plate, having a 3-inch plate above it. The thick plate is secured with tap bolts from the under side. Under this deck is the steering gear, which is further protected by being deeply submerged. The engines are placed amidships, with boilers forward and aft of them. About one-half of the machinery was in the vessel; the remainder was unfortuuately lost at sea in coming from the makers, Messrs. Mauds- lay, of London. It will be complete in January, and the steam trials of the ship are expected to take place early in 1885. A longitudinal center bulkhead extends through the middle of the ship, making two engine-rooms and four fire-rooms. There are four boilers in the after boiler-rooms on either side, fired from the wings ; and six boilers forward fired from the forward ends. She is brig-rigged and spreads a limited amount of sail. THE CALLIOPE. The Calliope, a steel and iron corvette, sheathed with wood, was also visited in this yard. This vessel was laid down in October, 1881 ; launched in June, 1884 ; and will be completed in 1885. She is of 2,770 tons displacement ; and the engines, by Eennie, are to indicate 3,000 horse-power with natural draft. Pour 6-inch B. L. E. are carried on sponsons forward and aft, and twelve 5-inch B. L. E. on the broadsides. There are four Nordenfeldt guns, two on the bridge and two on the bow ; also two Gardner guns,, one 9-pounder and one 7-pounder. The broad- side guns are on Vavasseur carriages and train through an angle of 120 degrees. The estimated speed is 13J knots. I have considered it necessary to give in detail the dimensions and structural arrangements of this ship, as she is one of the latest sheathed ships in the British navy; and vessels of her type, with a reduced draught of water, are suitable for many requirements of the United States Navy. The length between perpendiculars is 235 feet ; extreme breadth, 44 feet 6 inches ; draught forward, 17 feet 5 inches ; draught aft, 19 feet 11 inches. She differs from her sisters, the Canada and Cordelia, in being 10 feet longer. The freeboard is 8 feet 10 inches. The area of midship section is 663 square feet. H. Mis. 237 2 18 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. The framing is partly transverse and partly longitudinal. Some por- tions of each system are continuous and others intercostal. The trans- Terse frames are 3 feet 6 inches apart and are of two sorts. (1) The principal frames, which are composed of a frame angle 3" by 3" by f" and a double reverse bar 2£" by 2£" by £" continuous across the keel, the two being connected by $" footplates, which amidships give way to the longitudinals. The floor-plates are lightened by large holes and connect to the longitudinals by clips 2|" by 2£" by - x y '. At the turn of the bilge this arrangement scarphs to frames composed of an outer angle 8" by 3£" by -§" and a reverse bar 2£" by 2%" by^V" ( st ' e Figures). The 8-inch frame extends up to tbe lower or armor deck, and is attached to it as shown in the sketch. (2) The intermediate frames, which are composed of a frame angle 8" by 3" by \" and a reverse bar i 1 \" by 2 \" by T y, both of which are con- tinuous across the keel, from the steel deck on one side to the same height on the other, cutting away the lower portion of all the longitudi- nals and attaching to the steel deck as shown by sketch. Before station 20 and abaft 49, frame angles 6" by 3" by -|" are em- ployed, extending right up to the rail. In the wake of the steel deck all of the frames are cut off. Above it Z steels are worked, 3 feet 6 inches apart, extending up to the rail and connected to the deck as shown. The longitudinals are as follows : The center keelson consists of a vertical steel plate 24" by §", with three-eighths inch intercostals fitted at the bottom between the 8-inch frames and riveted to the continuous plate; a flat keel-plate 3 feet 6 inches wide by one-half inch thick, is connected by 3" by 3" by f " angles to the vertical plate. The upper flange of these angles is cut away to allow the frames to pass through. On the upper edge of the vertical plate there is a double 3" by 3" by §". The plate is worked in 21-foot lengths, connected by double butt-straps one-fourth inch thick and riv- eted with three fourths inch rivets. The intercostal plates have water- courses 2f incbes in diameter. The first longitudinal on either side of the keel is of the same style of construction as the keel itself. This is illustrated and sizes given in the figures. In every frame space the longitudinal is lightened by a hole 18" by 8", except where butts occur. The second longitudinal is put together in like manner, and the sizes of the plates and angles are given in a sketch. A third longitudinal, 1] inches deep, is fitted as an inter- costal, with a double 2£" by 1\" by T B ¥ ", running on the inside of the frames, and clips to the skin 3" by 3" by §". Where the longitudinals pass through the water-tight bulkheads, angles 3" by 3" by fare fitted as shown in the sketches, and calked. The first longitudinal extends from station 4 to the stufnng-box bulk- head. A longitudinal coal-bunker bulkhead extends from station 20 to station 49. It connects above to the steel deck and below to the inter- costals, which clip to the skin by 3" by 3" by § " angles. The steel protective deck, to which I have alluded, is built in two thicknesses of three-fourths-inch steel. It extends from station 20 to station 49, and rests upon longitudinal girders. Each girder consists of a vertical plate 3 feet 9 inches by three-eighths inch, with double angles, 3" by 3" by §", on its upper edge, and is connected to the deck by a 3J" by 3J" by \" . The ends of the girders are attached to the athwartships bulkheads. The bottom plating is of the usual construction, with inside and out- side strakes; the greater part is of five-sixteenths-inch steel. It is. EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 19 doubled at the bow, on the sheer strake, and in'the neighborhood of the shaft tubes. At the embrasures the thickness is seven-sixteenths inch, and on the forecastle three-eighths inch. The butts are double chain riveted, but the edges are single riveted. The stem is of composition. Two thicknesses of wooden sheathing are worked, of which the inner layer is of teak, 3 inches thick ; the outer is 2 J inches thick, and above the light- water line it is of teak, but below it is not exclusively of that material. The garboards are of English elm.' The outer thickness is worked a little over 2£ inches to allow for fairing. All surfaces of plank which fay against plating or against each other are well payed with a mixture of red and white lead. The edges of the two layers break joints throughout. The inner is fastened with three-fourths-inch iron screw-bolts, spaced as shown. The thread portion of the bolt is reduced one-sixteenth inch. It is tapped through the plate, and further secured by a nut on the inside, which is hove up on a washer and grummet, which is dipped in thick paint. A similar grummet, armed with red lead, is placed under the head of the bolt. The holes require to be carefully drilled and counter- bored to recess the heads of the bolts, which are screwed in with a rachet until the wood is compressed about an eighth of an inch. An oblong slotin the head of the bolt serves for screwing it in. (See sketch.) The head is recessed about three-eighths inch, and the cavity is plugged with red and white lead. The outer thickness is fastened to the inner by five-eighths-inch naval brass wood screws. Every care is taken to prevent action between the composition bolts and the plating. The points are kept one-half inch clear of the skin when hove up. The heads are one-eighth inch below the surface when the planks are faired. Above the water-line the two thicknesses are substituted by a single one of teak, fastened by seven- eighths inch galvanized iron screw-bolts, tapped through the skin with a nut on the inside. The keel is of English elm, fastened with copper bolts, and there is a 4-inch false keel, secured with Muntz metal spikes. The displacement is distributed as follows : Per cent. General equipment 12.2 Armament 5. 6 Machinery 17. 5 Coal 11. 6 Hull 51. 5 Ballast 1. 6 THE POLYPHEMUS. During my stay in this yard the Polyphemus arrived, after a series of trials with her new boilers, in which she attained a speed slightly exceeding 17 knots ; higher results were expected as soon as adjust- ments in the machinery should be completed. This embryo vessel is 240 feet long between perpendiculars; 40 feet beam, and has a draught of 20 feet, at which she displaces 2,640 tons. She has twin-screw en- gines, aggregating 5,500 indicated horse-power. Many modifications have been engrafted upon her original design. On her first arrival at Portsmouth a board was appointed to consider means for using her torpedoes when running at a high rate of speed, and the result of the steam trials demonstrated the inefficiency of the locomotive boilers 20 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. with which tin- ship was at first fitted. The consequences are that the torpedoes are discharged in the wake of a sliding gun-metal guard, by which they are shielded from the pressure of the water until quite clear of the ship, and the boilers, the removal of which almost involved the destruction of the midships portion of the ship, have been superseded by those of common type. Xew bunkers were constructed to suit the changes in the fire-room. The present coal capacity is 113 tons. The system of drainage was completely changed, and an arrangement of electric incandescent lamps and search-lights was made by the Messrs. Siemens. The Polyphemus made a full-power trial of her machinery on the measured mile on May 21, 1885, with very satisfactory results. A speed of 17.817 knots was realized, and the indicated horse-power was 5,521. The steel dispatch vessel Mercury, whose great speed attracted much attention some time ago, was here ready for commission. The Dread- naught was about to relieve the Inflexible as flagship of the Mediter- ranean squadron. The Eupert, Active, Volage, Cordelia, Triumph, and Bacchante, were all ready for sea. Many older vessels were laid up or refitting. Among these the royal yacht Victoria and Albert was under- going extensive repairs both to hull and engine, Messrs. John Penn & Sou supplying new cylinders, and the dock-yard furnishing new boilers. Several Indian troop-ships were also receiving a thorough overhauling. THE HECLA. A ship which invited much attention was the torpedo depot Hecla. Originally a merchant steamer, she was purchased and fitted out by the Admiralty as a floating torpedo store and workshop. She is 39 L feet long, 38 feet 9 inches beam, and has a displacement of 6,400 tons, and engines of 1,760 I. H. P. She carries five 64-pounder M. L. P., and one 40-pounder B. L. E., also a number of torpedo-boats for distribution among the fleet in time of war, a supply of torpedo nettings and all the materials and appliances to ward off or inflict torpedo attack. Her men were found to be of exceptional intelligence, thoroughly schooled in the use and manufacture of all forms of explosive appliances. On the main deck aft there is quite a large machine-shop, with lines of shafting running the light lathes, shapers, and planers required for torpedo manufacture and repair, So highly is this vessel thought of that the building of a new Hecla, or, possibly, the conversion of some of the obsolete iron-clads, like the Warrior, into torpedo transports is spoken of as part of the naval programme of the future. The Active, which was seen here, an iron corvette sheathed with wood, seemed of a type which, with a reduction of draught, is suited to the needs of the United States. She is of 3,080 tons and 4,010 I. H. P. ; The length is 270 feet ; breadth, extreme, 42 feet, and draught of water, 21 feet 4 inches. She is ship-rigged and has full sail power. The speed under steam is about 15 knots, and the armament is eighteen 64- pounders M. L. E. guns. TORPEDO-BOAT DEPOT. At Haslar, on the opposite side of the harbor, the Admiralty^ have fitted up a large property for housing and storing torpedo-boats and light gunboats. The vessels are drawn out of the water on a railway and deposited on a traveling platform, which runs on rails in a wide trench. On both sides extend substantial sheds, in which the boats are h- • o z o o UJ z h u II >■ o I () Ld u 2 0) CO z CC Q. o Li. U o 2 I 0) X h- a O ^** b_ 2 UJ z o <3> --Q=^=i LADDER WAY -#» HEEL OF S \ENHINE hatch /VEN'.Tl /^N EN6I «E HATCH fr^\ LADOtR ~ig) H 1 CAPSTAN w*v W ^ POWDH(^ ^jMOIST PO M Otl/(^j JM0»»T H Mis .^..7 49! MERSEY PLAN OF GUN DECK EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 21 berthed side by side. Each berth is fitted with rails to facilitate the transfer of the boat from the truck. The platform is operated rapidly by steam power, and the same ma- chinery answers for drawing the boat from the water. I was informed that as many as fifteen boats could be housed or launched in an ordi- nary working day. Many twin screw light-draught gunboats were stored here to prevent deterioration, and afford facilities for painting and repair. CHATHAM. (The armorclads Rodney and Hero, partially protected cruisers Mersey, Secern, Are- tltusa, Lea'nder, and Phaeton.) Her Majesty's dock-yard at Chatham is but little inferior to Ports- mouth, having also received an extension during the last ten or fifteen years ; the improvements being still incomplete. More building opera- tions were going on here than at Portsmouth. The Rodney, a ship of the Gollingwood type, since launched, was progressing rapidly. In view of the details already given, regarding similar vessels, a special description is omitted. The Rodney is on the same lines as the Howe. having 9,000 tons displacement and 7,500 I. H. P. A speed of 16 knots is anticipated. The Rodney was commenced on the 6th of February, 1882, and was launched on October 8, 1884, up to which time the hull represents an expenditure of £440,000. She is the second ship of the class ; the (Jollingwood, launched at Pembroke in November, 1882, was the ft i st. Reference has now been made to all of the Admiral class building iu the several dock-yards: the Anson and Howe, at Pembroke; the Col- lingwood and Camperdown, at Portsmouth ; and the Rodney, now com- pleting at Chatham. The Beubow, of 10,000 tons displacement, is building by contract at the Thames Iron Works at Milwall. There are, therefore, six of these powerful vessels. The Benbow will carry the heaviest armament of any ship in the navy, having two 110-ton guns ; her broadside guns are ten 5-inch B. L. R. These ships are rated first-class armor-clads ; but if the line be drawn at 10,000 tons it is necessary to rule out the Collingwood, Rodney, and Howe. None of them will have sails ; there will be one mast, to be used for signaling and machine guns. The Hero, a new Conqueror, was building in one of the docks. The Conqueror herself was approaching completion. She has a displace- ment of 6,200 tons and twin-screw engines of 4,600 I. H. P. She car- ries two 43-ton B. L. R. guns in a single turret. Her length is 270 feet; breadth, 58 feet; draught forward, 22 feet; draught aft, 24 feet. The thickest armor on the water-line is 12-inch. That on the turret is also 12-inch ; all steel faced. Over the citadel there is a lf-inch steel deck, and on the lower deck 2^-inch plating extends forward and aft. The guns of the Conqueror do not possess an all-arouud fire. They are masked by the superstructure which contains the quarters. The turret has an an; of fire of 280 degrees. The Calypso was visited here, being similar to the Calliope, whose dimensions and arrangements have already been described. The Mersey and Severn, building, were precisely like the Thames constructing at Pembroke. The Warspite, a duplicate of the Imperieuse, was in one of the basins completing. The Leander, Phaeton, and Aretbusa, built at Napier's 22 EUROPEAN DOCK- YARDS. yard on the Clyde, were in process of completion. These much-talked- about protected cruisers are of 3,750 tons displacement and have 5,000 indicated horse-power. The armament is ten Cinch breech-loading guns. The ships were built for £144,7(39 each. The Admiralty have since ex- pended £.15.000 on the Leander, which is now fitted for forced draft. SHEERNBSS. (A comparatively unimportant dock-yard; the Swallow, Pijlades and Caroline, the Comus. ) Compared with the dock-yards already mentioned that of Sheerness is comparatively unimportant. It has none of the imposing shops of Portsmouth and Keyham, and the outfit for building vessels is not ex- tensive. However, an amount of interesting repair work was going on ; several composite vessels were completing and one was building. The latter, named the Swallow, is a gun vessel of 1,040 tons displacement, and is 195 feet between perpendiculars, 28 feet extreme breadth, with a draught of 11 feet forward and 12 feet aft. The engines, building by Rennie, will indicate 1,500 horse power under forced draft, and a speed of 13A knots is anticipated. Her coal capacity is 280 tons and the complement 82. The armament consists of eight 5-inch 36-cwt. B. L. The estimate cost of hull is £33,000 aud the contract price of engines £15,000. The construction is essentially the same as the vessels pre- viously described. Two composite corvettes, the Fylades and the Caroline, were nearly completed. They are built on the same lines as the Heroine, Hyacinth, Eapid, Royalist, and Satellite, of 1,420 tons displacement and the fol- lowing dimensions : Length between perpendiculars, 235 feet ; extreme breadth, 38 feet; mean draught, 14 feet 3 inches. The engines are to work up to 1,500 indicated horse-power under forced draft, driving the vessels at a speed of 13 knots. The weight of hull is 786 tons and the coal capacity is 400 tons. The Py lades was begun January 1, 1883, and launched November 5, 1881. She is probably completed by this time. The Caroline's keel was laid October 24, 1881, and her launch took place November 25, 1882. The estimated cost of hull is £54,220 for the Caroline aud £52,020 for the Pylades. The engines are con- tracted for at £13,150 and £16,500, respectively. There is a protective deck, composed of two thicknesses of five-eighths iron over the ma- chinery. The armament is fourteen 5-inch B. L. P.; the vessels are bark rigged. THE C03IUS. The Comus was also at this yard receiving alterations to her battery and being fitted with half turrets forward. She is of the so-called " C" class of corvettes, of which three were built in the dock-yards and six by contract. They are of 2,380 tons displacement, built of iron aud steel, and wooden sheathed. Their dimensions are : Length between perpendicular. 225 feet ; breadth, 44 feet 6 inches ; draught, 18 feet 10J inches. They are single screw, with about 2,300 indicated horse- power and a speed of 13 knots. The Comus was laid down in August, 1876, built by John Elder & Co., of Glasgow, and commissioned iu October, 1879. Her cost ready for sea was : Hull, $423,085; machinery, $147,780: masts, rigging, boats, &<:., $49,700; total cost, $020, 505. The running repairs during the vessel's four years! commission in the Pacific aggregated $s,2"n, of which $0,030 was on the hull, $1,270 on engines and boilers, and $970 on spars, boats, and rigging. <5 CTvZs/Lc-tZ^&L, ^^in^U^c^fZ, c-l r f^x^- $ tton^Mvia, d WoAe&y,*, gjQcU* /*~~*C ~ 6~rvc A &&* © © © <°> <5> <°> A © o © o o <5> <2> © © © © © © & ® ^^f ^g 5 c n/Ni -H t O L^N g-t-*^fc«<&- S^-citt: ytJ-A'T^ A gUcA^- M~* e £■ .. JLsJLfi. H Mis J-1.749 i EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 23 GERMANY. The imperial navy of Germany dates from October 1, 1867, from which time up to the present about $140,000,000 has been expended upon the naval establishment, with the result that Germany now ranks as the fourth naval power. The dock -yards are WilhelmshaTen, on the North Sea, and Kiel and Dantzic, on the Baltic. The site for Wilhelmshafen was purchased from Oldenburg iu 1854, but work upon it was not begun until 1860. Upwards of $20,000,000 has been laid' out in basins, dry- docks, buildings, and other requirements of a first-class dock-yard. KIEL. (The Adler, DeutscMand, Hohenzollern , Alexandrine, ; Chinese iron-clads, Ting Yuen and Chen Yuen.) In 1865, when Prussia took possession of Holstein, it acquired the harbor of Kiel, which offered the most favorable location for a dock- yard in the Baltic. The harbor is nearly 10 miles in length, 1 mile iu width, and of great depth of water. The dock-yard is situated at Eller- beck, on the east side of the harbor. It is still iu a transition state, being only partly developed. Some excellent buildings have been erected, but are incomplete in their outfit of tools. Kiel employs about 3,000 men, of whom 1,200 are in the department of construction and repair. Several ships have beeu built at Kiel. The Adler, one of these, full ship rigged, was in the harbor at the time of my visit. A similar vessel, denominated a cruiser corvette, was on the stocks and well advanced. The hull is of iron and steel except the stern-post and stem, which are of bronze. The iron skin is double planked and copper sbeathed. Her dimensions are 231 feet 5 inches between per- pendiculars; 41 feet 6 inches breadth ; and displacement, 2,335 tons on a mean draught of 16 feet 5 inches. The engines are calculated to develop 2,400 indicated horse-power and a speed of 14J knots. The battery consists of twelve loug 15-centimeters on broadside, one 8.7- ceutimeter in the bow, and one 8.7-centimeter in the stern, beside which the ship will also carry four machine guns and a torpedo-launching ap- paratus. This corvette was launched February 7, 1885, and christened theAlexandrina. Hercost, exclusiveof armament, will be about $475,000. The Deutschland was undergoing extensive repairs. She is of 7,700 tons; 280 feet between perpendiculars; 62 feet 4 inches beam ; 24 feet 6 inches hold. The armor varies from 11 inches to 6 inches. She is pro- pelled by twin-screw engines of 8,000 indicated horse-power, collectively, and carries eight 10-inch Krupp guns in a central battery. The coal capacity is about 700 tons and the speed is 14J knots. The Hohenzollern, the Emperor's fine iron paddle yacht, was being handsomely fitted out. She is 268 feet long on the water-line, 32 feet 10 inches beam, and 22 feet 4 inches hold. The indicated horse-power is 3,000 and the speed is about 16 knots. TING YUEN AND CHEN YUEN. The two barbette ships, Ting Yuen and Ghen Yuen, built at the Vulcan Iron Works at Stettin for the Chinese Government, were in the harbor, detained through international complications growing out of the Franco- Chinese quarrel. They are powerful vessels, notwithstanding their mod- 24 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. erate displacement. They are built on the same lines, and their dimen- sions are as follows: Length between perpendiculars, 298 feet 7 inches; breadth, 60 feet i inch ; depth in hold, 24 feet 3J inches ; mean draught, 20 feet; displacement, 7,430 tons. The hull is built of iron and divided into 200 water-tight compartments. TUe casemate is 138 feet in length, protected by compound armor 14 inches thick at the water-line, tapering to 8 inches at 5 feet below the water-line, and 10 inches at the top of the citadel 8 feet 3 inches above the water-line. The deck arrangement is very much like that of the Edinburgh, the superstructure and echelon disposition of the battery being very similar, although barbettes have taken the place of turrets. The barbettes carry 12-inch compound armor, and the main deck, forward and aft of the casemate, is 3 inches thick, curving down forward and connecting with the ram 11 feet below water. The armament consists of four 30J- centimeter guns, two in each barbette, and in the bow and stern one 15- centimeter Krupp gun under a steel shield. The twin-screw engines are three-cylinder, receiving steam from eight cylindrical boilers which are placed in four water-tight compartments. The indicated horse-power is collectively 6,200, driving the vessel at a sea speed of 14 knots. They have two masts, lightly rigged. Anchor davits and cat-heads are done away with, instead of which there is a revolving beam pivoted on the center line of the ship, running ou a racer on the top of the superstruct- ure forward; essentially a cat-head, which can be swung around and stowed amidships. The Ting Yuen was begun March 31, 1881, launched December 28, in the same year, and made her trial trip May 18. 1883. RUSSIA. The navy list of liussia is formidable in the number of vessels aud men, which places the nation third in the rank of naval powers. The apparent navy aggregated at the beginning of the present year three hundred and seventy vessels of all descriptions, but a cursory exami- nation reveals the fact that probably not more than one hundred and twenty, exclusive of torpedo-boats, can properly be classed as vessels for offensive and defensive warfare. The fleet is composed of two chief divisions, the Baltic and the Black Sea; in addition to which are the Siberian and White Sea flotillas. The Caspian and Aral flotillas have probably passed out of existence by this time, and are not included in the total of ships. The Baltic division is, of course, the most impor- tant, while the Black Sea, neglected since the Crimean war, has within the past few years been considerably strengthened ; and the programme of Grand Duke Alexis and Admiral Tshestiakoff will in a few years develop in the Bussian navy a higu degree of efficiency. The naval depot of the Baltic divi&ion is at Cronstadt, 16 miles distant from St. Petersburg, although the vessels are built at the capital. ST. PETERSBURG. (The old and new arsenals ; new iron-cluds ; corvettes Vittuz and lii/utln ; iron-cluds Xachimoff and Dmitri Donnkai.) There are two navy-yards at St. Petersburg, one of which is large and tolerably well appointed; the other is now closed as a Government yard, but two imperial corvettes are being built in it by contract. EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 25 Neither establishment is suitable for a fitting-out yard, though the- former establishment was, until recently, so used. The shoals of the Neva prevent vessels of even moderate draught from passing from the yards, and ships launched at St. Petersburg have frequently been floated down to Uronstadt on a dock. In the yard first mentioned the keel was being laid for a ship of the British Admiral type, but no other work was in progress. The length of this ship will be 325 feet between perpendiculars ; breadth, 67 feet ' t mean draught, 23 feet; displacement, 8,650 tons; indicated horse-power, 8,000 ; estimated speed is 15 knots. Unlike the Admirals, the armor-belt extends the whole length of the water-line, and is 14 inches thick amidships. The armored deck is 3 inches thick; the armament consists of four 12-inch guns, disposed in two barbette towers, and worked on the disappearing principle, which is adopted in all the Eussian armored ships now building. The bar- bettes will rest on a deck above the armored deck, between which and the barbettes armored tubes will extend. On the same deck with the barbettes will be a number of 6-inch guns. VITIAZ AND RTNDA. The sheathed corvettes already mentioned, called the Vitiaz and Bynda, were almost ready for launching. They have a displacement of 2,880 tons ; length on water-line, 265 feet; breadth, 45 feet ; depth, 24 feet; draught forward, 14J feet; aft, 18J feet; area of immersed mid- ship section, 580 square feet. The engines are horizontal, three cylinder, compound ones, of 3,000 indicated horse-power, turning a single screw, 16 feet in diameter, at eighty-six revolutions per minute. Steam of 80 pounds pressuie is furnished by ten boilers of two furnaces each. There is bunker ca- pacity for 500 tons of coal, of which the estimated daily consumption^ at full speed, 15 knots, is 60 tons. There is a full, ship rig, the area of the principal sails being 18,000 square feet; nine boats will be carried, two of which are torpedo- launches. Ten 6-inch B. L. B. guns and four 3£-inch B. L. B. constitute the armament. The larger guns have a length of 32 calibers; the powder charge is 38 pounds, and the shell weighs 81 pounds. They also carry eight Hotchkiss guns and twelve Whitehead torpedoes. The ships are built entirely of Eussian steel, except the keel-plates and the rivets, which are of iron. A double bottom extends under the engines and boilers, and a protective deck, 1J inches thick, protects them from above. The stern-posts are of gun-metal, but the stems are of iron, The price, without rigging, boats, or outfit, is $972,500 for the hull; and for the engines and boilers $389,000, or $1,361,500 for each vessel.. The price is high, because all the materials are required to be of Eussian manufacture. The vessels are sheathed and coppered. The wood is worked on in two thicknesses in the manner shown in the accompanying sketch. Z bars, in this case of a true Z-sectiou, are worked fore and aft over the hull, allowing spaces between them of.about 2J feet. In these spaces wooden chocks, 3£ inches thick and 12 inches wide are fitted in a vertical position, and secured by a wedge or key driven 'into a space prepared for it in the heel of the chock. The inner layer being in posi- tion, is thoroughly calked, and then coated over with tar or composi- tion, and the outer layer is worked on longitudinally and fastened with wood screws in the usual way. This system of sheathing is the general practice of the Eussian Admiralty, which earnestly advocates sheathed 2Q ' EUROPEAN DOCK- YARDS. ships, having found no paint with satisfactory anti-fouling properties, and having little faith in the brushes employed in some recent inven- tions for cleaning bottoms afloat, which take off the paint in the at- tempt to remove the weeds and barnacles. ADMIRAL NAOHIMOFF. Opposite the yard where the corvettes were building is the extensive property of the Baltic Iron Works. Here an armored cruiser of the Warspite type, the Admiral Nachimoff, was on the stocks, having been begun in April, 1883. The hull is chiefly of iron and steel, with double sheathing put on in the manner already described. The stem and stern-post, of composition, were admirable, castings, the former being in one piece, including the ram and the attachment to the armor- deck, and weighing about 32 tons. The dimensions of the Admiral Nachimoff are: Length between perpendiculars, 333 feet; extreme breadth, Gl fee' ; mean draught, 25 feet; and displacement, 7,781 tons. The compound armor is 10 inches on the side, 9 inches on the barbettes, and the protective deck is 3 inches. The engines, of 8,000 indicated horse-power, will be similar to those of the Peter the Great, and are calculated to give a speed of 16 knots. The armament consists of four 9-inch B. L. K., in four barbettes, ten 0-inch on the broadside, and four 4- pounders and six machine guns. The vessel is brig-rigged, with a sail area of 20,000 square feet. The coal capacity is 1,300 tons, and her boats include two torpedo boats, two steam launches, and eight ordinary boats. The contract x>rice is 2,625,000 rubles, and the launch is fixed for September, 1885. DMITRI DONSKOI. • The Dmitri Donskoi, a partly armored frigate launched at St. Peters- burg in August, 1883, was floated to Oronstadt on August 7 by means of a dock. The hull is built of iron and steel, and is of f he following dimensions : Length between perpendiculars, 296 feet ? inches ; breadth extreme, 52 feet; depth of hold, 32 feet; draught aft, 25 feet; draught forward, 21 feet; displacement, 5,709 tons. The compound armor weighs 400 tons, and was contracted for at 312,000 rubles. It forms a belt from stem to stern, 7 feet in width, varying in thickness from 6 inches to 4J inches, backed by 24 inches of teak. The armament in- ( eludes two long 8-inch, guns, pivoted amidships, fourteen 6-inch on the side, and no less than ten machine guns, and several 4 and 9 pounders. The engines will indicate 7,000 horse-power, and are estimated to propel the vessel at a speed of 16 knots. There are six double-ended boilers, 17 feet long and 14 feet in diameter. She is full ship-rigged and carries coal sufficient for twenty days at 10-kiiot speed. Her complement will 612 officers and men. • THE BLACK SEA. (Naval station at Sebastopol, Nicolaieff, and New Russia; iron-clads Sinope, Tclieame, and Catharine II, &c.) The naval stations in the Black Sea are at Nicolaieff and Sebastopol. Another station is shortly to be located at Novorossijk (New Russia), the site of which is in the province of Oircassia, and within 50 miles of the strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The dock-yard at Sebastopol is being rapidly reconstructed to its former importance, H Mis M-T 491 7 RUSSIAN SYSTEM OF SHEATHING*. SCALE. ONEINCH=ONEFOOT, EUROPEAN DOCK- YARDS. 27 and two ironclads theSiuope and Tchesme, of S,500 tons, are iu course of construction under contract. Their dimensions are : Length between perpendiculars, 314 feet ; breadth, 69 feet ; depth from upper deck, 42 feet ; mean draught, 25 feet. They will be twin screws, with engines of 9,000 indicated horse-power and a speed of 14 knots. The armor for the side and barbettes weighs 2,192 tons, and is being delivered, one- half by Brown & Co., of Sheffield, the other half by the Baltic Engineer- ing Works of St. Petersburg. The armor extends from stem to stern, and is of 18 inches maximum thickness, on the barbettes 14 inches, and the protective deck is 3 inches thick. The engines for the Tchesme are being built in Belgium, and those of the Sinope by Napier, Glasgow. The armament will consist of six 12-inch guns on the disappearing principle, mounted in pairs at the corners of a large triangular breast- work or barbette. This stands on top of a rectangular citadel, which protects the hydraulic machinery for working and loading the guns ; five torpedo tubes and an assortment of machine and light guns com- plete the armament. The cost of these vessels is given at 3,217,500 rubles, both ships to be ready for delivery before the close of 1886. At Nicolaieff two still larger ironclads, Catharine II and another not yet named, are being built. The Catharine II will be of 9,990 tons displacement, 320 feet long between perpendiculars, or over all ■341 feet 9 inches, 09 feet broad, and 25 feet mean draught. The engines are of the same horsepower as those of the Tchesme, and are being built at the Baltic Works, St. Petersburg. Iu these vessels, as in the corvettes already mentioned, the Eussian Government exhibits its determination to develop the national resources of ship-building material. Eussian steel and Eussian wood aie em- ployed exclusively, and vessels have lately circumnavigated Europe from Archangel to Xicolaieff with cargoes of ship-timber. FKAKCE. There are five dock-yards in Frauce, in the following order of im- portance: Cherbourg, on the English Channel; Toulou, on the Med- iterranean ; Brest, near the English Channel ; Lorient and Eochefort, on the Bay of Biscay. They have collectively an area of over 900 acres, ■contain twenty -four stone dry-docks, and are complete iu all the require- ments for building, repairing, fitting out and preservation of ships, and the manufacture of the stores and articles required for a navy. The o.uays, basins, and slips are of the most substantial character, which if du- plicated iu the United States would require decades and several hundred millions of dollars. In France, convict labor has been largely utilized in such national work, while besides, the wages of free labor are suf- ficiently low to accomplish a great deal of work at an outlay which in this country would be regarded as insignificant. Ship- building for the navy is chiefly done at the dock-yards. Of the fifteen ironclads build- ing and completing at the present time, only two are by contract, and nearly all the machinery is built at the Government machine shops at Indret. The number of men employed has averaged 25,000 for ten •years past, the number being 22,850 during 1884, at an average per diem of 52 cents, which is somewhat less than the wages paid by private firms. The total amount to be spent on ship-building for the current year is $6,750,000. 28 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. LORIENT. (Iron-clada Hoclir, Formidable, Brennus, Indomptable, Etoile ; armored gunboat Fusee. ) The dock-yard of Lorient is at the northern part of the Bay of Biscay, and is situated between the rivers Blavet and Scorff. Its environment strongly resembles that of Portsmouth, N. H. In common with other French naval establishments, it is also a military station, the general term of arsenal being applied to the property occupied by both divis- ions of the service. The dock-yard is situated on both sides of the river, communication being effected by cheap floating bridges. The area is about 120 acres, that upon the west side being much the larger (see accompanying plan). On this side are the principal shops and two dry-docks of moderate capacity. The east side contains the building yard, in which there is ample slip accommodation for building a whole fleet of vessels at once. None of the berths are covered by permanent ship-houses. An extemporized structure is usually erected over the vessel in process of construction. Such houses are necessarily con- tracted and very poorly lighted. Two shops, respectively 492 feet by 164 feet, and 230 feet by 230 feet, contain the furnaces and the ship- building tools. The latter are well selected, and of their character I shall have occasion to speak under another head. In this portion of the yard there are also a spar-shed and a pond for masts. Three powerful vessels are building at Lorient — the Hoche, the Formi- dable, and the Brennus. The first two are well advanced. THE HOCHE. The Hoche is a fully-rigged twin-screw ship, of 9,804 tons displace- ment, 328 feet long on the water-line, 64 feet 5 inches beam, and 43 feet 3 inches hold. The draught will be 27 feet 2 inches. Her estimated speed is 16 knots. The coal capacity is 800 tons, and the steaming endurance is 3,500 knots, at 10 knots speed. The armament will be three 13f-inch B. L. Ii., in three barbettes, and eighteen 5J-inch guns unprotected. The armor, which varies from 17f inches to 15jf inches, is of compound plates. THE FORMIDABLE. The Formidable, a twin-screw barbette and broadside ship, is the most powerful vessel of the French navy, having a displacement of 11,441 tons. She is fully rigged, and has a length of 319 feet 6 inches, a breadth of 68 feet 3 inches, and a mean draught of 26 feet 2 inches. Her side armor ranges from 21 g inches amidships to 15 inches forward, and 13f inches aft. The barbettes are 17 inches, and the deck armor varies from 4 inches to 3 inches. She will carry three guns, variously stated at from 75 to 100 tons, and twelve aj-inch guns and eight machine guns. The estimated speed is 15 knots. She will probably be launched in 1885. THE BRENNUS. The Brennus will be a fully-rigged barbette and broadside ship, pro- pelled by twin screws. The displacement is 9,780 tons at 25 J feet draught." The water-line armor is 17| inches, and the armament con- sists of four 48-ton guns, B. L. B., and numerous light guns. The K.y:A D E .. B E : . L ^ R I E N T : H Mis Mj. 49 1 PLAN OF LORIENT. EUROPEAN' DOCK-DARDS. 23 estimated speed is 16 knots. She will be built wholly of steel, the ships just mentioned being part steel and part iron. The heel had not been laid at the time of my visit, although the blocks were pre- pared. An experiment was in progress to determine the advisability of fitting three screws instead of two. The model for this purpose, made on a scale of one-tenth, and provided with engine and boiler and three two-bladed screws, was inspected. It presents the full U-shaped frames forward and hollow buttocks aft, which are character- istic of French practice. All of the ships just mentioned are remark- able for their extreme tumble-home of sides and very projecting rams. The stems are carried out to a perfect knife edge, and are weak on ac- count of their excessive protrusion. Several small vessels were building at Lorient, some composite and others wholly of wood. One of the former, the Etoile, was constructed on the same method as the English composite vessels already described ; her frame, however, was of channel bars, a shape much used by the French not only for frames, but for beams and even for stanchions. The use of this section secures lightness, just as the Z-bars do, now so largely employed in English war vessels; and it is doubtless a more convenient shape to work on the slab, but the beveling must inevita- bly be bad, owing to the rounding of the flange, which is bent inward. Channels are. moreover, a more difficult shape to roll, and facility in this respect is likely to be purchased at the expense of a proper depth of flanges, or by giving them an excessive draught or taper. A large sailing vessel of wood was on the stocks, intended, I under- stand, for a school ship. THE 1NDOMPTABLE. The Indoinptable, launched in 1883, was receiving some of her armor. She is a twin-screw barbette ship of 7,184 tons, drawing 23 feet 6 inches. This coast-guard vessel is 279 feet long ; 59 feet beam ; and 24 feet 7 inches, hold. The water-line armor is 19f inches, and that on the bar- bettes 17f inches. She will be armed with two 16£-inch guns of 75 tons each and sixteen light guns. The heavy guns are disposed in two bar- bettes, with a superstructure between them, as in the Collingwood and her class. The complement is 300 men. The engines will indicate 4,800 horse-power and give a speed of 14J knots. The coal capacity is 500 tons. Iron and steel enter into the construction. She has no rig, two signal masts only being fitted. /THE FUSEE. The Fusee, a barbette gunboat of steel, launched in 1884, was com- pleting and calls for some description. Her dimensions are : Length between perpendiculars, 165 feet; breadth, 32 feet 9 inches ; depth of hold, 10 feet 4 inches, and displacement, 1,028 tons on a draught of 10 feet 4 inches. Along the water-line extends a very narrow belt of 9. 45- inch armor ; at the top of this a protective deck is worked, and for 2 or 3 feet above the side is protected by an asbestos coffer-dam. Above this again the side tumbles home quickly and rounds into a sort of dome or roof, of thin plating, which covers the vessel forward and aft, and from which the barbette emerges forward by about a foot. In the space between the armored deck and the roof the quarters are located. The armor on the barbette is 3.28 inches thi<*.k. The barbette mounts one 10.63-inch, 27-ton gun. Beside this heavy gun the vessel also carries 30 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. one 90-millimeter aft, and two 37-millimeter Hotchkiss guns, one of tbe latter on tbe signal mast and the other in tbe conning tower. Tbe Fusee has twin-screw engines of 1,500 indicated horse-power, collectively, and is expected to make 14 knots. She carries 46 tons of coal, and has a complement of 70 men. The cost of bull and outfit is $216,000; engines, $105,000 ; armament and stores, $19,500. There is no rig except a signal pole. She is rated a second-class gunboat. Tbe. first class is of 1,600 tons displacement and carries '200 tous of coal. BREST. (Iron-clads Neptune, Amiral Baudin, Devastation ; the unarmored cruiser Sfux, &cs.) The dockyard at Brest is situated at the mouth of. a small inlet, on the north side of the Rade de Brest. Ou the east side of the town is the commercial harbor, protected by a breakwater; to the west the arsenal, which occupies both sides of the inlet just mentioned, up which it extends for a distance of a mile or more. The situation is a. peculiar one. The surrounding country being high, the dock-yard is narrow and very long, and the shops and stores are placed at different elevations on the precipitous sides. Although several floating bridges are pro- vided, the long and narrow character of the yard makes some portions of it rather inaccessible. The area is stated at 145 acres. The dry- docks and some ol the. smaller buildiug slips are on the western side, on which are also the machine shops, situated on an elevated terrace, from which a large stone arch has been sprung out to the water's edge, and fitted with a powerful crane for handling the machinery of vessels. The larger building slips and the shops containing the ship tools are well up the inlet on the east side. Great additions had recently been made to this department, and tbe new and extensive buildings were being stocked with superior tools. A general plan of the yard is pre- sented, but it does not show some of the latest improvements. THE NEPTUNE. The Neptune, a full-rigged, twin-screw barbette ship, was completely plated, and was under one of the improvised ship-houses already spoken of. This ship, which will be launched during the present year, is built of iron and steel, and has a displacement of 10,375 tons on a mean draught of 25 feet 3 inches. Her water-line armor, which was being taken off in templates at the time, will be of compound plates of 17f inches maximum thickness. There will be three barbettes, each con- taining one 40-ton gun, protected by 15|-inch compound plates. She will also carry eighteen 5£-inch guns. The estimated speed is 16 knots. The coal capacity is 800 tons, and at 10 knots' speed she is expected to steam 3,500 knots. THE AMIRAL BAUDIN. The Amiral Baudin, launched June 5, 1883, was approaching com- pletion. This twin-screw barbette ship is a very powerful vessel of nearly the dimensions of the Formidable, building at Lorient, having a displacement of 11,380 tons on 25 feet 9 inches draught, and the same armor, armament, and power. mMW-'E : '-' D E B R E &T H Mis .42^49 PLAN OF BREST. H. Mis. 237, 49, 1. DEVASTATION. EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 31 THE DEVASTATION. 1 The Devastation was at the quay, ready for sea, about to depart for China. This flue casemated barbette ship was commenced in 1876 and launched in August, 1879. [n accordance with the French practice of that period, the frames are of steel and the plating of iron. The dis- placement on a mean load draught of 24 feet is 9,639 tons. The water- line armor is 15-incti ; that on the casemate is 94-inch. She carries four 32-centimeter guns in the casemate; two 27-centimeter guns in half tur- rets and six 14-centimeter guns. The complementis 600 men. Her twin- screw engines develop over 6,000 indicated horse-power, and give a speed of nearly 15 knots. The coal capacity is 600 tons. She is ship- rigged, and has a large spread of canvas. The Tempete and Tonnerre, coast-defense vessels of the turreted type, were also visited at this yard. THE SFAX. The Sfax, an unarmored cruiser, launched May 26, 1884, was fitting out for service on the coast of Tunis. As long ago as 1872 one of the chief constructors designed and suggested a corvette of this class as- more economical and quite as efficient as the frigates Duquesne and Tourville, which were imitations of the Inconstant and Shah, of the English navy, these latter again owing their construction to the Warn- panoag and class of the United States. Bertin's ideas were followed in the Sfax, which is admitted to be of far greater military value than the Duquesne, although of 1,280 tons less displacement. The hull of the Sfax is built entirely of steel, wood sheathed and coppered. She has a steel deck, 1.57 inches thick, over the machinery, boilers, magazines, &c. Between this and the gun-deck the space is divided into water- tight cells by means of seven longitudinals and sixteen athwartship bulk-heads, the spaces serving as coffer-dams, coal-bunkers, and store- rooms. The principal dimensions of the ship are as follows : Length between perpendiculars feet.. Extreme breadth do . . - Depth in hold to protective deck do . . . Mean draught do... 22fi Trim do... 5^. Area of immersed midship section square feet.. 820 Displacement tons.. 4, 428 The armament consists of guns of the 1881 model, of which six 16-cen- timeters are carried on the spar-deck, four in half turrets, and two in re- cessed bow-ports nearly abreast of the foremast. On the gun-deck are ten 14-centimeter guns. The lighter armament is composed of eight machine guns. The two engines are separated by a longitudinal water-tight bulk- head. The propellers have a diameter of 17 feet 7 inches, and a pitch of 20 feet 10 inches. With 90 revolutions, under forced draft, a speed of 16| knots and 7,500 indicated horse-power is anticipated, while un- der natural draft a speed of 15 knots with 5,000 horse-power is ex- pected. The boilers are cylindrical, six in number, each having two furnaces, with a total grate surface of 537.3 square feet, and a heating surface of 18,807 square feet. The ordinary coal supply is 536 tons, which, however, can be increased to 800 tons, sufficient to take the ves- sel 6,200 miles at a speed of 10 knots. -32 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. The chief component weights of the displacement are : Tons. Hull, including the protective deck 2, 067 Armament -46 Engines and boilers 960 Coal 536 Rigging and boats 1 220 Crew, provisions, &c f 256 Filling of coffer-dam 123 Total 4,408 The surplus of 20 tons goes to fittings for torpedo-tubes above and below water. The Sfas is full rigged. The cost of hull was 2,075,925 francs, of which 1,075,925 was for material ; and the total cost ready for sea will be about 5,000,000 francs, or $950,000. CHERBOURG. (Iron-clads Furious, Amiral Vauban ; corvette Dubardieit •.; small gunboats. ) Cherbourg is the most imposing of the French dock-yards ; having a number of basins and dry-docks it more nearly resembles Portsmouth or Devonport. It has an exposed situation and is entirely an artificial port. A very expensive breakwater, defended by fortifications, protects it from the sea. The land approaches are also strongly fortified. Neither the port nor the dock-yard can be said to have natural advan- tages. They owe their present position to Napoleon I, under whose direction many of the present works were begun and prosecuted in the face of great difficulties and at enormous cost. The area is stated at 256 acres, comprising, besides numerous buildings and shops, eleven slips, eight dry-docks, and three basins. The latter have been exca- vated from the solid rock and are faced and coped with massive gran- ite. Some of the slips have permanent ship-houses. THE FTJRIETJX. In one of the dry-docks the Furieux was receiving her armor ; to facili- tate this work the dock had been substantially decked over at the height of the armor shelf and a railway laid for transporting the plates on a truck. This ship was launched in 1883. She is a single-screw turret ship, with a displacement of 5,605 tons on a mean draught of 23 feet 9 inches. The water-line armor is 17f-inch compound plate, and the single turret will have 13-inch compound armor and will contain two 48-ton guns. Her engines are to develop 3,500 indicated horse-power and the speed will be about 12 knots. She will carry 290 tons of coal. The complement of men will be 163. This ship is built of iron and steel. Several lightly framed gunboats, of 300 or 400 tons, were construct- ing, and a very remarkable single-screw wooden ship of 3,351 tons dis- placement, called the Dubardieu, which has since been launched. She is 253 feet long, 47 feet beam, and 23 feet draught. The frame and skin of the ship are of wood; the bulkheads, hatch coamings, and beams are of iron, the latter attaching to the side by an iron shelf plate and angle clips. The battery will consist of twenty-two 6-inch guns and four 7- inch, besides revolving cannon on the spar-deck. Her three-cylinder compound engines, now being made at Greusot, will indicate 3,300 horse- FRENCH CRUISER, S FAX. H Mis MJ. 49 ■* ■ _ so' *• • * * - $ o FRENCH CRUISER/SFAX. SCALE Of FEET. c5 D O m x u L. O Z < CD EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 33 power. The estimated speed is 14£ knots. The cost complete is given as $753,600. I considered her an admirable vessel, combining many of the advantages of iron and wood. THE AMIRAL VATJBAN. The Amiral Vauban, launched early in 1884, was completing in one of the docks. She is of 5,776 tons displacement, being a sister to the Duguesclin. Her mean draught is 23 feet 3 inches. The water-line is protected by 9f -inch armor, and the barbettes by 8-inch plates. Pour 15-ton guns are carried in four barbettes. The complement of men will be 450. The twin-screw engines are to develop 4,000 indicated horse- power and a speed of 14 knots. She will carry 400 tons of coal, and her rig will be that of a brig. The Fulminant, sister to the Tonnerre, and a large flotilla of gunboats, resembling the Fusee, were at this yard. Many of these were sheathed and metaled. H. Mis. 237 3 DETAILS, FITTINGS, AND EQUIPMENT OF NAVAL VESSELS. The joiner- work and cabin fittings of a British war vessel are usually of a plain finish. Hard wood is the exception and paint is the rule ; and the presence of guns in the captain's or admiral's quarters, and the frequent intrusion of the Stone pumps into the ward-rooms, manifest a willingness on the part of officers to sacrifice appearance and sometimes comfort also to the higher claims of naval efficiency. Much more elab- orately finished, but still with a due regard to warlike purpose, the ves- sels turned out by British private yards for the Brazilian and Chilian Governments present cabin ornamentation consonant with the richer taste inherited by the South American from his Spanish ancestors. In this respect French vessels are more subdued than might be expected from conventional opinions of the national character ; and the ships of Germany, Italy, China, and Japan, which I had an opportunity of in- specting, had cabins whose finish was usually quiet and sometimescheap. Thin iron or steel bulkheads are used in many of Her Majesty's ships as partitions in the state-rooms and cabins. In some cases a yet lighter construction is adopted and corrugated iron employed, the corrugations running vertically. When relieved by half round or other suitable pilasters and neatly painted, this produces a pleasing effect, and is both light and strong. To obviate all annoyance from sweating and rusting the iron is covered with muslin, closely laid on and well painted. In some of the new French vessels thin steel partitions are also employed, and the ventilating blinds on the doors are cut and stamped from the solid sheet. For use in warm climates bulkheads between the state and ward rooms are sometimes made as shown in the annexed drawing. This open work permits excellent ventilation without interfering at all with the privacy of the rooms ; and when the vertical slats shown are made of yellow pine and the trimmings of darker woods, the effect is quite orna- mental. In natural ventilation some of Her Majesty's vessels utilize the frame spaces ; thus the bilges are often ventilated by a trunk carried along the side above the lower deck against the steel ceiling, through which numerous perforations connect the trunk with the spaces between the frames, and so with the bilge. At any convenient place the trunk is connected with the iron masts, which are most efficient ventilators. On the natural system the cabins are supplied by a trunk, near the floor, fed from several cowls placed along the topside, pipes being carried down back of the ceiling to the trunk. The foul air escapes through a register placed near the top of each state-room and passes by way of the frame space up into the topside and out through small openings under the rail. 34 2. EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 35 Bat this unassisted ventilation, of course, applies only in small ves- sels where blowers cannot be conveniently employed. In mechanical ventilation I have found nothing superior to that now used on American war vessels ; and in the matter of air ports, to which I paid special at- tention, I saw nothing - as good as the Wilson port. Air ports on all the older ships abroad are very small ; it is only on those of most recent date that the ports are of respectable dimensions. Air-port casings were found in some instances to be stamped from thin steel, and this is a considerable improvement, and one whose adoption in iron and steel vessels I should recommend. Thin steel is largely used as ceiling, both in the space devoted to quar- ters and other portions of the vessel. As it is usually worked verti- cally and tapped to the reverse frames, it gives ready accessibility for inspection and cleaning of the skin. Of the method of working wooden ceiling in panels, to attain a like end, I have spoken in my remarks on the British Admiral Gloss. . Many boats in the British navy are built wholly or in part on the di- agonal system ; thus, a launch will be constructed of two half-inch thicknesses of teak, fastened through and through with copper nails. Such boats are without frames, except a few floors, which are worked in to give connection across the keel. They are light and have an elas- tic strength, due to their peculiar construction, which cannot be ob- tained in any other way. When finished the fact that they are diago- nally built is not perceived except on close examination. Those boats, which are built diagonally above and fore and aft on the outside below, as many are, seem to me to possess less merit, and when injured must be difficult to repair. Great numbers of boats for the royal navy are built by Mr. White, at Oowes, whose life-boats are well known. In the latter the air-tanks at the sides are built of two thin layers of mahog- any with painted muslin laid between them. Mr. White is also patentee of a large life-boat, with which some of Her Majesty's ships are fitted. It is carried thwartships on a pair of launch- ing- ways, arranged to be inclined by a hand wheel. The boat is launched clear of the ship's side at once. It fills, of course, but immediately clears itself, as the bottom is double and provided with drain valves. As a means of saving life, a boat which can be launched instantly, without danger of being stove, has been a long-sought desideratum. These boats are diagonally built, 40 feet in length by 10 feet in breadth, and are capable of carrying one hundred and fifty men. They have been fur- nished to the troop-ships and other vessels. The Polyphemus has two of them. In the English dock-yards numerous collapsible boats were seen. They are patented by the Kev. E. L. Berthon, of Eomsey, in Hampshire. Their construction combines buoyancy, strength, and por- tability. When folded they may be stowed very snugly, and on this account the smaller sizes are applicable oh board torpedo-boats. The frame consists of a keel with stem and stern posts, and about three seg- ments or planes of elm plank hinged to the heads of the stem and stern posts on either side. Canvas is stretched over these ribs, both inside and out, forming, when the arrangement is distended, a double- skinned boat, not unshapely, which can be closed up like a book. They are manufactured by the Berthon Boat Company, limited, Romsey, in various designs and sizes. Some very large ones were noticed, and they have been furnished to the French Government, with a displacement of 5 tons. When made of this size they are said to be less than half of the weight of wooden boats. The dinghies for torpedo-craft are 12 feet long, 4 feet 2 inches wide, and 1 foot 9 inches deep ; when folded they 36 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. can be passed through a hole 13 inches long by 6 inches wide. They can be opened and launched in less than a minute and carry six or eight men. Berthon boats have been furnished to almost all European gov- ernments. They are an acquisition to exploring parties. Sir George Nares took them to the Arctic in 1871 and 1875. More recently they were carried by Leigh Smith in the Eira Belief Expedition and Gordon Pasha took them to the Soudan. In boat- davits and detaching sear nothing was noticed which calls for special mention or was any improvement upon the American system as now in use. In ground tackle the Martin anchor seems to hold the preference for war ships; the Martin was more numerous than any other type, both in the British and continental navies. I have already alluded to the improved mode of working and stowing anchors as illustrated by the Biachuelo. In the important matter of pumps and drainage no particular novel- ties were observed. In double-bottomed vessels the system of large drains, with screw-down and non-return valves, now being fitted on the Chicago, is common. The Stone and Dounton pumps are universal as hand pumps, and are used for the bilge and double bottom and for fire purposes. The Stone pumps have recently been the subject of improve- ments, whereby the number of the moving parts has been reduced and the construction simplified. Instead of three pistons, two only are now fitted, and they are without valves, the absence of which is a desider- atum. The valves are all accessible without removing the pistons. The piston-rods are concentric, and one works through the other. Two pis- •tons, as now operated, displace double the cubic inches swept by the three pistons of the Dounton. The whole contents of the barrel are discharged twice at each revolution, instead of once as in the older pump. No foot-valve is required. I transmit a sketch of this improve- ment. Fire mains are fitted in all foreign vessels of importance, and vary from 3 inches in the smaller ships up to 6 inches in the largest ones. They usually extend through three-fourths of the vessel's length. The water-closets adopted by the British navy are the Stone's patent, and they attracted my attention as a superior fitting. They have double valves, and, as both valves cannot be open at once, any wash of the sea into the pan is impossible. There is also a good arrangement, by the same makers, for situations where the closet is placed below the water-line, in which case no supply-tank is required, and the water may be drawn directly from the sea. Almost all vessels building or refitting were about to be provided with the electric light. The incandescent lamps are now of course pre- ferred for internal lighting, although older illuminations are entirely on the arc system. The Inflexible was the first of Her Majesty's vessels to receive the electric light. She had thirty-three Brush lamps distrib- uted between decks generally and in the fire and engine rooms. The Edison system was observed on the Indian troopers, an extensive illn- minatiou, supplied by dynamos of several patterns. In the Polyphemus two Siemens dynamos were found, driven by Brotherhood engines. This ship has two hundred and twenty Swan incandescent lamps, and a yard-arm reflector containing eight incandescent lamps of 50-candle power each. Either dynamo will produce an arc search-light of 25,000 candles. The single-wire system has been employed on this vessel, the circuit being completed by the ship. The Colossus is fitted for both arc and incandescent lighting, being provided with three of the Brush Company's Victoria machines. One D CU > < Z EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 37 dynamo is of sufficient capacity to run all the lights in the engine and fire-rooms and the fighting parts of the ship, -while the others can be concentrated on two powerful search-lights. One search-light is of course all that is requisite, and o,ne of the machines is to be regarded as a relay in the event of a breakdown. Coulomb candle-lamps were used in the between decks of the Dreadnaughtfor her present commis- sion, although a complete illumination was contemplated and would have been fitted had more time been available. The Victoria dynamo is highly commended where lights have to be worked on both systems. Its armature, being of large diameter, per- mits the* necessary circumferential velocity to be attained without driv- ing the engine at an undue speed. D Gramme machines have recently been fitted on several British ships, but have not given perfect satis- faction. It is said that a few hours' running develops so much heat in the generator as to seriously iuterfere with its efficiency. A recent authority states that the following machines have been spe- cially arranged for use on ship-board ; the Siemens, the Edison, the Ed- ison-Hopkinson, the Victoria, the Ferauti-Thompson, and the Pilsen- Shuckert. The revolutions vary from 400 to 650. The requirements of electric lightiug have developed a number of special engines adapted to run at high speeds On these the perform- ance of the dynamo very much depends; and it is essential that the gov- ernor should be exceptionally sensitive and reliable. Electricians state that variations exceeding 5 per cent, of the speed are inadmissible. Brotherhood's engines are probably the most employed, but there are many makers of high-speed engines in the field. The Brotherhood and Westinghouse engines are usually direct driving; others connect by belting gears or ropes; Siemens uses an ingenious arrangement of friction gear. The advantages of electric lighting on ship-board are so obvious that it seems unnecessary to dilate upon them. They have been summa- rized by Mr. Andrew Jamieson as follows : (1) Electric lighting on the incandescent system, when properly fitted, is more healthful, cooler, more easily handled, and more artistic than any other mode of lighting ; there is no smell, and no products of combustion to tarnish gilt-work ; it is more agreeable in every way than any of the older methods of illumination. (2) The danger of fire is less, as neither matches nor lighted tapers are required. (3) The daily cleaning and replenishing of lamps, as well as the keeping in store of highly inflammable oils, paraffine, or candles can be to a great extent dispensed with. (4) The expense of maintenance is not much in excess of that of other methods of illumination, in some cases less, while the space occupied by the plant is not great, and its position in or near the engine-room causes no annoyance. TORPEDO-BOATS The extraordinary development of this class of vessel, occurring within the pa.st six or seven years, has been the most conspicuous feature of re- cent naval architecture. So essential are torpedo-boats now considered, that no European navy of note has a flotilla of less than fifty, while the stronger powers have fleets of a hundred or more. Coasts have been divided into torpedo districts, each with its complement of boats, and the crews, thoroughly organized, are kept continually exercised in the management of their vessels and drilling in the use of the arm. The proportions of framing and thickness of plating which was at first adopted remain almost the same, any further attempt to minimize scantlings being quite impracticable. Indeed, in Germany and France a reaction may be noticed in favor of more substantial proportions, even at the cost of reduced speed. Many of the boats examined in those countries had plating double the thickness of that* in the vessels of Messrs. Thornycroft and Yarrow. The establishments of these gentle- men on the Thames, near London, were visited, and a number of pho- tographs of their later productions accompany this report. Their practice presents many points of similarity. Some difference of external appearance is due to the fact that in Thprnycroft's boats the whole width of the vessel is utilized as deck space, while Yarrow's deck rounds down at the sides, leaving only a gangway amidships. Their practice also diverges as to the machinery and the position of the propellers. The wheels of Thorny croft's boats are invariably three- bladed; the blades being of mild steel, forged to a template and then keyed to the boss, which is slotted out for their reception, as shown in the sketch. He always places the wheel forward of the rudder. Yar- row places the propeller abaft the rudder, makes it two-bladed, and forges the blades and boss from one piece of steel. He also provides the boats with two rudders, the forward one being contrived to draw up into a well. This means of steering is very efficient when the vessel is backing and the after rudder has lost its control. The boats of both builders have a turtle-back forward, which at its after end terminates in a pilot-house, where the mechanism for discharging the torpedoes is under the immediate control of the commanding officer. The turtle-back serves to house the torpedo, tubes, and gear. All recent designs have been provided with rams, these being considered a desirable means of offense in actions of torpedo-boats against each other. A torpedo-boat requires many special fittings, most of which are characterized by much ingenuity; thus in the pilot-house the small glass windows have on the outside a wiper, worked from within, the action resembling that of an eyelid, and the purpose being the removal of spray, which gathers on the glass. The larger boats all have a special steam steering-gear ; one designed by Mr. John Donaldson, of Thorny- croft's, being considered worthy of special mention. There are often eight or more compartments, and the bulk-heads are fitted with water- 38 H Mis 4&&7491 T HORNYCROFT S PATENT SCREW PROPELLER. EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 39 f tight doors and sluices, the latter being controlled from the deck. The deck itself is covered with a preparation of cork resembling linoleum, which affords a secure footing, and adds but little weight. There is usually a light anchor and chain ; also a collapsible boat. The shops of Thoruycroft and Yarrow are very interesting places. Their tools generally are tirst class, and the machinery of the boats is turned out with the most scrupulous cure. Thornycroft occupies a large property at Chiswick, only a portion of which is now used by the works. The hulls of the boats are built under a large shed, roofed by arches of corrugated iron disposed in a number of bays, resting on posts; the whole forming an inexpensive but very suitable building for the pur- pose. Torpedoes have usually been forced from the bow tubes by compressed air, but within the last few years many boats have been supplied with the steam impulse gear of Mr. Yarrow, the object being the reduction of weight of the air-compressing machinery. The accompanying photo- graph of an English second-class boat, built last year, illustrates the ex- ternal appearance of this launching gear. The torpedo, which is 14 feet in length and 14 inches in diameter, is mounted on a slide and propelled by a steam piston 6 inches in diameter and 7-foot stroke. The exhaust goes to the condenser. A launching velocity of 25 feet per second is attained. The davit method of launching, by which the torpedo is simply lowered over the side of the boat in a sort of cradle from which it is then detached, me'ets with the serious objection that the torpedo boat must be nearly stationary before the gear can be used. Many of these cradles, however, are still in use in the British service. Experi- ments have lately been in progress with a view to supersede both steam and compressed air and eject the torpedoes by small charges of gun- powder. The building of the Batoum, in 1880, gave rise to altogether a new type of vessel, the small torpedo-cruisers — boats having a displacement 50 or 60 tons, with a coal endurance for a voyage of from 1,200 to 1,500 miles, manned by a crew of from ten to fifteen men and costing about $60,000. In some vessels for the Argentine Confederation, the Ohilders for the British colonial government, and the Suchuiu, this type was much improved. The latest and largest vessel of this class, possessing also the greatest coal endurance, is a German boat built by Yarrow. She is 120 feet in length by 13 feet 6 inches beam. She is capable of 19 knots, and, at low speeds, can travel 1,800 miles. At the time of my visit Messrs. Yarrow & Oo. were completing two first-class boats for the British Government. They are 113 feet long by 12£ feet beam. The speed in the fully equipped condition is 18 knots. They carry two torpedo guns and a revolving torpedo gun aft. Of the sea- worthiness of such boats there can no longer be any doubt; their long voyages, in some cases uuder steam and in others under sail, to Rio Janeiro, Buenos Ayres, and the Black Sea, have conclusively demonstrated their ability to survive very severe weather; and lately, during an evolutionary cruise of the French Mediterranean squadron, the torpedo-boats were able to keep the sea while the Tounerre and Ven- geur, large ships, were compelled to seek shelter from the violence of the gale. But for a cruising torpedo-boat the dimensions should not be less than 100 feet length and 12 feet 6 inches beam, experiments having shown that less breadth involves a degree of instability from which danger may be apprehended. When these vessels are shut down for heavy weather, no water can enter except through the ventilator or the 40 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. smoke-stack ; all the batches close on gum, and are arranged to be thrown open, when released, by springs below. The defensive value of a fleet of cruising torpedo boats cau hardly be overrated. No blockade can be maintained in their presence ; yet if properly supported by tenders with coal and supplies, they form of them- selves an efficient blockading force. The cost of one such boat, com- pletely equipped, is from $60,000 to $65,000 ; they require from ten to fifteen men, and I do not think the same amount of money and life can be exposed in any other way to secure the same defensive efficiency. To operate to greatest advantage they must attack in numbers ; it is not sufficient to supply each port with one or two. It is probable that in the future no iron-clad will venture to attack a port without the as- sistance of a torpedo flotilla equal or superior to that possessed by the enemy; and in engagements between iron clads the main battle will naturally be preceded by a combat between the respective torpedo-boats. In such a case the necessity becomes apparent for an excellent machine- gun armament on the boats themselves. The failure of the Admiralty to provide a larger torpedo fleet has met with much animadversion from the British press and public. At present there are said to be twenty-four first and fifty-three second class boats. A recent speech in the House of Commons gives : * Countries. lYance Italy Denmark . Russia Germany . First class. Second class. 32 20 5 80 These figures are differently stated by various authorities. Under a vote of credit of £480,000 Germany has recently ordered an addition of seventy boats. Until lately the large cruising torpedo-boat has been quite ignored by the British service, although they have been turned out on the Thames so frequently for foreign Governments. There is a wide-spread opinion that the second-class boats are too small to be of much use and too large to be easily handled; launching them from a vessel, except in fine weather, being an impossibility. It is thought that the attempt to carry them on men-of-war had better be abandoned in favor of a smaller boat of general utility. Within the last year the 45-foot and 56-foot wooden boats, furnished by Mr. J. S. White, of Cowes, have been fitted on several of Her Majesty's vessels and have met with favor, as they are found capable of performing many duties beside torpedo service. Pos- sessed of high speed, they are also exceedingly handy ; and, having the after dead wood cut away and being fitted with double rudders, they *The very serious aspect which the Russo-Afghan <|uestion assumed hi April last, ■when it was thought that a war between Great Britain and Russia was inevitable, caused the British Admiialty to increase the fleet of torpedo-boats. An order for twenty-hve torpedo-boats of the first class was given to Thornycroft, and upwards of 2,000 men were set to work to fill the order. The boats are 125 feet in length, 12 feet 8 inches beam ; and draw 6 feet aft, when completely fitted. They are built entirely of steel, and will have fourteen water-tight compartments. The coal capacity is 20 tons, sufficient to take the boats 2,000 miles at a speed of 8 knots. The coal will be stowed in bags alongside of the boiler, so as to afford the latter some protection. They have a single screw, and the maximum speed is 20 knots, The boats will be fitted with five torpedo tubes, two forward, one on each side of the conning tower, two astern, and one masked in the ram. The other armament will be two Norden- feldt guns. u H D O 2 < u H GO U U L. 0) i >■ I'- LL. LU Q Id h O D cr I- Z o o >-' o o h- < u u IS -51 c5 >-* m U cc o u. CO EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 41 have turned in circles of from two to two and a quarter boat lengths in diameter. Thus far they have only carried spar-torpedoes, or dropped the Whitehead from the side; no impulse gear has been applied. A quick-firing shell gun, which is carried forward, is an important feature of the equipment. I append a drawing of one of the 56-foot boats which illustrates the peculiarity of the rudders. The skin is made up of three layers of mahogany, and the frames, which are bent, are of American elm l/'byf", spaced 10 inches apart. Two of the thicknesses of planking are diagonal, and five sixteenths inch in thickness. The third is arranged fore and aft and is three eighths inch thick. No calking is employed ; instead, calico soaked in marine glue is worked be- tween the planks, which are clenched together by copper nails. It will be seen that this construction is very strong, while the material used is very light ; moreover the boats are always tight though exposed to ex- treme variations of temperature. The decks are double planked with calico between, payed with marine glue. And the air-tanks, which are arranged along the side, are similarly put together, the thickness of each of the two layers being one-fourth inch. Twelve hundred- weight of coal can be carried in the regular bunkers, but nearly twice as much more can be taken, when necessary, in bags. Twelve hundred-weight is sufficient for 120 miles steaming at 10 knots speed. The size of the engine and other interesting particulars are to be found in the results of a measured mile trial in Stokes Bay. Measured mile trial of Her Majeslys' torpedo-boat, wood, No. 5. full poivtr. Date December 19, 1883. Length feet-. 56 Breadth do... 10 Draught, forward do. . . lty Draught, aft do. .. 4f "Where tried measured mile, Stokes Bay. Average boiler pressure pounds.. 126 Mean pressure of air in stoke hole inches W - - 2. 75 Average vacuum in condenser inches.. 28 Barometer do 30.33 Mean revolutions per minute 385. 03 Mean pressure in H. P. cylinder pounds.. 51.65 Mean pressure in L. P. cylinder do... . 22. 78 Mean pressure in receiver do 39.33 Mean I. H. P., H. P. cylinder 67.63 Mean I. H. P., L. P. cylinder 74.37 Total 142.00 Speed knots.. 15.56 Force of wind 1 Direction of wind ahead and astern. Sea smooth. Coal on board cwt.. 6 Description Nixon's Navigation. Inverted compound condensing engines : Diameter H. P. cylinder inches.. 9.5 Diameter L. P. cylinder do 15 Stroke do.... 9.5 Grate 2 feet 7.5 inches by 2 feet 8 inches. Single propeller, four-bladed: Diameter feet.. 3^ Mean pitch do 4 , 3 6 Greatest length i inches . . 7| Immersion of upper edge do 9J- Area of main rudder square feet. - 8 Area of auxiliary rudder do 4 42 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. CIRCLES AT FULL POWER. Angle of rudder: To starboard, 45 degrees; to port, 45 degrees. Full circle made in : To starboard, 3y seconds; to port, 'A7 seconds. Revolutions per circle : To starboard, ls-2 ; to port, 177. Diameter of circle in boat lengtbs, '2 to :££. With regard to the future development of torpedo-boats, the author- ities seem uncertain whether it is desirable to apply armor, or rather protective plating. The slightest addition of weight is severely felt by these small vessels. Experiments have shown that at the higher speeds every ton added above the normal draught cuts down the speed at the rate of one-fifth knot, and in attempting an armored design we quickly find that the displacement grows rapidly, and that greatly augmented power is necessary to propel the increased displacement. Amid these cumulative considerations the vessel acquires dimensions altogether at variance with the nimble and wasp-like character proper to a torpedo- boat. As an essay in this direction Mr. Yarrow suggests, although he dis- claims advocating, a boat having a length of 160 or 170 feet and a beam of 19 or 20 feet. The horsepower would be 1,200 and the estimated speed 19 knots. The central portion of the boat, inclosing the ma- chinery, the magazine, and the lannchingapparatus, would be completely encased, the sides with 1^-inch steel plates and the deck with J -inch steel, the armored portion having sufficient buoyancy to support the ends if filled wi th water.* Another possible development in torpedo-boats, which has lately re- coived some attention, is their propulsion by electric motors. In a launch, 40 feet long and 6 feet beam, recently constructed by Yarrow in conjunction with the Electric Storage Company, a speed of 8 statute miles was obtained, and sufficient power was stored in the secondary batteries for a run of several hours. The great silence of this mode of propulsion, the fact that power may be stored in the least useful portious of the vessel, the absence of sparks which betray the approach of the enemy, and the ease with which the boat may be charged by the dyna- mos now on board of almost all large ships of war, and also the fact that electric devices are readily worked out for operating the torpedoes them- selves, doing away with or simplifying the gear now in use, renders this a somewhat promising field for further investigation. The objections are; the limited speeds hitherto obtained, the weight of the secondary batteries, and the long time required to charge them. In the present state of electrical engineering the operations of such a boat would be confined to stealthy operations in darkness, fog, or smoke. The thin steel plating of torpedo boats, although galvanized, is so rapidly destroyed by corrosion that several patent bronzes of great strength have at different times been put forward as substitutes. One of these, known as "Delta metal," has been worked in a 36-foot launch and was inspected at the Crystal Palace, where it is on exhibition. This boat was longitudinally framed, very well built, and I was informed that the strength of the material equals that of mild steel. The plates "A torpedo-boat of very nearly the dimensions referred to was ordered in May of the present year, from Yarrow & Co., for the Japanese Government. It is lliij feet in length, 19^ feet beam, and is to make a speed of VJ knots. The entire central part of the vessel, containing the machinery, will be armored witli steel plates 1 inch thick. The armament will consist of gear for discharging four torpedoes, and she will also carry several machine guns. The system of propulsion being twin screws, it is expected that the boat will be exceedingly handy to maneuver. This will be the largest torpedo-boat owned by any Government. EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 43 are three-sixteenths-inch thick. Delta metal, it is claimed, can be forged and treated much like iron. With regard to the torpedoes themselves, little need be said ; the terrific character of the weapon is widely appreciated, but its use, at least in torpedo-boats, is hazardous to the last degree. While opinions differ as to the value of search-lights, the vibrations of the engines and the wash of the screws are very likely to betray the direction of the at- tack, and from that moment the assailants are in a position of extreme jeopardy. The Whitehead is said to cost from £400 to £500. Its'range may be varied from 40 to 800 yards, though at a greater distance than 600 yards it is not considered effective. The depth of the trajectory below the sur- face is adjustable from 5 feet to 15 feet. It attains a speed of 22 knots and strikes a blow of 6J tons. Important modifications have recently been introduced. The undulatory course in the water has been partially corrected by improvements in the balance-chamber and in the vertical rudders, and the charge of gun-cotton has been raised from 47 to 70 pounds. SHIPYARD APPLIANCES AND TOOLS. We may begiu systematically with the mold loft. This, in many Euro- pean establishments which I have visited, is disappointing; and, even in some of the larger and finer yards, fails to receive the attention which is commensurate with its great importance. The lofts are small and in a majority of cases poorjy lighted. Even in Her Majesty's dock-yards those lofts which I had the privilege of inspecting were unsatisfac- tory. The contracted method of laying down is used almost everywhere and it possesses many advantages. In England the system of working with skeleton molds is largely pursued ; in Scotland the scrieve-board is universal. In France, also, I saw this important adjunct of fairness and accuracy employed with great perfection, the strake's edges being elaborately painted in, and every frame permanently numbered with a small brass plate stamped with the proper figures and nailed to the board. Shapes are generally transferred from the body plan to the bending slab by the aid of a piece of flat iron, a quarter of an inch in thickness and about an inch and a half in breadth. This is easily brought to the proper contour by a few taps of the hammer. When the frames leave the slab, after being bent, they are tested by the scrieve- board and set cold to any required degree of exactness ; a process which is calculated to insure very elegant workmanship. I would state here, however, that I have seen no sample of fine and fair iron-work abroad surpass that of certain American builders. In bending slabs and heating furnaces I have nothing special to no- tice. In large yards the double-ended arrangement of bending floor is common, the angles being drawn from both extremities of a long furnace and worked on two separate slabs. The plate furnaces are always ad- jacent. Some floors are provided with hydraulic capstans conveniently located ; and for handling a frame of heavy section, or for bending davits and stems, these are sometimes of great value. Such capstans, which adjust themselves automatically to the work to be done, using no more water than the duty requires, have a wide field of application in all concerns which are provided with hydraulic plant. For dishing plates for keels, I elsewhere allude to the machine built by Messrs. Thompson. For turning down garboards I herewith trans- mit illustrations and prices of several powerful tools by Messrs. Shanks, of Johnstone, and Messrs. .Craig and Donald, both eminent makers in the vicinity of Glasgow. The beds of these tools were found liable to crack when a number of hot plates were bent in rapid succession, and in the best ones the bed is arranged to be filled with water to obviate such dis- asters. All of the machines of this class which I have examined are operated by hand. Plate-planing machines are usually screw planers with a beveling tool-holder, the box being reversible for planing both ways. The length is frequently 20 feet, and the clamping beam is often overhung to allow the longest plates to be planed in repeated cuts. For the cold setting of frames and beams, the laborious table and hand screw are entirely ignored by the best yards, and machines substituted 44 u z X o < s o z z w H X a. O w < Q K < O 2 Z < m 8 w - z w < _l CD D O Q o 2 - H. Mis. 237, 49, 1. Photograph No. 4. Machine for Punching T Beams. Driven by Engine. EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 45 which have a reciprocating table, worked by a small engine, by belting, or by hydraulic power. Two spuds project from this table, and the beam or frame is squeezed between these and an adjustable block in the center, whose position is regulated by a screw and hand wheel. This tool is often made double ended, so that frames may be set on both sides at the same time, or in some cases one side of the table carries a punch for horizontal punching. Adjustable- rollers are provided for regulating the height of the work. Plating, particularly the light plates of bulkheads, deck-houses and the like, often comes to the buildmg-yard in a condition which requires time, skill, and labor to reduce it to a fair surface. To obviate the cost and delay incident to this process, plate straighteners are in common use. These machines consist of four upper and three under rollers, the upper ones running in bearings, which are in one plane, and are simul- taneously adjustable by screws connected by gears ; after several passes through these rolls the plates are so straightened as to require little or no hand labor. I present photographs of these tools, as well as of sev- eral good designs of bending rolls, adapted to work of different dimen- sions. These present no novelties. They are substantial three-roll machines. In the larger sizes the adjusting screws in the housings are connected by a shaft and worm gears so as to be operated by power, and to work simultaneously. The best British designs of light rolls with tumbling housing, such as might be useful in the manufacture of iron masts and yards are also illustrated, with their prices. In common punches and shears no important developments were observed, although it may be worth while to notice the usual foreign practice of driving these machines by engines self-contained with the tool, which may be placed in many situations where it would be incon- venient to carry shafting, while a steam pipe is quite practicable The loss of power in shafting which is continually running, the wear and tear of belting, and the increased liability to break-downs, are argu- ments to support this practice. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the shear shed is ordinarily a cheap and unsubstantial structure, little suited for keeping shafting in perfect alignment. In such punches and shears the fly-wheel is often placed on the second motion shaft and ■ not directly on the engine ; as the wheel is geared to run very fast, the necessity for a large one is obviated, and a more compact machine results. In punching the flanges of beams to receive deck plating or planks, the beams are liable to be distorted and may require straightening afterwards. A special punch for beams is now made which deals with both flanges at once. I transmit a photograph and prices of this machine by one of the leading makers. A useful portable punch and shear combined, mounted on wheels for moving about the yard, ordinarily worked by hand with a crank and fly-wheel, but also provided with pulleys, so that when convenient, it may be driven by power, is to be found in some British ship-yards. When made of 4 tons weight, it shears three-fourths-inch plate and punches three-fourth-inch holes through three-fourths-inch plate. The gaps are 18 inches in depth. A similar tool of half this weight punches and shears flve-eighths-inch plate and has a gap of 12 inches. The absence of multiple punches was noted. This can hardly be due to their limited application, as there is sufficient straight line work in bulkheads, tanks, &c, to justify their employment ; it is rather to be traced to the fact that they are troublesome to keep in adjustment. Punches with automatic feed were also rare. 46 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. In all the best punches a disengaging gear is fitted in the head of the machine, which can be thrown out whenever, through some misuianage- ment, a bad hole is about to be produced. Some tools of unusual power were observed. Iu the Baltic Iron Works, at St. Petersburg, there is a punch capable of piercing 2-inch plate with a 2-iuch hole and of shearing steel of the same thickness. It is used on armor deck-plates. The gap is 30 inches and the weight 36 tons. This heavy tool was made by Messrs. Craig and Donald, of Johnstone, Scotland. Most of the large ship-builders are provided with a powerful hydraulic punch for cutting out man-holes and lightening holes. Holes as large as 30" by 21" are cut from three-fourths-iuch plate, and there is a set of punches and dies of diminishing sizes. The general arrangement is simple; a ram, which works downward, carries the punch and a corresponding die is bolted to the bed-plate. The lat- ter is attached to the cylinder by four strong columns, as in the common style of hydraulic press. This is a tool of obvious utility where much water-bottom work has to be done. It is especially serviceable on work in steel, as the plate is left in a condition which requires little further attention, while the labor be- stowed in finishing the openings, if they come from the small punches, is costly. To fully utilize the strength of steel it is considered important to remove every trace of raggedness or incipient cracks, which is often accomplished in the case of lightening holes in floor plates, &c, by grinding with emery wheels ; the plate, which is usually of a manage- able size, being moved about on a horizontal table while an emery grinder on a vertical arbor which revolves in fixed bearings, takes off the roughness left by the punch. Ship-yard machinery is very generally gotten up on the combination- tool principle. It is very desirable to make a, u multum in parvo" of those machines which are capable of such treatment, and though this may be carried too far, still, in general, an economical and compact plant results. Thus it is common to find two angle shears and two punches, all parts of the same tool ; or an angle shear and a cold-setting machine and similar arrangements. For drilling keel-bars, stern-posts, and stems a large radial drilling machine, having three or more arms with drills, is the best arrange- ment, the bed plate of the tool being fitted with rollers for caerying the work. For drilling plates or countersinking the same machine is available. Among tools specially serviceable in the building of war vessels I would mention the baud-saw as recently applied to the sawing of thick steel plates, such as we have in armor decks. The work turned out is very neat and it is performed with a fair degree of rapidity. I have elsewhere mentioned the superior tools being fitted in the ex- tensions of the French dock-yards, more particularly at Brest. The new punches and shears are hydraulic, as well as the cold-setting ma- chines, which are quite different from anything which I have hitherto described. Punches and shears constructed on this plan have few mov- ing parts, and are characterized by great simplicity. The French plant at Toulon is entirely hydraulic. It was laid down in 1876, and has given such satisfaction as to induce later installations in the other dock-yards. The French favor hydraulic tools for all operations upon steel. They believe (I quote the opinion of M. Berrier Fontaine) that the strength of the metal is, in general, better maintained if worked by pressure than when subjected to such tools as operate more or less by impact or z o K P w o K . O E- U. d, fc. « O -rH « 00 £ -H ^ -iO s -^ 6 X w z o ding Mac GTH BETW Dia. of u Z X a, < tt o 2 Z H O W W 7 m -J o X w fc H 1 £ >- ■J *-< w CL <: o < 03 fc. ■ h o -H W . J r ° 3 £ ^ CLj^ 5-0* B> X z w w ^ >o Kctr Q* o ^ h o I s -" «i o ■— < (M Q EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 47 shock. The tools of the French dock-yards were made by the Hydraulic Engineering Company of Chester under the Tweddell patents. I am here led to speak of hydraulic appliances in general, which of late years have found a wide and increasing application in ship-building and engineering establishments. In the well-appointed yard there is always a hydraulic house, in which is located a pressing engine. Such engines are supplied by Sir William Armstrong of Elswick, Brown of Edinburgh, and other makers. An accumulator, conveniently placed, loaded by steam or weights, forms a reservoir of power from which mains lead to the several building berths, riveting machines, hoisting applicances, hydraulic capstans, &c. ; but the principal use is in rivet- ing. The large gap required in a machine for riveting skin plating necessitates proportions which are at variance with portability, and hydraulic riveters, thus far, have been found available principally for •work on frames. Two portable riveters, hanging from cranes at the head of the building slip, receive their water through a flexible copper pipe. They operate on the frames which are laid across the keel on trestles in the usual manner. The frames are rapidly completed and moved down I be keel to their appropriate stations and hoisted into place. The average performance of such machines on simple work is fourteen hundred rivets per day of nine and a half hours. The pressure frequently used in the machines is 1,500 pounds, but there is a diversity of opinion as to the best pressure for working hy- draulic tools, some establishments being provided for 700 pounds and others for 2,000. Keel riveters have also been applied by Mr. Twed- dell, and I am informed that the keels of the Alaska, Servia, and City of Eome have been riveted by this means. Eepeated tests of hydraulic riveting have shown the superiority of the work to be beyond controversy. With heavy rivets, such as 1 and 1£ inches, which make laborious and defective work when hand driven, the excellence and economy of the hydraulic system is very manifest ; and the fact that in keels a conspicuously longer rivet can be used, when machine driven, shows that the holes must be much better filled, and speaks volumes for the superiority of machine work. Clever hoisting appliances, for raising frames and general use at the building slip, are made to operate by hydraulic power : these are some- times windlasses and capstans, such as have been previously noticed, but a good form is a simple vertical chamber and plunger having a stroke of 6 or 7 feet, and fitted with four or five sheaves at the bottom, and also at the top of the plunger, over which a flexible wire rope is rove. The standing part of this rope is attached to the machine ; the free end may be made fast to any other rope for hoisting, or to any object which it is desired to move. The fact that these appliances entirely do away with the small steam hoisters, which are both dangerous and ex- pensive, should be sufficient recommendation wherever there is a hydraulic plant already established ; and the general simplicity of the hydraulic system, the fact that it is always ready to work, without blowing through of steam pipes and losses from condensation and friction of shafting, and its advantages where great power has to be transmitted by a compact and portable machine, are strong arguments for its adoption. Nor is it only for heavy work that this system is valuable. I saw many of the light cranes in smiths' and boiler shops, such as deal with weights of from 10 to 30 cwt., fitted with neat appli- cations of hydraulic power. To cranes the system is peculiarly appli- cable on account of the simplicity of construction which results, the great weights which may be lifted without resorting to cumbrous ma- 48 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. chinery, the ease with which the operations of such cranes may be con- trolled, and their safety, the common hand crane being a contrivance pregnant with accidents. The objection to pipes freezing and bursting in our climate is one that will naturally be urged against hydraulic appliances. Water could no doubt be treated with chemicals to prevent its congelation. The addition of a small amount of glycerine is said to confer this prop- erty and it has been used in the hydraulic gear of the British armor- clads. Thus far I have presupposed the use of an accumulator from which water is drawn at the full pressure throughout the stroke. It will be observed that this involves an extensive use of water in the case of riveting, inasmuch as the initial action of the machine, the upsetting of the rivet, requires a trifling pressure, though followed by water at the head necessary for the final squeeze. All efforts to overcome this source of waste have hitherto involved complications inadmissible in portable machines. In fixed riveters on the Tweddell system this is ingeniously corrected by the use of the differential accumulator. Water at a mod- erate initial pressure is used, and the final pressure is reached through the sudden arrest of a rapidly falling and heavily loaded plunger of small area. A somewhat similar result is brought about, and the use of an accumulator avoided, by the direct system of Messrs. Higgonson, of Liverpool. A set of small pumps are employed for every machine, and for portable riveting a common arrangement is to have a light boiler, engine, pumps, and crane mounted on a truck, so as to be moved from place to place. While the riveter is not at work, the pumps merely circulate water. When the valve is shifted the water passes into the riveter at a pressure which Increases with the resistance met, and the final squeeze is obtained from the power resident in the fly-wheel on the shaft which drives the pumps. With regard to hoisting appliances for putting in machinery or remov- ing it from hulls, the leading commercial ports of Great Britain are pro- ' vided with powerful steam cranes revolving on turn-tables, mounted on massive masonry, and capable of lifting from 25 to 100 tons or more. Magnificent samples maybe found among the docks of Liverpool and on the Bromiekiw of Glasgow. They are abundantly illustrated in for- eign technical journals, but must be seen in operation to have their ca- pabilities fully appreciated. In ship-yards the three-legged type of shears is the favorite ; the two-legged contrivance with guys is regarded as only a makeshift arrangement. The former is well understood and calls for but little description. The heel of the back leg travels up and down the wharf in a grooved casting, containing a heavy screw, which is usually operated by the same engines as run the hoisting drums. In other cases, either because the wharf room has been limited, or from preference, the back leg has been made to telescope, as in a fine example in the yard of A. & J. Inglis, at Pointhouse on the Clyde. Either of these arrangements permits the head of the shears to be brought over the object to be lifted while on the wharf; the required degree of over- hang may then be given and the weight lowered exactly in its place, without the intervention of side tackles, which are objectionable and dangerous. The telescopic back leg has but recently come in use ; it is an advantageous arrangement, and doubtless in the future will be much employed. The three-legged shears, especially when the groove and screw are adopted, require substantial and expensive foundations. Booms are often hung from the shear legs and are very advantageous for handling light weights. EUROPEAN DOCK-YAKDS. 49 European practice in the matter of launching- ways presents some di- versity. Occasionally concave and convex ways were met with, the concavity amounting to 1£ inches in a breadth of 2 feet ; in this case no ribbons were employed. In other cases the upper way was thick and the lower one thin, and sometimes this was reversed. A difference of opinion also prevailed as to whether the ribbon should be on the inside or the out, above or below. The cradles for launching a heavy iron-clad in the British service are massively constructed. The packing is on end, not flat, and is vertical, or nearly so, the wedging being driven from both sides. In order to confine the poppits forward aud take their thrust when the stern com- mences to be waterborne, angle-iron frames, of half-moon shape, are worked on the bows over the pop pit heads. These frames are filled in with wooden chocks. The ways are so laid in twin-screw ships that the cradles may be continued out under the stern pipes. In launching there is no sawing off as in American practice. A chock is bolted to the lower way; about 8 feet further forward a similar chock is bolted to the upper way ; heeling on the first chock is a loose timber which ex- tends forward, where it is shored up in such a manner that the chock on the upper way rests against its head. Heavy weights are then rigged up, and through appropriate mechanism, the cutting of a cord, or the touching of an electric button, drops the weights, which knock down the dogshores, the props having been withdrawn, aud release the ship. It is a common practice in the royal dock-yards to build ships in dock, by which the risks and expense of launching are avoided. Several private firms likewise build in docks, which, as a rule, are dark, damp, and con- tracted._ The system lias one advantage, that all the weights are low- ered to their places, no hoisting being required. Messrs. Laird, of Bir- kenhead, have building docks, one being fitted with a traveling crane running over its entire length. H. Mis. 237 4 THE BRITISH PRIVATE YARDS. Such is the distribution of raw materials and natural facilities of ship- I building throughout Great Britain that the construction of vessels is carried on in numerous localities. The greatest building river is the Clyde, followed in the order of their importance by the Tyne, Wear, and Tees. West Hartlepool, Whitby, and Blyth are places of great activity in naval architecture and marine engineering, and may be in- cluded in the district of the last three rivers. Hull, Leith, Aberdeen, and Kircaldy are all important ship-building ports of the east coast. In the west, the Mersey has numerous and ex- tensive yards, and Barrow has produced some of the largest ships afloat. Belfast has long been famous for the superior vessels built there ; and Whitehaven, Grangemouth, Chepstow, Workington, Newport, Rye, and Penarth are in a less degree centers of this maritime industry. Newport, Bye, and Penarth confine their labors mainly to the con- struction of small vessels and yachts. The Thames has ceased to be a great building river, and the work done there is limited to a few firms of wide reputation in certain specialties. After a year of unprecedented prosperity, marked by the output of a million and a quarter of tons, I found the Bristish ship-builders feeling severely the effect of the present depression of the carrying trade ; some were but half employed, many were quite idle, and only a few could be said to be fairly busy. These latter, it was noticed, had the finest and often the largest es- tablishments, equipped with the best labor-saving tools. Builders who persist in running an old fashioned plant, which, though in good repair, has passed its economical lifetime, through more recent improvements, are the first to succumb to periods of dullness when work is only to be won through severe competition. The construction of sailing vessels appeared to be proportionately less depressed than that of steamers. The former were found building on the Clyde in moderate numbers. Some Government work was to be found in the different private yards, though it was usually represented by vessels of small tonnage. War vessels for foreign nations were being built by Messrs. Samuda, at Mil- wall ; by Messrs. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co., at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and by Messrs. Laird, at Birkenhead ; the two first mentioned making a specialty of ships for foreign navies. The yard of Samuda Bros, is not of unusual size, but is well appointed, being provided with a valuable plant, comprising machinery for plan- ing and bending armor plates. THE KIACHTJBLO AND AQUIDEBAN. When I visited this establishment the Biachuelo now a noted pro- duction of the firm, had reached completion; and I was accorded the privilege of examining her within and without, as she lay ready for 51 52 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. sea iu the Victoria dock. The Aquideban, a vessel nearly identical in character and dimensions, and also intended for the Brazilian Govern- ment, was still on the stocks. As will be seen from the accompanying drawings, the Eiachuelo is a ship-rigged cruiser, having a protective deck worked in conjunction "with water line armor, and provided with two turrets, arranged echelon, each mounted in a breastwork which is carried down to the protective deck. In either turret there are two 20-ton 9-inch breech-loading guns of Sir William Armstrong's manufacture, capable of completely piercing 18 inches of iron armor. There are also six 6-inch guns, unprotected in the superstructure, two filing straight ahead from recessed ports, and two aft, similarly placed; two others arc broadside guns. The superstructure is so arranged as to admit of direct fore-and-aft fire from the turrets, its side being removed 14 inches from the flash of the. inboard gun. In the wake of the turrets the superstructure is cut away so as to permit an arc of fire of 50 degrees on the opposite beam. On the main deck there are five torpedo tubes; four of these can be trained, but one in the stern is a fixture. There is also a second-class torpedo-boat, of Yarrow's construction, having a speed of 18.1 knots. The armor belt protects 250 feet of the length, and from its extremi- ties, forward and aft, internal inclined armor 3 inches iu thickness is used on the water line ; the inclination is 15 degrees. All the armor is compound. For the general dimensions of this ship, which follow, I have availed myself of Mr. Samuda's valuable paper, recently read before the Institu- tion of Naval Architects : Length between perpendiculars feet.. 305 Breadth of beam, extreme on water line do... 52 Depth from gaiboard to under side of main deck do. . . 21J Draught at load line, 400 tons of coal do. .. 19J Height of port above water line, load draught do. .. 12$ Displacement at load line tons.. 5,700 Displacement per iuch do . . . 31 I. H. P 6,000 Estimated speed, 872 tons dead weight on board knots . . 15 Complement ot officers and men 250 ARMAMENT. Four 9-inch 20-ton long breech-loading guns iu two revolving turrets, and six 5J- iuch guns on the upper deck and fifteen machine guns. Height of breastwork above load line feet.. 121 Heigh t of belt armor above load line do . . . 3 Depth of belt below load line do... 4 ( 11 Thickness of belt armor inches . . < 10 ( 7 Thickness of breastwork armor do. .. 10 Thickness of turret do. .. 10 Protective deck plating do... 2 Thickness of backing amidships do . . . 10 Hull tons.. 1,760 Armor and bolts do... 1, 120 Backing, teak do... 130 Protective plating do . . . 350 Masts, rigging, blocks, and sails do . . . 65 Anchors and cables •. do. .. 75 Boats, galleys, condensers, &c - do . . . 35 Wood and metal sheathing do... 160 3,695 *-4-rrf H Ws£3jr.. 49 1 9c' 'T -*-- ^ RIAG H UELO * P LAN OF B ATTER Y scalet^inch-one: foot H Mis .£££491 RIACHUELO SAIL PLAN EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 53 Engines, boilers, and spare gear 1,070 Armament, ammunition, hydraulics, &c, supp ied by Sir William Arm- strong; officers, men, and effects; water for four weeks, provision for twelve weeks ; officers' stores, slops, wood, sand, &c. ; warrant officers' and engineers' stores, in all tons. . 472 Coal do.. 400 872 5, 637 Displacement at load line (19 feet 6 inches mean draught) tons.. 5,700 With reserve coal, araouuting to 400 tons additional, the draught is 20 feet 6 inches, and the displacement ..tons.. 6, 100 The water-tight subdivision of the hull is very complete, there being forty-two compartments exclusive of the double bottom, which contains sixteen. A longitudinal center bulkhead extends throughout a great portion of the ship, her breadth of beam rendering it possible to fire the boilers from the wings. These boilers, ten in number, arranged in four independent compartments, expose a total heating surface of 19,400 square feet and supply steam at a pressure of 90 pounds. The ma- chinery is by the long established firm of Humphreys & Tennant. There are two vertical twin-screw engines, each having a high-press- ure cylinder 52 inches in diameter and two low pressure cylinders 74- inches in diameter, the stroke being 3 feet. Steel and gun-metal have largely displaced cast and wrought iron in the construction of these engines. The shafts are of Whitworth's hollow fluid compressed steel. The vessel is fitted for working with forced draft and closed stoke- hole. The arrangement for closing the latter is an ordinary slide or register in the side of the fire room hatch. On trial rhe Riachuelo developed a sustained speed of 15 knots, with 4,500 I. H. P. She has also made with natural draft a measured mile speed of 16.23 knots, while with forced draft, equal to 1 inch of water, using eight of her ten boilers, she has made a measured mile speed of 16.7 knots. It is claimed that these results have been attained with an unprecedented economy of coal, and that at 12 knots the ship will have a fuel endurance of 8,700 miles. Both the Riachuelo and the Aquidebau are sheathed ships, the sheath- ing consisting of two thicknesses of teak Muutz metaled. The inner layer of 3 inches and the outer of 2 are arranged to break joints from find to end. The planks vary in breadth from 9 to 14 inches. The fast- enings of the inner thickness are three quarters-inch galvanized iron l)oits, tapped in the skin, and fitted with a nut, washer, and grummet on the inside. The heads of the bolts are sunk into the wood about llhree-eighths inch and the space filled in with a mixture of white lead and plaster of Paris. After being calked the whole surface of the inner sheathing is payed over with Hayes's composition, which appears to consist largely of coal-tar, and the outer planking is then secured by the usual composition wood screws. 1 Composition stems and stern-posts are employed, rabbeted to receive the ends of the planking. These castings are solid, and the head of the stern-post is expanded into a semicylindrical box for the reception of the tiller; the top of this box receives the landing of the protective q>ck, which, forward, connects with the ram. The stem and stern-posts of the Aquideban, which 1 had an opportunity of examining, were su- perior samples of foundry art. They are made of Admiralty bronze, '/which is, approximately, copper 870, zinc 43, and tin 87. Mr. Samuda sjates that this alloy has borne a load of 18£ tons without breaking, and exhibited an elongation of 35 per cent, in a length of 8 inches. Although the Riachuelo is a rigged vessel, spreading 10,200 square 54 EUROPEAN DOCK-YAROS. feet of canvas, the designers have been successful in an eminent degree in keeping the rigging, as well as davits and other gear, from interfer- ing with the fire of the guns. The shrouds are brought down to the sides of the superstructure, which is considered of ample width and strength to admit of this arrangement; a neat contrivance of falling waist is fitted, which can be detached and thrown down rapidly ; and the adoption of the Baxter anchor does away with some of the obstruc- tions and complications forward. This stockless anchor is made to draw up into an enlargement of the hawse-pipe, which is covered by a large buckler. The ability to drop and recover ground tackle rapidly is a quality so desirable in a war ship that the arrangements for working these anch- ors, which have been specially designed to this end, deserve atten- tion. The system is that devised by Messrs. Baxter & Co., of Loudon. The vessel rides by vertical cable holders, which are in eifect wild-cats mounted on friction clutches. The holders are rotated by worm gears, and by the aid of several hand levers operating the clutches, ^hey can be made to veer or take in cable, either slowly or rapidly, and in- dependently. . The friction device is also useful in preventing severe strains upon the ship or cable when the anchor is breaking ground. Each bower of the Riachuelo weighs 7,400 pounds and is made of cast steel. As the anchor is brought up the flukes guide themselves into their place without assistance. The enlargement of the hawse- pipe is not objectionable in appearance, particularly when the buckler is down. As there is no tripping, or catting and Ashing, much time is saved. The anchor has been let go and hauled in again and stowed within forty-five minutes. It is stated that the Admiralty have ordered the same system to be applied to the Rodney, Oamperdown, and Ben- bow. The ship has excellent quarters for both officers and men in the superstructure and on the main deck. The joiner work is tastefully finished, and the hard wood, which is used liberally in the wardrooms and cabins, is in all cases solid and not veneered. The electric light, fitted by Messrs. Siemens Bros., is provided every- where. I am informed there are over two hundred and fifty incandes- cent lights, together with yard-arm reflectors and two search-lights, the latter on the arc system. The concussion of heavy guns has been found destructive to the incandescent lamps, and they are protected from this source of injury by cushions of rubber. The comfort of the ship is much increased by her ample provision for light and ventilation. Brass side lights are placed in the large square ports, which are raised by levers and can be closed on gum by means of screws. To each window there is a sliding sash, a blind, and a cur- tain. THE GIOVANNI BAUSAN. Another British firm engaged in the construction of war vessels for for- eign governments is that of Sir William Armstrong, Mitchell & Co., at Walker, on the Tyue. When I visited this establishment the Giovanni Bausan, for the Italian navy, was at the wharf, nearly completed; and two vessels of similar design were on the stocks in process of construc- tion. The latter were for the Government of Japan. The following t ' are the leading particulars of the Bausan : Length between perpendic- ulars, 276 feet; breadth, 42 feet; draught, 18 feet 6 inches; displace- ment, 3,000 tons. She has twin screws with inclined engines of 5,500 I. H. P. collectively, and her estimated speed exceeds 17 knots. The ORPEDO HATCH VAY LADDER W4Y ENGINE HATCH V \ V gga TINCfSC FUNNEL HATCH RIACHUELO PLAN OF UPPER DECK ■ ^ . « • > • SCAMENS SLOP H Mis ^(3^49 MIDSHIPMEN LOCKERS 1~T T~T Xt TT it SEAMENS SLOPS orncc«s slops ---r!|-.:;r-d E^ElrVJ vJ3 t3.y,g ENGINE HATCH __< 1 . i p i — 1 ~ 1.1 |_ _ Z~L1| s o ^ o ^ uhihal w B*TH ROOM rr Bathroom ^-^^ q^rvvqs COAL TUNNEL HATCH FUNNEL HATCH tch ATCH GRflTINqS qf^xTinqs C04L S*±-is' RIACHUELO PLAN OF MAIN DECK H Mis &3lf. 49 1 .. COAL BOILERS BOILERS COAL Coal LADDER, W/lY Coal ROOM roHHYORAULIC APPARATUS To Shells COMPRESSOR ROOM A mo PAINT STOR l E T^^ CABLE TIERS A NO Wateh RIACHUELO * PLAN OP LOWER DECK H Mis 23 f. 491 Coal Passage maqazihe Passage Com. rr r%= m Coal Coal Coal ^Boiler, Room Boiler Koom Coal RIACHUELO PLAN OF HOLD 9i»..20ToN,BJ, 9l*,20Tl H Mis .^(3^491 ! t?- - H Mis.MjT49 THE NANIWA KAN. CHILIAN CRUISER. ESMERALDA. H Mis MJ 491 H Mis .^5.7491 THE CHILIAN CRUISER ESMERALDA nm$.$d.7..®\ SIX-INCH BROAD-SIDE GUN FOR THE ESMERALDA. H Mis .2a? 7 491 25T0N STERN CHASER "ESMERALDA. R EH T Y N .JMrtqmtf^ef.Jizyer Frontage about \30OO/iet. I. BOILtH ERECTING (HOC j. /«o»fou«d«v. *tS. BA H, Pi ATE, AN0 40LLMC MILLS. 6. PW0DLI«O FURNACE*. 7f/«. Smiths SHOP- S'. MACHiheShop. S>J[/tf EN5ME EREC TINC, 6 HOP. //• PATTERN MAKERS SHOP. IX RIVET WORKS $ «Jc. /» ANCLEIR.ON SMITHS SHOfl IV. FRAME &ENOIHG SHOP. /S*l7./KACHI«£aHr08. (». /f/SqiNS LOFT. 4° SAW/WILL. JOINER £ HOP, *»0 M0UL4 LOFT. il OFFICES. GENERAL PLAN OF WORKS. H Mis M^ 491 PALMER'S SHIPBUILDING AND IRON COMPANY, LIMITED. JARROW-ON-TYNE. H EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 57 MESSRS. PALMER'S YARD. The British Government, early iu 1884. gave contracts for several fast steel dispatch vessels, intended for a' speed of 17 knots. Two of these, the Surprise and Alacrity, I found partly framed in the yard of Messrs. Palmer & Co., at Yarrow, on the Tyne. They are twiii screw vessels of about 1,4 tons, 250 feet iu length, 32 feet 6 inches beam ; 18 feet 6 inches deep, and 3,000 1. H. P. under forced draft ; with natural draft the I. H. P. will be about 2,000. The cylinders will be 26 inches and 50 inches by 34 inches stroke. Z-bars are used throughout for frames the spacing of which is 2 feet. There is a steel protective deck, and the principal hatches are guarded by coffer-dams. The vessels are entirely of steel, manufactured by the Oonsett and Bolton Companies and by the Steel Company of Scotland. The firm of Palmer & Co. have built about 475 vessels, and during the year 1883 attained the enormous output or 36 ships, representing a tonnage totality of 61,113. As this company is the largest ship-build- ing concern in England, having its own collieries, ore-pits, and rolling- mills, I submit a plan of their extensive works, which cover an area of nearly a hundred acres, situated about 6 miles below Newcastle. The foundations of this enterprise were laid iu 1853 by Messrs. C. W. Palmer and George Palmer. In 1865 the limited company was organ- ized, with Mr. C. M. Palmer as chairman and Mr. John Price as general manager, and their business has since made great and steady progress. The ore, most of which comes from near Whitby, is brought around by sea, and coal is derived from the company's collieries in Northum- berland and Durham. The smelting is done in three blast furnaces, each 85 feet in height and 24 feet bosh and 8£ feet hearth, producing in the aggregate 1,400 tons of pig per week. Usually three-fourths of the product is consumed in the establishment. The plan will show the position of these furnaces, also that of the kilns in which most of the ore is calcined. The furnaces are worked with a blast of 5 pounds press- ure and a temperature of 1,100° F. There are eighty puddling furnaces, the weekly output of which is 1,000 tons. There are two plate-mills, 24-inch rolls, capable of turning out 1,200 tons per week. A third pair ot plate rolls has a capacity of 300 tons per week. There are several bar and angle mills and also a sheet-mill. The machine shops are suitably equipped for the heaviest work in ma- rine engines, and from thirty to forty pairs can be built iu a year. The tools in this department are by the best makers, and some are of very large size. I would mention in particular an 80- ton lathe by Muir, of Man- chester ; some tools of peculiar design by Shanks, of Johnstone, are to be found here. Everything in the way of forgings and castiugs, either of iron or brass, is made in the establishment. There is a large boiler shop, and among the tools is a vertical bending machine for working boiler plates. Vertical rolls are much preferred over horizontal ones, as avoiding the distortion which the plate undergoes, when worked in the latter, from its own weight. This tool was built by Scriven, of Leeds. The boiler-shop contains two of Tweddell's fixed hydraulic riveters. In the forge there are steam-hammers appropriate for large or small work. The plan shows a dock which is said to be the largest on the north- east coast; there is also an improved hydraulic railway. There are nine berths for building vessels, besides a number of slips which the company possesses on the opposite bank of the Tyne. When busy the firm employs about 7,000 men. During the years 1881, 1882, and 1883 58 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. this was their steady working force. In 1881 they turned out 48,000 tons of shipping- and twenty-five to twenty-eight pairs of marine en- gines; in 1882, 60,000 tons of shipping and thirty -five pairs of engines; in 1883, 61,000 tons of shipping and thirty-seven pairs of engines. At the time of my visit they were not busy ; and during my stay in this district a reduction of wages, followed by a series of strikes, increased the already deep depression of trade. I was informed that ship-builders had not one-half the work in hand that they had during the same months of the preceding year, and that 7,000 skilled workmen of the ship-build- ing trades were estimated to be idle on the Tyne and the Wear. On the Wear, twelve montbs prior, sixty-five vessels were constructing; at the time of my visit there were twenty-two. The large tonnage mentioned as the product of Messrs. Palmer, in 1883, was, I believe, almost entirely of iron. Steel, except for the con- struction of war vessels, is not greatly employed by the ship-builders of the North of England. The great center of steel ship-building is the Clyde. During the year 1883, the greatest ever known in the history of British maritime industries, the Clyde district turned out three hundred and twenty-six vessels, aggregating 417,881 tons, valued at 10,000,000 sterling. * Of this output, almost double that of the Tyne, which follows as the next in rank of the ship-building rivers, one-third was of steel. For 1884, although the total construction must be much less, the indications are that the proportion of steel tonnage will be far greater. The superiority of steel has ceased to be discussed ; cost alone bars its universal application ; and, as the price of steel has for some years been steadily approaching equality with that of iron, it is evident that this consideration must soon cease to be an obstruction. The difference, I understand, now amounts in overhead rates to some £2 and odd shillings per ton, so that the discrepancy to be overcome, considering the less weights required, is probably not insurmountable. In the mat- ter of steel rivets, I learned that, after having enjoyed a degree of favor, they are now less used thau formerly, a fact due to their high price and the generally excellent quality of rivet-iron furnished. 1 ob- served, however, that the leading builders iu many oases retained the use of steel rivets, entertaining the reasonable idea that the lull benefit of steel plating is only to be obtained by the use of rivets of the same material. A three-fourths inch iron rivet iu iron plates has a shearing strength of 10 tons ; in steel plates it bears but 8.1 tons, but a steel three-fourths inch rivet in steel plates shears at 13.5 tons; figures which infer a great gain to be derived from the use of steel rivets. MESSRS. JOHN ELDER & CO. To give a detailed description of the many yards of the Clyde visited by me would swell the volume of this report unnecessarily. I shall first mention the establishment ot Messrs. John Elder & Co., at Covan, which when fairly busy gives employment to six thousand men, whose monthly pay-roll amounts to £33,500. The accompanying sketch of this yard gives a general idea of its arrangement and the distribution of the principal buildings. The vessels are built oh a row of slips, occupying 1,200 feet of the frontage on the Clyde. These slips, on which from twelve to fourteen vessels may be constructed at once, according to their size, are placed obliquely to the river; an arrangement common on the Clyde, and necessitated by the narrow character of the stream. At the head of the slips and parallel with the front is conveniently H Mis J&749 1 W °RKS OF JOHN ELDER _£ CO. , GrLASCOW. EUROPEAN' DOCK-YARDS. 59 irranged the plate and frame shop, 1,000 feet in length and 150 in breadth. In this large building are the bending slabs for frames, with their heating furnaces, which are of the double-ended type, having a bending floor at either extremity ; several sets of bending rolls ; five groups of drills and countersinks, each containing numerous spindles; a vast assortment of punching and shearing machines; and a smithery of twenty-five fires devoted to the use of the angle-iron smiths. The mold loft, 320 by 50 feet, is seen in the rear of the frame shop. There are extensive joiner and cabinet shops, provided with the most improved wood-working machines; and in couuection with these shops there is a saw-sharpeniug room, where the saws are kept in good con- dition by the aid of appropriate grinding machinery. There is a large boat shop, where boats, often built on the diagonal principle, can be turned cut rapidly ; besides paint, copper, rigger, and numerous smaller shops, of which it is unnecessary to speak. The great engine shop, 300 feet square and 50 feet in height, has a very fine outfit of heavy tools. It has four overhead traveling cranes, two of which will lift 40 tous each ; the others are applicable to lighter work. Next to this shop is the forge, provided with fifty fires and six- teen steam hammers; and there are two smaller smith shops, adapted to boiler smithing and light machine work. There is a pattern shop, which in completeness of appointment is fully up to the other depart- ments of the works; and a brass foundry, divided into two parts, one for large and the other for small work. In this foundry the well-known manganese bronze is made, which has been for some years one of the specialties of the firm. Some injured propeller blades, completely- doubled up, which stood near the foundry entrance, attested the valu- able qualities of the alloy. As much as 45 tons per month is turned out for sale and their own consumption. As it is impracticable to allow vessels to remain in the river while finishing, a large tidal dock is provided, to which they are removed as soon as launched ; and here their boilers and engines are put in by the ; aid of a three legged shear of great lifting capacity. Shears of this type are common throughout G-reat Britain, and I speak more fully of them under the head of " Ship-yard Appliances and Tools." Railroad com- munication enters the yard and extends to every part of it. The offices, drafting rooms, and model rooms are excellent; and the latter contain elaborate miuiatures of the Livadia, Alaska, Oregon, and other celebrated productions of the firm, comprising their well- known contributions to the transatlantic service. Two vessels of this class were constructing at the time of my visit ; the new Cuuarders, Fmbria and Etruria. The Umbria was in the tidal basin, about to take in her machinery; the Etruria was not yet launched. THE UMBRIA AND ETRURIA. These shins are 520 feet in length and have a beam of 57 feet 2 in- ches; the depth is 40 feet. Their gross tonnage is 8,000, and the dis- placement is 9,860. In the light condition they have a mean draught of 21 feet 9 inches, and loaded they draw 26 feet. The crew and officers sum np 277 men, and of these 117 are firemen and coal passers. Structurally these vessels seem all that science and skill have thus far been able to attain. They are built throughout of mild steel. The keel • is a bar of 12 by 4 inches, worked in 40 foot lengths. The skin plating varies Irom eleven-sixteenths to thirteen-sixteenths inch on different fc strakes ; it is worked in lengths of 15 feet or more, and there is a lib- 60 EUROPEAN DOCK-YAKDS. eral amount of doubling. The frames are 64/' by 4" by T y, and for 300 feet amidships they are doubled to the main deck. The re- verse frames are of the same size, and run alternately to the spar and main decks. The frame space is 30 inches. Belts are worked at 15 feet intervals, and there are ten -water-tight bulkheads, having no openings except the sluice valves below the passenger decks. The spar-deci has an open waist. There are turtle-backs forward and aft, and a long range of houses amidships. Above these the promeuade deck ex? tends for a length of 300 feet, and on this deck the boats, twelve in num- ber, and two life-rafts are carried. The colored side-lights are placed in towers or light houses, at the after end ef the topgallant forecastle, and the lanterns are accessible from below. There are eight anchors, two of 5 tons, two of 4 tons, and smaller anchors and kedges. They are of the improved Trotman type. The vessels are bark rigged and have steel lower masts and yards. The masts are lapped work and are built of three plates in the round. The engines, which were standing in the erecting shop, are admirable samples of heavy mechanism. They are of the three cylinder-compound type, with which the practice of Messrs. Elder has been identified for a number of years. The cylinders are 71 and 105 inches and 105 by 72 inches stroke. All the valves are of the piston type. The shaft is of McVickers steel, 25 inches in diameter in the main journals. The throt- tle is operated by a small engine. Water is supplied to the condenser by two independent centrifugal pumps, either of which is of sufficient capacity to run the condenser. The screw is four bladed, built up, and made of McVickers steel; its diameter is 24 feet 6 inches ami the pitch 33 feet. There is a great amount of finished work on these engines, performed with a view to detecting any manifestation of weakness in its construction. There aie nine double ended return tubular boilers. The length of each is 17 feet, and its diameter 16 feet 6 inches. The shells are of 1 J- inch plates. There are seventy-two corrugated furnaces, 3 feet 6 inches in diameter and 6 feet 6 inches long. The total area of grate surface is 1,638 square feet. The bunkers contain 2,236 tons of coal. The daily consumption is about 300 tons. The working pressure is 110 pounds. The Etruria and Umbria will not carry steerage passengers during the summer. Elaborate accommodations are provided for seven hun- dred and twenty cabin passengers. The state-rooms and saloons are lighted with the Swan incandescent lamps, of which eight hundred and twenty are fitted on board. In conclusion I may give some idea of the capacity of Messrs. Elder & Co.'s establishment by stating that during 1883 they turned out thir- teen vessels, aggregating 40,115 tons, the greatest tonnage ever launched by any Clyde firm, and second only to that of Messrs. Palmer through- out Great Britain. In addition to their reputation as merchant ship- builders, they have produced a considerable quantity of naval work, among which may be mentioned H. M. S. Hydra, a twiu-screw turret ship ; H. M. S. Comus, Champion, Carysfort, Curacoa, and Conquest, all single-screw sheathed corvettes; H. M. S. Nelson, twin-screw ar- mored ship ; and the machinery of the Inflexible, Rambler, Ranger, and Niger. Another well-equipped yard of the Clyde, which seems to call for special mention is that of Messrs. J. & G. Thomson, at Clydebank. Much that has already been said with regard to Elder's yard applies to this establishment as well ; which, though a smaller place, in no respect falls short in excellence of appointment. H Mis Mf. 49 1 J. &.Gr. THOMPSONS YARD , OLYDE-BANK. EUROPEAN DOCK- YARDS. 61 MESSRS. J. & G. THOMSON. The tracks of the North British Bailway extend into the yard, and the raw material passes from the railway cars to a large building, which contains most of the ship-building tools. It its 550 by 150 feet, and in it are the punching, shearing, drilling, and countersinking machines, plate benders and planers. Here also is a special flanging machine for keel plates, devised and built by the firm, and operated by hydraulic power, with which the yard is amply supplied. The pressing engine is one furnished by Brown, of Edinburgh, whose recent improvements in hy- draulic appliances meet with great favor. The Tweddell system of riveting is extensively used. There is a fine smith shop, 600 feet in length and (50 feet in widtb, with over one hundred fires, and an ample equipment of hammers, including a large one capable of forgint; stern- posts and other large pieces. At both ends of this shop there are heat- ing furnaces for frames and plates, and bending slabs. The firm has excellent machine shops both at Dalmuir and Finneston street, Glasgow. They have all the necessary saw-mills, joiner's, car- penter's and cabinet maker's shops, and among their wood- working tools many were noticed of American manufacture, those of Fay & Co. being prominent. There is also an extensive boiler-shop, in which was found an efficient boiler-building plant, comprising flanging machinery and machines for drilling boiler plates in place; punching, in Great Britain, being almost discarded for this sort of work. All of the shops men- tion are fitted with the electric light, both the arc and incandescent systems being employed. There is a tidal basin where vessels receive their machinery and spars, and complete their equipment. A three-legged shear, built by Ta,\ lor, of Birkenhead, stands at one side of the basin, and is capable of lifting 120 tons. The heel of the back leg travels in a groove by the aid of a long screw; light and heavy purchases are fitted, and the addition of two gaffs to the outer legs makes this shear verf convenient for every kind of hoisting. There are eight building slips, and owing to the conformation of the river, launching facilities are possessed by this firm which are excep- tional in the upper yards of the Clyde. Numerous girls are employed in making tracings and in French polishing the finer sorts of joiner work. THE SCOUT. When I visited Clydebank, the Scout, a steel torpedo-ship of an en- tirely new type, was being built for the British Government. Her length is 220 feet; breadth, 34 feet; depth, 19 feet, and displacement, 1,430 tons. She has twin screws, and her engines are expected to de- velop 2,100 indicated horse power, or, with forced draft, 3,200, which should give her a speed of nearly 17 knots. About 400 tons of coal are carried, which will be sufficient for steaming 7,000 knots at 10 knots speed. She will be protected by a light steel deck of segmental section about 100 feet in length, extending over the machinery spaces. The machinery is further protected by coal. The twin-screw engines are both in the same engine-room ; the four boilers are placed in two water- tight fire-rooms. There will be eleven torpedo-tubes, and, in addition to torpedoes, which will be her special means of attack, she will be armed with four 5-inch guns and eight Nordenfeldts. The frame is entirely of Z-bars, and 1 noticed that in the difficult 62 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. work around the shaft-pipes they showed but little strain and seemed admirably worked. A double bottom is constructed under the engines and boilers. An unusual feature in this vessel is that the floor-plates and intercostals are galvanized, but the clips are not. Tbere will be a light schooner rig. The cost of the Scout is stated to be £66,000. Be- side this vessel an amount of merchant work was in progress, including a large ship for the Beaver Line and a freighter for the West India trade. Messrs. Thomson have produced about two hundred vessels, aggre- gating 300,000 tons, and among their elegant collection of finished models are to be found those of such well-known ships as the Gallia, Servia, Aurania, and America. MESSRS. DENNY'S YARD. One of the most widely known and scientifically conducted yards of the Clyde district is that of the Messrs. Denny, of Dunbarton. The plan of their ship-building yard, herewith presented, illustrates its general arrangement and includes the recent improvements, which have been of an important character. The property is advantageously situated on a bend of the river Leven, near its confluence with the Clyde. There are 43 acres of improved ground and a reserve which has not as yet been occupied. The plan, which is made to scale, will show the general dimensions of the different buildings, many of which are one story in height. Corrugated iron, worked in arched bays of 25 or 30 feet and resting on wooden lattice rafters, is much used in the roofs of these structures. The plan will also show the systems of water-mains and telephone circuits as well as the railway communication throughout the yard, in addition to which there is an extremely convenient portable rail- way of narrow gauge, which can be taken up and relaid in a very short time. This is used for carrying plates and frames between the tools and the various building berths, and is an arrangement which must commend itself to all who have seen men carrying heavy portions of a vessel through ship-yard mire on an ordinary two-wheeled truck. A system of hydraulic mains extends to the several building slips from a central hydraulic house, where one of Brown's pressing engines supplies power. There are two tidal basins, one of which, of large capa- city, has just been completed, and is furnished with a shears for lifting 100 tons, built by Day & Summers, of Southampton. The vessels are designed in a drawing office, or rather a series of offices, whose outfit and facilities are very complete. I was here shown many ingenious devices for aiding the work of the office, including the improved integrator recently made for the firm by Amsler, of Geneva. The drawings are all kept in a large fire-proof - room ; and connected with the drawing office, there is a well filled library of technical litera- ture, to which the draftsmen can refer upon such questions as may arise. Girls in considerable numbers are employed by the Messrs. Denny, some as assistants to the draftsmen, and others in the upholstery and such departments involving light work. In connection with the design of vessels, especially vessels of high speed, Messrs. Denny are deeply impressed with the importance of the experiments inaugurated by the elder Froude, and now so ably extended by his son. One of the latest developments of Leven ship-yard, has been the construction of a tank, similar to the well-known arrangement at Torquay. No expense has been spared, and the proprietors may be congratulated upon having availed themselves to the utmost of pre- vious experience to which they have added improvements of their own. H Mis MJA$\ EUROPEAN DOCK-YAKDS. 63 The tank is contained in a suitable building, and is approximately 350 feet in length, 30 in breadth, and 10 in height. Close to the water, and suspended from the roof, at short intervals, by rods, are two stringers carrying rails on top, forming a narrow-gauge railway, extending the whole length of the tank. On these rails the truck runs bearing the dynamometer, and drawing the model through the water. The model is kept straight, and is allowed a vertical and fore-and-aft motion but no lateral movement, through the aid of a frame or harness, by which it is connected to the track. The truck is drawn by a wire rope which passes over the drum of a small double engine. Uniformity of speed of the engine is secured, or rather is sought, for the device has not been wholly satisfactory, by a hydraulic governor. This operates upon the principle of the cataract. A small pump, driven by the engine, sup- plies water to a cylindrical chamber iu which a plunger works. Leading from this chamber is a discharge orifice, regulated by a cock. The plunger connects with the throttle, and governs the supply of steam to the engine, and the movement of the plunger is controlled by the waste- cock. When t,he latter is adjusted to secure a certain velocity of the truck, if the engine speeds up, more water is pumped into the chamber than the overflow will pass, and the plunger moves out, closing the throttle; or, if the engine slows, the pump sends in less water and the plunger, in obedience to a spring which presses it back into the cham- ber, partially closes the valve. The mechanism which Messrs. Denny have had constructed, at con- siderable expense, for producing the models from the lines is very in- teresting. First, a mold is roughly made in clay, contained in an oblong box, a few sections of the vessel being used in sweeping up. An allowance for finish of about three-eighths of an inch is given. A core made of laths tacked against a few approximate sections, is covered with cotton cloth, and is so proportioned as to give a thickness to the finished model of an inch or an inch and a quarter. When the core is prepared and put in place, the material for the model, which is paraffine with a sufficient admixture of wax to give it the desirable qualities, is melted in a tank placed over a row of gas jets, and run into the mold/ The core is easily broken out, and by pouring water around the model and making a few incisions with a knife between the paraffine and the clay, the liquid quickly insinuates itself and the model may be lifted out. For purposes of comparison models are made of a uniform length of 12 feet. The copying machine to which the model is now transferred, is of elaborate and apparently complicated construction, although the under- lying principles are quite simple. A table, like that of a planer, carries the work, which is secured keel upwards. Two rotary cutters revolve on vertical spindles above it, -and are operated through such mechanical movements as compel them to approach or recede symmetrically as re- gards the fore-and-aft central plane of the ship, while the table travels to and fro. The cutters are adjustable vertically to reach the different water lines of the ship, and their inward and outward movement is brought about in a manner which I will now describe. Placed on its edge along the side of the machine is a board on which the lines of the Vessel are mounted. It has a motion coincident with that of the table, but of adjustable amplitude to accommodate sets of lines of different lengths and reduce or expand them to the standard 12-fo6t model. A pointer, moving vertically in guides, is governed by a hand wheel to follow each water line as it passes behind it, and this motion is trans- mitted to the cutters and causes them to approach or recede in the man- 64 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. Her described. A lense is fitted over the pointer for following the lines with more precision ; and as the movement of the pointer corresponds only with that of the center of the cutters, and not with that of their periphery, which is describing the lines of the model, it is necessary to attach to the point a semicircular plate, which shall take into account the radius of the cutters, or, to be yet more accurate, a seini-ellipse which shall make correction both for the radius ot the cutters and the ratio of contraction ; and it is the perimeter of this plate which is made to follow the water line on the board. When the work leaves this machine it exhibits a series of steps, corresponding to the lifts of an ordinary wooden model. It is next worked down and finished by spoke shaves and appropriate tools. To strengthen the paraffine shell and provide, a point of application for the dynamometer several wooden thwarts are fitted. In all essential particulars the dynamometer is similar to Mr. Proude's, of which frequent descriptions have appeared, and which I afterwards observed at Torquay. As in that apparatus, resistances are recorde'd on a paper wrapped on a cylinder which makes a whole or a partial revolution according to the length of the run ; pens are provided for automatically recording on the same paper equal intervals of time and distance actually traveled by the truck, also distance traveled through the water, as given by two delicate current meters ; other pens are used in special experiments. A series of springs of assorted strengths are used to record the resistance under different conditions of speed ; but their reading is always checked by the test of weights actually applied to the arm of the dynamometer. The line indicating the resistance, even when every precaution has been taken, is very irregular ;. every portion of the mechanism seems to have its own period of vibration and leaves its mark. To correct this and trace a mean line of resistance is the duty of a number of girls, who take the cards and, striking an ap- proximate line, determine by planimeters, measuring the area cut off on either side, whether or not it is sufficiently accurate. This work is done in an office attached to the tank where records are kept and tables made out of the results of the numerous runs. Of the shops and tools of Messrs. Denny it is unnecessary to speak further than to say that they are similar to, and fully up to the stand- ard of the yards previously described. Their fine engine works, situated at about half a mile from the ship-yard, were in process of extension; and the main shop, when completed, will be 500 feet in length. White glazed bricks are being used in the interior of this large building, and will add much to the light as well as to the neatness of the shop. The work going on in the ship-yard was of a varied character; sev- eral light draught side-wheel and stern-wheel boats were constructing for China and India; a small yacht was being built for the colonial government; the Arawa, a superior vessel for the New Zealand trade, was about to receive her machinery, which will be compound with triple expansion, working steam at an initial pressure of 160 pounds. She was fitting for the transportation of meat, and had refrigerating machinery on board. The holds were lined with charred shavings back of the ceil- ing and the deck beams, and stanchions were similarly inclosed in non-* conductors. The only paint used on the inside of the plating, and frames was a Couple of coats of cement and sour porter, the surface hav- ing been first prepared with a wash of sal-ammoniac. The three yards thus sketched may be regarded as representative ones of this district ; while there may be others equally excellent and a number not much inferior, I feel that it would involve much needless repetition to describe them. Go to tn > XI D n r > 0) H I > 33 r > z a o r ■n to' -o > o > a TIMBER J TIMBER TIMBER- TIMBER TIMBER queen's road . ^i*stL «^M:^«®*f ; # ■ ' ' tjM*iN$ -;o=*c.K PAINT 5KOP M/\3T SHED ANQ IRON 3H~0P~ SAIL J.0FT CABir CJT o 2 NET Ld SH OPS «3- ir<: PMTERS SHEDS i S ! r---| 7_l V- SMITH SHOPS z? 8HEDS h- -ryif RIVER Bt¥£F*- EUROPEAN DOCK-YAKDS. 65 MESSRS. HARLAND & "WOLFF. But before taking leave of the subject of private yards, I would men- tion the superior establishment of Messrs. Harland & Wolff, at Belfast, Ireland, which occupies about 50 acres of land on the peniusnla known as the Queen's Island. The present establishment may be said to have been founded in 1859, when Mr. B. J. Harland acquired the premises of Messrs. Hickson & Co., with whom he had previously been manager, as well as the yard of the Belfast Shipbuilding Company. In 1861 Mr. Wolif became a partner and the firm has since been iucreased by the accession of Mr. W. H. Wilson and Mr. W. J. Pirrie, both of whom grew up in the establishment. The extensive business which this yard has enjoyed for many years will be seen from the following statements: In the five years ending with 1864 thirty vessels were built, amounting to 30,276 tons ; in the next five years thirty-six vessels, aggregating 28,023 tons; in the next five years, ending with 1874, seventeen vessels and 46,283 tons ; in the next five years forty- four vessels and 57,068 tons; and in the five years ending with 1884, forty-two vessels and 105,068 tons. In this is included a number of vessels for Her Majesty's navy, among which may be mentioned the gun-vessels Lynx and Al- gerine, and the torpedo-ship Hecla. In 1870 they constructed the Oceanic, the pioneer of the fine trans- atlantic fleet of the White Star Line, and since that date they have built for Messrs. I6may, Imrie & Co. twentjfvessels, amounting to 75,000 tons. The location of the works is excellent, the slips being at each end, while between them are situated the workshops. A narrow-gauge rail- way intersects the works in all directions, and connects the various shops. The offices are very extensive, and a larger force of clerks and draftsmen are employed than I have elsewhere observed. The draft- ing, particularly, was carried out with an extraordinary attention to detail ; and their system of accounts, which was courteously explained, evinced a methodical completeness seldom met with. Many of the buildings are of wood, this material being preferred be- cause, among other reasons, the treacherous nature of the ground has made foundations a source of great expense and trouble. The shops are detached from each other and communicate in the second stories by bridges, which are contrived to be easily thrown down in the event of fire. As many as 4,000 men are often employed by this concern, which is self contained to a very great extent, and manufactures for itself most of the outfit of its ships. The upholstery, cordage, and sails are all made by the establishment. There is a large engine-shop and a fouudry, both of which are well arranged. There are eleven building-slips, adapted for vessels of the largest size. Three of the finest slips have just been finished at an expense of £6,000 each, so great has been the amount of piling necessitated by the soft character of the ground. The method of carrying out work is original, and, so far as I have observed, different from that of any other firm in the United Kingdoms. The system of contracting, in which the quartermen of the yard will offer to put in such bulk-heads, or lay such decks, or do given jobs of riveting, &c, for a definite price, almost universal in other yards, is, in the practice of Harland & Wolff ignored ; and with the exception of ess careful work, like riveting of frames, is never resorted to. In this matter considerable superiority of workmanship is reasonably claimed H. Mis. 237 5 66 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. to result. In manufacturing so much of their own outfit they do not seek profit, which in moderate manufactures of this sort cannot accrue, so much as the control which they thus possess over the quality of the material entering into their productions. As another matter in which this firm was found to be unique, I would mention that, of the seven or eight vessels building at the time of my visit, four were being con- structed on the unusual basis of charging the time and material with a percentage of profit for the builders. A good stone dry-dock, owned by the city of Belfast, is adjacent to the property of Harland & Wolff, and a three-legged shear, of 80 tons lifting capacity, is near by, and is also city property, though built and much used by the firm. MANAGEMENT OF WORK AND EMPLOYES AND THE EDUCATION AND PROMOTION OF THE PERSONNEL. In British private yards the bulk of the work is given out to the men in small contracts. Day wages seldom amount to more than from 60 to 65 per cent, of what the same trades receive in the United States. In the royal dock-yards the matter of wages is somewhat amended; most of the labor is day work, and the employes have considerable attention paid to their comfort — about one-third of the men are called "estab- lished," and have a pension to look forward to when advanced in life and incapacitated — a wise provision, encouraging good conduct on the part of the men, and rendering a strike in the dock-yard an impossi- bility. The average hired man in the Government yards gets 3s. bd. per day, and the average "established" man gets 4s. 6$d. A leading- man of shipwrights gets 6s. 6§d. In both public and private yards the men are subject to formidable lists of regulations, and in the latter the rules are particularly stringent. Time is usually kept on the ticket system. Every man is known by a number, stamped on a metal check, which he takes from a box on entering the gate and deposits on leaving. Sometimes this check is a wooden tag, having the number on the front, and on the back a silicate slate on which the workman writes briefly the name of the job on which he has been employed. The hours of labor in the royal dock-yards vary with the season of the year. In the private concerns of England the week's work is made up of fifty-six hours. The workmen come at 6 a. m. and work till 8, when they have half an hour for breakfast. At noon they take an hour. On Saturdays they stop at 1. Time and a quarter is usually paid for overtime. In France wages are extremely low, and the condition of the work- ingman is correspondingly depressed. In the dock-yards laborers get about 30 cents per day; blacksmith's helpers, 35 to 45 cents ; a second- class shipwright, 45 to 55 cents; and a very competent shipwright may get 80 cents. Average blacksmiths, fitters, and turners get about 60 cents. A competent smith will get 80 cents. After years of service, when looking forward to becoming a foreman, he will get $1 per day, but no foreman gets more than 8 francs or $1.60. After twenty-five years' employment every workman is entitled to a pension, which is two-thirds of his greatest pay. This pension is what most of the employes are look- ing forward to, and it does much to reconcile them to their rather forlorn condition. In the summer months they work from 5 a. m. to 7 p. m., stopping from 8 till 8.30 and from 12 till 1.30. In winter the hours of labor are from 6 a. m. till 5 p. m., with a half hour for breakfast and an hour for dinner. Z^'-^^L In some private establishments and in many dock-yards, both in England and France, a large room is fitted up as a place where men can come and eat their dinners in warmth and comfort. In these rooms steam-ovens are sometimes provided in which dinners can be warmed by an attendant. I consider this a praiseworthy arrangement, and one which conduces greatly to a cheerful and contented working force. 67 68 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. Much attention is devoted to water-closets, which are seldom filthy sheds, overhanging the river, but well kept and cleanly and under strict surveillance. The regulations of private yards as to time spent in latrines are rigid and almost severe. In many cases the entrance is through a little office, where a clerk keeps account of every man's num- ber and his time ; and in one establisbment this was carried to the re- finement of making out weekly averages for every employ^. Fines are imposed for unnecessary delay, and, like most penalties for infringe- ments of yard regulations, the proceeds are devoted to a charitable fund. I here insert the rules of a well-known Clyde firm. RULES OF GOVAN YARD. All piece-workers and their helpers, and time-workmen are engaged on the condi- tion that they shall observe the following rules or forfeit the undernoted penalties. All fines shall be paid to the accident fund, and the amount will appear yearly in the account of that fund. I. — General. (1) Each piece-worker, piece-worker's helper, and time-worker, who is not pail an upstanding wage, shall be known by a number, as well as by name, and shall take from the time-keepers a ticket with his number on it each time he enters the yard, and shall place it each time he goes out of the yard in the box corresponding to the ship he is at. Time-workers will be provided with tin tickets and piece workers and their helpers with brass tickets. All vessels being built will be known by numbers. Repair jobs, and such yard ac- counts as are to be kept separate, will be known by their names. For each of these a separate box will be provided for receiving the tin tickets at the time-worker's en- trance, and at the entrance of the piece-workers and their laborers similar boxes will be provided for the brass tickets. All employes on first receiving a ticket shall have their time rate of pay fixed by the foreman. This rate will be entered in the new worker's rate-book, and any piece- worker, piece-worker's helper, or time-worker failing to take and put in a ticket as above described shall be liable to have time taken off him at the rate of pay against his name. (2) Any person depositing his ticket in the wrong box shall be fined threepence for the first offense, sixpence for the second, and one shilling for each time afterwards. (3) In the case of a piece-worker or piece- worker's helper being fined, the sum will be deducted from the earnings of the squad he is associated with, and intimation given to the head of the squad before the pay tabes place. (4) The subscriptions to the accident fund will be assessed at these rates ; those who do not wish to join being required to give intimation to this effect. (5) Whenever a time-worker goes on piece he must give up to his foreman his time ticket, who will give him a note to the time-keeper to give him a brass ticket. The foremau will then put on record the terms on which the contract work is to be done. Any one losing or destroying a ticket shall be charged threepence for a new one. (U) The time-keepers will be in their ticket-offices fifteen minutes before each time of commencing work. Five minutes after the bell has rung for commencing work in the morning, and when the bell has ceased ringing after meal hours, the time-keeper will mark each man who comes in from that time until fifteen minutes after the bell has stopped, and shall deduct from the pay of the time-workers half au hour, and of piece-workers and their helpers one-quarter of an hour, at the rate of pay agai nst their names. Fifteen minutes after the bell the workmen's gate will be closed, and no more tickets issued on any account after that time. EUROPEAN DOCK- YARDS. 69 When half an hour has elapsed the ticket-office will be closed and the gates opened and all strangers excluded ; the time-keepers will see this done. (7) In the morning and after each meal hour, when the bell has ceased ringing, strangers seeking jobs will be admitted inside the gate, and the foremeu will make up, as far as possible, broken or incomplete squads by engaging strangers at the fol- lowing rates for three hours' work : .'.'. d. Eiveters 2 6 Holders-up and iron- workers' helpers 1 6 Kivet and hobby boys , 9 Strikers 1 6 Laborers 1 Any worker refusing to make up his squad in this way and enable the work to pro- ceed will be liable to be dismissed at once. The time-keeper will take the names of strangers being taken on for temporary pur- poses, and charge the above sums against the squads they are assisting. When this is done these men will be allowed to pass down the yard. For no other purpose will strangers be admitted, and any employe' taking a stranger into the yard without per- mission from the office or the manager shall be fined Is. People bringing meals are excepted. (b) Any workers discharged during working-hours, or having to stop on account of rain, or from any other cause, must hand their tickets in at the ticket-offices, or, if they are closed, to the gateman as they pass out, stating the ship they are working at. Anyone neglecting this rule will be fined Is. Such workmen and all men requir- ing to leave the yard during working-hours on the firm's business must present to the gateman a line from the foreman. Workmen on being discharged must present to the pay-clerk a line of clearance from the foreman or storeman, certifying that the tools given out to them have been returned in a satisfactory condition ; otherwise their pay will be withheld, and the cost of the said tools shall be deducted. (10) All rivets delivered out must be accounted for by each set of riveters, either in rivets put in, returned good, or spoiled. All rivets left over must be returned to the store every blind Saturday, or before a squad leaves. Any one failing to observe this rule shall be fined Is. (11) All service bolts and nuts are to be returned to the store before new bolts and nuts are given out for other jobs. (12) All piece-work will be measured or couuted up to the score off time, and no allowance will be given on any account for work completed after that time. (13) On all piece or contract work 5 to 10 per cent, may be retained from the amount done each day until the whole contract has been completed. (14) Employe's who have received lamps, bears, or ratchets, or such like tools from the stores, must return them each blind Saturday to have them checked. Any one neglecting this rule shall be fined (id. for each offense. (15) Any employe" going out of or coming into the yard by any other way than the workmen's entrance or gate-house shall be fined Is. (16) Any employe" found in the yard or on board any vessel, without permission, fifteen minutes after the bell has rung for leaving off work for the day shall be fined Is. (17) Boys under 16 years of age on first receiving a ticket must deposit a certificate of their birth with the time-keeper, and present themselves on the following Thursday to be examined by the surgeon. Any one neglecting this rule will be fined 6d. (18) Workmen, apprentices, and boys who are persistently irregular in their attend- ance shall be dismissed. (19) Any one committing a nuisance in any part of the yard or on board of any of the ships instead of using the latrines and urinals provided shall be lined Is. (20) Seven minutes are allowed in the latrines, and smoking is strictly prohibited. Any one infringing this rule will be fined Is. 70 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. (21) Any one smoking during working hours shall be fined Is. (22) Smoking during meal hours will be allowed in the iron sheds, smitheries, and finishing-shops, and in the open yard where there is no light wood-work, but any one found smoking in the joiner-shops, boat-sheds, spar-shed, saw-mill, wood-racks, stores, paint-shops, or in the cabins of ships lying in the river, or other parts where there is light wood-work, shall be fined 2s. and render himself liable to be dismissed. (23) During meal hours no men or boys are to be on board vessels on the stocks, or down about the water side. Tbey must remain in the upper portion of the yard. Any one breaking this rule will be fined Is. (24) In wet weather, or when men have finished their jobs, they may stand about the furnaces ; but any men or boys found there or in any part of the yard after they have been distinctly told to leave by their foreman or the manager shall be fined 2s. 6(J. (25) Overtime will be paid only after the regular number of working-hours for the day involved have been completed. For instance, no overtime will be paid to a worker not beginning work till breakfast time, until he has made up the time lost before breakfast time. (26) Employes leaving their employment during the currency of a fortnight will receive their wages on the first pay-day, but if they are dismissed they will receive their money at the time of dismissal, unless they are suspended for a breach of these rules. All errors of pay must be rectified on or before the Monday following the pay-day, after which no complaints will be received. (27) All workmen sent to Greenock or Oareloch will get Is. per day, and appren- tices 6 ABLE FOR DOCK EXTENSION REFEREN C E, Stations • Jlcubvays JtcrfuLs H Mis .^7 491 THE DOCKS OF LONDON EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. 89 taches to the sliding caissons invented by Mr. Kinniple, the engineer of the new Greenock docks, as his method certainly simplifies the working of the caisson. In this invention the caisson is a large box or tank, which may be filled with or emptied of water, and runs on rollers across the entrance of the dock. When withdrawn it passes into a pocket in the masonry. It may be operated by steam or hydraulic power. In the moderate winter climate of Great Britain it works excellently, but it seems probable that in waters choked by floating ice its performance might be less satisfactory. In London, I had the pleasure of inspecting the machinery constructed by Mr. Allen for pumping the large dock recently built at St. John's, Newfoundland, by Mr. J. B. Simpson, of New York, whose dry-docks have met with great approval from the civil engineers and constructors of the United States Navy, and which have a great advantage over the graving-docks of Europe in cost, light, and accessibility. There are two centrifugal pumps, having 36-inch suctions, driven di- rectly by two horizontal engines, 21 inches in diameter and 22 .inches stroke. They are intended to run at 170 revolutions with 80 pounds pressure. The combined capacity of the pumps is 6,400,000 imperial gallons in 2£ hours. It may be interesting to state that the total length of this dock, from the outer sill to the inside of the coping at the head of the dock, is 610 feet 10 inches; the breadth across the top is 132 feet 6 inches ; the breadth across the bottom is 49 feet 10 inches ; the depth of water over the sill at spring tides is 25 feet. Wooden docks cost from 30 to 50 per cent, less than those of stone; and in climates where they are exposed to severe frosts are much cheaper in maintenance ; extensive repairs are not required within the first twenty years. CONCLUSION The improvements in modern naval architecture are very extensive from any point we may view them; but in no particular are they more interesting than in their great variety. Ships have not only grown in size, structural strength, complexity of detail, and powers of resistance; but a multitude of other particulars, each having a distinct offensive and defensive value, have come into existence in the course of the last quarter of a century. For many years our ships of war were classed and rated in accordance with the number of guns they carried, and were sometimes spoken of as ships of three decks, and of two decks, frigates, sloops, brigs, &c. The mention of any of tbese descriptions gave a good idea of the powers of the vessel. Nevertheless the gun classification was, without doubt, the most in- telligible; and to speak of a ship carrying 80 guns was equivalent to saying that in fighting power she was superior to a 74. The weight of a broadside was evidently an illustration of the offensive capabilities, and many times the variable and nndefinable qualities ex- isting in ships consisted in the bravery and seamanship of the officers and crew. Sailing qualities were of great value, especially in frigates ; but it is also true that while some ships were of better model than others, it was often proven that the speed and maneuvering qualities of a ship depended many times upon her commanding officer. Beside the gun scale of classification, that of tonnage was for many years very generally adopted in describing the smaller class of vessels ; but since the introduction of steam machinery into our Savy the dis- placement at the load draught of water is generally used. Sow if a modern ship of war were at all like her predecessors of fifty years ago, the displacement would be as good a criterion as could be provided to those wishing to be informed regarding her comparative fighting strength. In those days if a naval constructor commenced with specified dimensions, he would produce, so far as fighting efficiency ' is concerned, very nearly the same ship as any other naval constructor. The two vessels would probably carry the same number of guns of the same size, carry the same crew, and have the same area of sail. Whatever differences existed would be found in the form of hull below water and in the smaller details of construction. In comparison with this consider the corresponding circumstances of the present time. Eecently there has been a great controversy between the leading con- structors of Europe as to the best manner to utilize 10,000 tons of dis- placement. In France the naval constructors consider one quality, viz, water-line protection, superior to all others; while at the Italian Ad- miralty that quality occupies a very subordinate position in the estima- tion of the constructors. Director of Construction Barnaby, of the Eng- lish Admiralty, takes a mean position between France and Italy ; while Sir Edward Reed is inclined to go further in that direction than France. This is, however, only one element which has to be taken in account in naval designs. The following are some of the principal considerations in war-ship de- signs : Speed, armor, guns, ammunition, coal endurance, officers and crew, lightness of draught, torpedoes, torpedo-boats, maneuvering power, 91 92 EUROPEAN DOCK-YARDS. mode of propulsion, rammiug, sea-worthiness, sailing power, engine economy, &c. In addition to all these requirements the naval con- structor has to build a strong structure, capable of carrying all the weights to be put on board, and to do so on the smallest possible scant- lings, in order tbat his available displacement for guns, arms, &c, may be as great as possible. He has to subdivide his ship into compart- ments and provide for her safety in every possible manner. Commen- cing, then, with a given displacement of 8,000 tons, it becomes with him a question of the first importance what he shall do with it. Shall he carry so much armor as to leave but little buoyancy for car- rying machinery and coal? Shall he protect his water-line wholly, par- tially, or at all with vertical armor? How far shall he use horizontal submerged armor in order to secure buoyancy when the ship is penetrated 2 How shall the guns be mounted? What shall be her coal capacity "? It is certain that all cannot be ob- tained that is wanted. Here is where the differences of opinion are sure to arise. One officer sets a high value on one quality, and another officer upon something else. The result is that at the present time there are nearly as many types as there are ironclads afloat. If the structure were on the laud the case would be simple, but as it has to float a compromise must be effected. Even so-called sister ships differ in some particulars, and each is con- sidered superior by somebody. It is in regard to the results of the continual effort to arrive at the ship of the future that we are chiefly concerned; and we seem so far from having reached a definite result, that some unreasonable people have argued against building any ships at all until some fixed status is attained. Every naval constructor of eminence is responsible for a variety of approximations to the ideal ship; and some of them have produced two or three widely different designs in the course of a year. The process of reaching perfection is an experimental one, and is accompanied by many mistakes. The lack of important naval battles in recent years stands in marked contrast to the desperate efforts of European powers to equip extraor- dinary vessels, designed to combine the invulnerable and the irresista- ble; and to the rarity of great sea fights may be indirectly attributed the superabundance of types; for we cannot but believe that a war of moderate duration, between first-class naval powers, would speedily settle such vexed questions as the utility of the wholly armored water- line versus the citadel ship, and would fix irrevocably the status of such craft as the Esmeralda and the Giovanni Bausau. Such a war would doubtless demonstrate that the elaborate schemes of fleet tactics which have been the theme of many essays by naval officers have been chiefly valuable as amenta! exercise; .and that, although much importance may attach to a skillful disposition of forces in the beginning of an en- gagement, yet, in view of the rapidity with which vessels would be dis- abled by the tremendous means of offense antagonized, and the inabil- ity to see or obey signals amid the confusion and obstructing smoke, it is evident that such an engagement must presently become a pell-mell scrimmage. Such a war, or one such battle, would prove, what has long been the apprehension of intelligent officers, that the warship of our day has be- come far too complicated for the people who may be called upon to work her ; and that a balance of advantage, unsuspected by many, rests with that vessel which has comparative simplicity, even though it be con- comitant with a greater apparent exposure of life, a lower speed, and reduced powers of offense. INDEX. Pagei Active, Her Majesty's corvette 20 Adler, German corvette 23 Admiral Baudin, French armor-clad 30 Admiral class 9_2l Admiral Nachimoff, Russian barbette ship 26 Admiral Vauban, French, armor-clad 33 Alacrity, Her Majesty's dispatch vessel 57 Alexandrina, German corvette 23 Amphion, Her Majesty's ship 13 Anchors 36 Anson, Her Majesty's ship, barbette ship 10 Apprentices in Her Majesty's dock-yards 72 Apprentices in private shops 72 Aquideban, Brazilian turret ship 52 Arawa, the steamship 64 Arethusa, Her Majesty's ship, protected cruiser 21 Armor, experiments with 84 Armor- plate mills 83 Armor-plates, prices of 85 Armstrong, Mitchell