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"TAE MarRINE REVIEW | 21 middle line of the ship, close underneath the armor.deck and between and above boilers and engines. The idea of such a tunnel was taker from English warships built or building at the time, and which had a similar central passage. But while in the British ships the side bulkheads of the tunnel went right down to the inner bottom and formed magazines below, in the Italian ships, failing the necessary space below, they were con- tented with the tunnel above, which, as in English ships, was intended as a thoroughfare for easy communication between the various machinery compartments, for easy and accessible passage of electric wires, speaking tubes, telegraphs, for the manceuvring of the main drainage valves, etc., and for eventual conveyance of ammunition from end to end, should necessity occur. This last utilization was, however, subsequently dis- carded, the tunnel being shut at the ends, with no communica- tion with the ammunition compartments. The tunnel was sup- ported in the engine rooms by the central longitudinal bulk- head which separates the two engines, and by pillars in the boiler rooms, in two rows along the central longitudinal pas- age between the boilers. In addition to the usual cofferdams around the hatchways of the protective deck, a cofferdam about 30 in. wide was built at the side of the ship from the protective deck up to main deck to allow leakages to be stopped at the sides, and the slopes of the armor deck to be cleared of water, should damage occur to the armor belt. The specified speed of 20 knots was realized in nearly all the ships, including the Kasuga and Nisshin. This was a good speed fourteen years ago for such armored ships. The coal endurance also, as reckoned by the 1,000 tons of coal--in- creased in the Garibaldi and Kasuga and Nisshin to 1,190 tons --the ships could carry, was fairly good and quite ample for ships intended for Mediterranean service. The Kasuga and Nisshin were contracted for on Dec. 23, 1901, to be built in twelve months; but before one of them, the Kasuga, was launched--under the name of Rivadavia--the time of delivery, for reasons not depending upon the ship builders, was protracted. However, I confidently think that the ships could have been completed near the original contract time, all the necessary materials like guns and armor, which affect so much the despatch of ship building, having been supplied in good time by the makers. In this respect the ship builders were much assisted by the Italian government, who helped them in many ways. The keel of the Rivadavia--now Kasuga --was laid on March 10, 1902, and the ship was launched on Oct. 22. The keel of the Moreno--now Nisshin--was laid on March 20, and the ship was launched on Feb. 9, 1903. Before the end of 1902 all the machinery for both ships was completed and ready to go on board. The cylindrical boilers being heavier, in order to simplify matters with regard to speed, it was agreed in the contract that the specified speed of 20 knots of the Giuseppe Garibaldi was to be obtained under precisely the same conditions of draught as in the trials of the latter. The conditions of air pressure in the stokeholds were, of course, modified to suit the different types of boilers; ™% in. of air pressure was allowed for natural draught and not over 1.6 in. for forced draught trials. GENERAL DIMENSIONS AND DATA. POR Oth OVer alls iene 1 oe ak ee eee ees 111.730 metres Length at. water WMG; . tives ete ele 108.860 : Length between perpendiculars ........... . . 104.860 : Molded Dreadtl A008 a pe een ee iss ' Breadtu: outside arwOT oss 6s re i ee 710 Molded depth: 25255500. 05 oe kn ee oo 12.190 Draught on trials-- ' TOT WAT oes eee ee ee ee ees 6.600 : Wen oe a ies a ee 7-100 | Ril ee ee ee 7.600 Displacement on trial... eee ee et EON Podieated Vo Piece. core ewe an aoe 14,800 met. H.P. DCC Coy ee ae cpeee 20 knots fae) Votal coal Capacity... sesh e e eee ee 1,190 met. tons PCdaE ated ea he a ee oe 16.98 sq. Eires The armor plates were supplied by the steel works of Terni. The structure and scantlings are shown on the drawing of the midship section. The hull is built of mild Siemens-Martin steel, no special steel being used anywhere. Wood was limited to upper deck planking, which is of teak, and to cabins and saloon furniture. No lining was fitted in the magazines. Shelves in magazines and shell rooms were all metallic. The armament was to be exactly like that of the Italian cruiser Giuseppe Gari- baldi. Subsequently, however, in the Nisshin the forward turret with one ro-in. gun was, for convenience of time, re-_ placed by a turret having two 8-in. guns, the same as aft. The military tops of the Giuseppe Garibaldi were suppressed, and two machine guns were transferred to upper structures; the armament of the two ships is, therefore, as follows: TOMI, BUNS Ger SUM SUNS esl ey wee ee ee eee Gin Buns On Mein deck..-o),01 2 I 6-in. guns on upper deck. ..055....,,. 3-in. guns on superstructure.......... 3-in. guns at ends main deck.......... ® 1.8-in. guns on superstructure......... Machine PUN oii Torpedo tubes (above water at sides) .. The ammunition was supplied by the ordinance works of St. Chamond, in France. The turret guns have, as usual, a direct supply of ammunition from the ammunition rooms below by means of a hoist independent of the revolving turret struc- ture. The 6-in. ammunition is raised from the magazines to the main deck by means )of two continuous single chain hoists, one at each end of the main deck battery, whence the ammu- nition is carried on beam rails to the 6-in. guns of the battery and to the hand seuttles of the 6-in. upper deck guns. Minor ammunition is raised from magazines to the main deck and from the main deck to the upper deck by hoists of the alternate type. The working of turrets and hoists is by elec- tric motors and gear built by the Stabilimento Elettrotecnico di Savigliano, Piemonte, who also designed and made the chain hoists mentioned above. During the steam trials at sea the gun trials were also made with good results as regards the guns, turrets, and the ship structure. The guns and turrets were tried in precisely the same way as was done by the Italian navy tor the Giuseppe Garibaldi. Propelling Machinery.--I shall not dwell much upon the pro- pelling machinery, descriptions of which have been given by many technical papers--see The Engineer, Nov. 4, 1904. The following particulars will, I think, be sufficient. The propelling machinery consists of two twin sets of ver- tical triple-expansion three-cylinder engines, located side by side in the central part of the ship, in two adjacent independent compartments separated by a central longitudinal bulkhead. Steam is supplied by eight cylindrical boilers in two groups of four boilers each, one abaft and one forward of the engine room. Each group of boilers consists of two double-ended and two single-ended boilers in two separate compartments, the double-enders being in the large compartment near the engine room. Each group has one funnel. The steam trials were carried out along the Eastern Riviera, near Rapallo, on the official measured base--6,035 metres long--from Punta Chiappe to Portofino, in a depth of about 300 ft. of water. Both 'ships went on the official trials at sea after one moor- ing trial and one preliminary trial at sea, and with clean bot- tom just out of dock. The contract conditions of trials were simply a repetition of those set out by the Royal Italian navy for the Giuseppe Garibaldi, and the same results were to be ob- tained. The trial conditions of the Giuseppe Garibaldi did not contemplate speed--the ship's design being from the Italian naval construction department--but only development of steam power, and were as follows: One natural draught trial of six hours' duration in which the engines were to develop a mean power of 8,600 indicated horse power; one forced draught trial of one and a half hours' duration, in which the mean power de- veloped was to be not less than 13,500 indicated horse power. In the natural draught trial the coal consumption per indicated horse power was not to exceed 0.900 kilos., about 2 lbs. et NOL OF OF BRNAROQRONH