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1903.}>* ! BIDS SOLICITED. FOR THREE 16,000-TON BATTLESHIPS, The navy department is advertising for bids for the con- struction' of three battleships of the Vermont class recently authorized in the naval act. The bids are to be opened on June 3. The vessels are to be of 16,000 tons displacement and to have a sea speed of 18 knots. The general dimensions of the vessels, as given in the circular defining their character- istics, are: Length on load waterline, 450 ft.; breadth, ex- treme, at load waterline, 76 ft. 10 in.; mean draught to bottom of keel at trial displacement, 24 ft. 6 in.; gross draught, full load, about 26 ft. 9 in.; total coal bunker capacity, about 2,200 tons; coal carried on trial, 900 tons; feed water carried on trial, 66 tons. The main battery is to consist of four 12-in. guns,, eight 8-in. guns and twelve 7-in. guns. The 'secondary battery consists of twenty 3-in., 14-pounder rapid-fire guns, twelve 3-pounder semi-automatic guns, six I-pounder automa- tic guns, two I-pounder semi-automatic guns, two 3-in. field pieces, two machines of 30 caliber, and six automatic guns of 30 caliber. The 12-in. guns will be mounted in pairs in two electrically-controlled, balanced,: elliptical 'turrets, on: the cen- ter line, one forward and one aft, each with an arc-of fire of about 270°. The 8-in. guns are to be mounted in pairs, in four electrically-controlled, balanced, elliptical turrets, two on eat.. beam, at each end of the superstructure. The 7-in, guns are to be mounted in broadside on pedestal mounts on . the"eun deck-behind 7-in. armor, each gun being isolated by ' splinter "bulkheads of nickel steel of from i¥2 to 2 in. thick, forward and after guns arranged to fire right ahead and right astern respectively and the other 7-in. guns to have the usual broadside train. All the 7-in. guns are so arranged that their muzzles train"inside the line of the side armor, thus leaving a clear 'and unobstructed side when it is desired to go alongside a pier or vessel. Whe hull will be protected at the waterline by a complete belt of armor 9 ft. 3 in. wide, having a uniform thickness of 9 in. for about 285. ft. amidships, forward and aft of which points the thickness is gradually decreased to 4 in. at the stem and stern. The lower casement armor extends to the limits of the magazine spaces and reaches from the top of the waterline belt to the lower edges of the 7-in. gun ports on the main deck, and is 7 in. in thickness, the athwartship bulkheads at the end of tnis casement being 6 in. thick. The casement armor around the 7-in. guns on the gun deck is 7 in. thick, and the splinter bulkheads are from 1% to two in. thick. The protec- tion of 3-in. guns is nickel steel 2 in. thick. The upper case- mate. athwartship armor, extending from the shell plating to 'the 12-in. barbettes, is to be 7 in. thick throughout. The 12-in. barbettes extend from the protective deck to about 4 ft. above the main deck and consist of 10 in. of armor in front and 744 in. in the rear above the gun deck. . Between the gun deck and protective deck there will be a uniform thickness of 6 'in. The barbettes will not have any special framing, the connection of the armor to the decks being sufficient. The 12-in. turrets will have a front plate of 12 in. thickness, rear plates 8 in. thick and top plates-2% in. thick: - The 8-in. bar- bettes will be 6 in. thick in front and 4 in. thick in rear with the upper tube 334 in. thick and the lower tube 3 in. thick. . The 8-in turret front plate will be 6% in. thick, the rear plates 6 in. and the top plates 2 in. thick. 'Lhe conning tower and shield will each be 9g in. thick. ; ' The engines will be of the vertical, twin-screw, four- 'cylinder. triple-expansion type of a combined horse power of - 16,500. Steam will be supplied by twelve water-tube boil- ers, placed in six watertight compartments. Each battleship is to carry forty-two officers and 813 men. It is reported in New York that considerable feeling has de- veloped among a certain class in the Steel Corporation because in merging the American Steel Hoop Co., the National Steel Co. and the Carnegie Co. the name Carnegie was dropped altogether. The articles of merger gave the name National Steel Co. 'to the three corporations. It is stated that .Mr., Carnegie himself sent a personal note of protest. At anv rate the articles were amended and the name Carnegie substituted for National. The merger is, of course, purely of convenience and does away with the necessity of maintaining organizations for each company. 'Moreover about $7,000 is ,saved in fees paid to the state of New Jersey, as thd capitalization of the combined companies is $63,000,000 as against $252,000,000 for the separate companies. It is probably the intention of the Steel Corporation to grad- ually eliminate the individuality of the underlying companies and -become an operating company, instead of, as now, a stockholding 'company merely. The report that President Charles M. Schwab MANUFACTURERS OF AND DEALERS IN So 'ALBERT C. JAHL, General Manager, 100 William St., New York, U. 5S. A. MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. 3t had gone to Pittsburg to inspect and appraise the plant of the Jones & Laughlins Co. carried its own refutation by the fact that all the leading interests of the company were in New York at the time. A dispatch from Indianapolis announces that a contract has been signed between the Indiana harbor syndicate and the trunk lines running through Hammond from Chicago, by which a canal will be built at once from Indiana harbor 3%4 miles south to the Calumet river, the canal to be 21 ft. deep, 300 ft. wide at the mouth and 250 ft. wide elsewhere. It will cost $700,000. '1ne syndicate is composed of McCormack and Palmer interests and C. W. Hotchkiss, F. R. Babcock, Frederick S. Winston, Albert D. Erskine, Oakleigh Thorne, John A. Spoore, Owen Alder, Jarvis Hunt and Richard Fitzgerald, all of Chicago. The syndicate has also incorporated the Indiana Harbor Railroad Co. to connect the harbor with the coal fields of Indiana in the vicinity of Terre Haute. A steamship line is also projected. Work has already begun upon the Indiana harbor projects. ©.) At the yard of the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, the steel tank steamer Whittier has been launched. 'The vessel is -- owned by the Union Oil Co. and is the third of a fleet of oil carriers which is owned by the company on the Pacific coast. The steamer is 250 ft. long, 41 ft. beam and 16 ft. deep. She will -- ply in the oil trade on the Pacific coast. The Inland Marine Construction Co.,. Marietta, O., has sen cured a contract for a steamer, 210 ft. long, 32 ft. beam and 5 ft. deep for service on the Ohio river. She will, when completed, cost about $45,000. 20s The Lakeside Steamship Co. of Duluth has purchased the steamer Alfred Mitchell from Langell Sons Co. of St. Clair. The Mitchell is a wooden steamer of 1,751 tons gross. Hull Draughtsman Wanted. : Wanted--Experienced hull draughts- man for government work. Apply to chief draughtsman, Bath, Ironi Works, Bath, Me. April 2. 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