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10 MARINE REVIEW. [October 27, JAPANESE CRUISER KASAGI. THE SPLENDID COMMERCE DESTROYER RECENTLY COMPLETED BY THE WM. CRAMP & SONS SHIP & ENGINE BUILDING CO.OF PHILADELPHIA. A considerable degree of attention has been attracted by the acquisi- tion by the Japanese government during the past few years of a navy, which, considering its size, probably has no superior afloat. Something of more significance than a passing compliment attaches, therefore, to the declaration of the best informed officers of the Japanese navy that the pro-~ tected cruiser Kasagi, just turned over to representatives of the Japanese government by the William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co. of Philadelphia, surpasses their expectations in every respect and is in every way a credit to their fleet. The most competent naval architects and marine engineers of this and other countries who have inspected the vessel have shared this opinion most unqualifiedly. She is the equal, they say, of anything of her class as yet turned out by European builders. Better still, the record of her trial trip evidences the fact that all these enconiums are justified. ' The Kasagi, which has been referred to in some instances as an ar- mored cruiser, is in reality a protected cruiser of the second class, and, like all vessels of her type, has no defensive armor, relying on her coal bunkers, which run 108 feet fore and aft of 'her amidship section, to protect her engines, which are entirely below the water line. The cruiser is 874.5 feet over all, 48.75 feet breadth of beam, 30 feet deep, and has a displace- ment of 4,900 tons on a draught of 17 feet 9 inches. 'The protective deck has a maximum thickness of 4.5 inches on the slopes and 1.75 inches on the flat. The motive power is supplied by two vertical, inverted, triple- exipansion four-cylinder engines, driving twin screws, and capable oi de- veloping under forced draught a speed of 22.5 knots per hour. 'The en- gines 'have 17,000 indicated horse power, and there are twelve single-ended cylindrical boilers, each 14 feet 2 inches in diameter and 9 feet 9 inches in length. These boilers are in three compartments and there is a smaller auxiliary boiler above the protective deck. The grate surface is 920 and the heating surface 26,000 square feet. The armament of the Kasagi, to be supplied by Japan and to secure which the cruiser is about to depart for England, will be heavier than that ear. knots under natural draft. Revolutions of the screws rose from 158 at the beginning to 164 at the close. This was accomplished with an even pres- sure of steam and an air pressure of about 1% inches in the fire rooms. Following the regular trial the condition of the machinery was demon- strated by a series of progressive trials with the speeds recorded at 80, 125, 150 and 160 revolutions. The manouvering ability of the cruiser was also determined by a complete test. With full speed, thirteen revolutions per minute of the engines, complete circle to starboard, the time was 4 min- utes 15 seconds; with the same conditions, but going to port, 4 minutes, 16 seconds; circle in each case was less than 300 yards; full speed ahead, reversing and coming to complete stor, 2 minutes, 25 seconds, or in the vessel's own length. oe i Increased credit is due to the Cramp company in view of the fact that the Kasagi was completed full six months ahead of the contract time, be- lieved to be the first case of the kind on record. The United States goy- ernment made an unsuccessful effort to purchase the cruiser at the out- break of the war. The excellent picture of the Kasagi, presented as a supplement with this issue of the Review, is from a photograph taken while the vessel was lying in the Delaware river just prior to her departure for New York, whence she goes direct to England. THE POSTMASTER GENERAL. NEW MAIL VESSEL FOR SERVICE IN NEW YORK HARBOR NOW NEARING ComM- PLETION AT THE YARD OF THE ROBERT PALMER & SON OO., NOANK, CONN. The work of transporting the mails from incoming ocean steamers to New York city 'has gradually assumed such proportions as to emphasize the inadequacy of the presnt facilities, and it is to remedy the existing con- ditions, as well as to meet any demands that may arise for some years to come, that Howard Carroll is having constructed by the Robert Palmer & Son Ship Building & Marine Railway Co. of Noank, Conn., a mail boat which will typify the highest degree of development in craft of this class. The vessel, which will be known as the Postmaster General, will be 151 feet over all, 28 feet 9 inches beam and 10 feet 9 inches deep; gross registered tonnage, 419; net, 285. This steamer is-especially constructed wiht a view to handling and assorting mail matter, and 'tha's two mail hatches IN f ee \ Pr _Wel_IPr cAI Aa A eZ : ot | lu bo I a f AOTC Tei gg. im Taane wi i i ! T @ oe . } , i ve Rell --_ a... es MAIL STEAMER POSTMASTER-GENERAL, BUILT BY THE ROBERT PALMER & SONS CO., NOANK, CONN. of the cruisers Minneapolis or Columbia, the commerce destroyers of the United States navy. There will be two 8-inch rifles at the sides, ten 4.7- inch quick-fire rifles mounted in broadsides, and a secondary battery of twelve 12-pounder quick-firing rifles and six 2.5-inch Hotchkiss guns. The equipment will also include five torpedo tubes, 14 inches in diameter, one of which will be located in the bow under water. The two steel masts will be provided with fighting tops, in which rapid-fire guns will be mounted. The Minneapolis and Columbia, it may be stated for purposes of compari- son, carry two 6-inch guns forward, one 8-inch gun aft and eight 4-inch guns in broadside. One of the Kasagi's 8-inch guns is forward and the other aft. The Japanese vessel is in size and armament very similar to the United States cruiser Baltimore, built in 1888-89 by the Cramp company, but the vesel just completed 'has a speed of over 22 knots, as against 16 to the credit of the Baltimore. The deck plan of the vessel is admirable. All the 4.7-inch guns, to- gether with some of the secondary battery, are carried on the spar deck. The two forward and four after guns are carried in sponsons, in order to give a greater fore and aft ramge of fire. The forward 8-inch gun is carried on the top gallant forecastle, and the after 8-inch gun on the poop. Poop and forecastle are connected by a fore-and-aft bridge over the spar deck. The conning tower is on this level, but the pilot house is on the level with the flying bridge, forward and above. There is a similar flying bridge at the mainmast. The cruiser is equipped with four powerful searchlights, and eight steering stations provide for almost any contingency in handling the vessel. The use of wood in the construction of the vessel has been reduced to a minimum. All the partitions in the officers' quarters are of thin steel in accordance with the latest designs. i The contract for the Kasagi was signed with representatives of the Japanese government Dec. 31, 1896, and the launch of the vessel, Jan. 20, 1898, attracted international attention, by reason of the fact that she was the first foreign warship launched in America since the Russian warship Zabiaca, built by the (Cramp company in 1878. The Japanese cruiser Chi- tose, a vessel of the same class as the Kasagi, was launched 'by the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, two days after the launch at the Cramp yard. The Union Iron Works cruiser is a little longer than her sister vessel but draws slightly less water. The trial trip of the Kasagi took place over a 40-mile course off the Massachusetts coast last July. A strong cross tide and other unfavorable circumstances miade the conditions for the trial of a rather unsatisfactory nature, and yet the cruiser developed a speed of 21.68 knots under natural draft and 22.76 knots under forced draft, the contract calling for only 20.50 and numerous mail chutes, extending from the upper to the lower deck, together with a capacity for storing and sorting at least 3,500 bags of mai] at a trip. The frame and planking is of selected white oak, the knees of hacmatack, decks of yellow pine with steel frames, and the joiner work of the saloon and cabin of polished sycamore. The engine, built by John W. Sullivan of 'New York city, will drive the vessel at a speed of 19 knots. Two boilers will be of the Heipershausen pattern, furnishing steam at 250 pounds pressure. The entire main deck of the vessel will be given over to facilities for assorting and storing mail matter, and arrangements will be made so that it may be strongly illuminated at night with electric lights. On this deck accommodation is provided for six officers of the postoffice service and six mail handlers, while in the forecastle, forward and below decks, quarters are provided for a crew of sixteen men. The Palmer company, which has the Postmaster General under con- struction, has had the capacity of its plant tested for some time past by the orders in hand. The Old Glory, a twin-screw steamer 140 feet in length, 27 feet beam and 10 feet deep, with triple-expansion engines, has just been completed, and the last of ten 1,600-ton barges building for the Reading Co. of Philadelphia left the Noank yard this week. Among other vessels constructed recently by the Palmer company are five railroad floats, two lighters, the tug Samuel L. Hommden, steamer Halayoark and the steam yacht Cayadetta. The company also has several other contracts in sight. Haskell & Crawford, Tacoma, Wash., are among the busiest ship build- ers of the Pacific coast. They thave just closed a contract for a steamer for the Alaska trade, launched this week a steamer for the Tacoma-Quar- termaster run, and are figuring on a contract for a steamer for service on the upper Columbia river. The vessel just contracted for (names of owners not made public) will 'be 80 feet over all, 18 feet beam and 8 feet depth of hold. She will have freight and passenger accommodations, electric light plant and modern outfit, and will attain 12% knots speed. This vessel will ply between several points in 'Alaska. The vessel launched this week for Wyman & Bibbin of Tacoma, and which will be placed on the Tacoma- Quartermaster Harbor route, will. it is claimed, be one of the finest little steamers on Puget sound. She will be 85 feet over all, 17 feet beam, 6% feet depth of hold. If the Tacoma firm secures the contract for the Colum- bia river boat, they will have the material prepared at their Tacoma yard and taken to Northport, where the vessel will be built. So far this year Haskell & 'Crawford thave built the tug Fairfield, barge Shookum and steamer Minneapolis for the Yukon river, and steamer Sentinel for the Tacoma-Seattle mail route.