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396 board side, opposite the owner's pri- vate quarters, is placed a stateroom for his secretary, with bathroom ad- joining, and an office for the owner's use, The owner's quarters ,are fin- ished throughout in selected Thibet oak, the bathroom being fitted as in the forward end of the vessel. The passageway between the quar- ters of the owner and his secretary runs aft and opens into the library, which is the full width of the vessel and 22x16 ft. in size. This room is finished throughout in Thibet mahog- any and contains, in addition to num- erous book shelves, two large divans, a desk, writing table and a number of comfortable lounging chairs. This room has over it a small dome sky- light and the windows are. arranged in the same way as those in the music room. Comfortable Deck Space Aft of the library the side plating of the vessel is cut away for a consid- erable distance above the bulwarks, leaving an open space across the deck, covered, of course, by the upper deck, having a large and comfortable up- holstered seat running around the stern of the vessel and two large up- holstered seats running across the ves- sel at the forward end. This part of -the ship will be most attractive, being perfectly protected from the weather and at the same time open to the fresh air and cool at all times. The companion stairs mentioned above lead from the hall at the after end of the engine room enclosure to the lower deck aft landing in a_hall- way on the center line of the ship. On each side of this hallway are two very large guests' rooms, with bath- rooms between, each having bed, sofa, bureau, dressing table and ample hang- ing space. These rooms are finished throughout in Colonial mahogany fur- niture and doors with ivory white else- where. On this same deck and aft of the guests' quarters, accommodation is provided for four servants with their own bathroom and also large store room for stowage of linen, press- ing tables and all conveniences neces- sary for the use of the owner's serv- ants. The owner's dining room is placed in a large steel deck house on the upper deck forward of the smoke stack and accessible from the lobby in the passage on the main deck, this room being fin- ished on the inside with very handsome selected India teak, the furniture consist- ing of a massive sideboard at the after end, a serving table on the starboard and on the port side, and four corner glass and china cabinets. This steel deck house contains, in addition to the dining room, a large pantry at its after end THE MARINE REVIEW connecting by dumbwaiter to the galley, which is located below. On the star- board side, opposite the pantry, there is a deck toilet. The pilot house, reference to which has already been made, is placed directly on top of the forward deck house, the top of which is arranged as a navigating bridge to be used in good weather by the captain or by owner and his guests. A summary of the accommodations of the owner and guests shows that this vessel has 11 masters' rooms, six masters' bathrooms, all so arranged that their occupants may pass from one room to. the other, to the music room, library, dining room, smoking room and after deck space, without going out into the weather, all of the rooms being large -in size and comfortably arranged. This is certainly an extraordinary achievement in a vessel of the given dimensions. In addition, the quarters for the of- ficers and crew are excellent, the quar- ters for the different men being sub- divided, and each department being in easy communication with that part of the ship for which they are responsible. While the arrangement of the interior is remarkably successful, another most attractive feature of this yacht is her immense and practically uninterrupted shade deck, running from stem to stern, completely covered by awnings and af- fording a most delightful promenade. Mention should be made of the un- usual speed which this vessel is designed to make, namely, 17 knots. For -this speed her full boiler and engine room capacity will be utilized, consumption of fuel will be considerable, but at cruising speeds in the neighborhood of 14 knots she will be remarkably economical on account of her length and fine propor- tions, and will have a steaming radius of over 4,000 knots. The deck and life Saving equipment of the Cyprus is un- usually ample, as she carried on each quarter a large life boat, and in addition, three large and portable launches, one of these being a high speed boat, and the other two heavy substantial launches. one being for the owner's use and the other for the service of the ship. In addition to these boats, the complete equipment of life preservers and all other appliances for safety required by law will be supplied. Armor Plate Controversy The armor plate controversy has been finally settled as far as battleship No. 39 is concerned. The Midvale _ Steel Co. has been given the entire contract by Secretary Daniels, of the Navy Department, which bid $14 less for each of the three classes of plate used than the three previous identical bids of the Midvale, the Carnegie and Bethlehem steel companies, which were rejected. The original bids were $454 November, 1913 per ton for Class A plate, $518 for turret plate and $496 for Class B plate. Co. scaled its price by $14, the Bethle- hem Steel Co. by $10 and the Car- negie Co. by $7. Secretary Daniels figures that by readvertising he has saved the government $111,875. He adds that by seeking really competitive bidding for battle ship No. 39 the Department has already saved $378,261 on structural steel, $19,000 on medium sized plates, $3,000 on angle bars and $102,000 on the casings for the big turbines, making a total of $502,261. Adding the amount saved on armor plate the total amounts to $614,136. The secretary says that this showing is not what it should be and believes it offers an argument at once for the government to be engaged in the man- ufacture of armor plate. He says: "T consider that the fight has only just begun and that this reduction is the mere preliminary skirmish, as it is my intention to eventually secure armor plate for the United States navy at the actual cost of manufacture. This, it is my firm belief, can be achieved by the erection of a govern- ment armor plant and it is my inten- tion to lose no opportunity to urge upon congress the advantages of its construction." It must be borne in mind that the actual saving on armor plate is $111,- 875, which may be regarded as a con- 'cession on the part of the companies to Secretary Daniels. - Should the gov- ernment ever establish an armor plate- making plant, it will find its armor plate costing more than it has ever paid to any private company. The real point to be considered is as to whether the United States is paying more for its armor plate than other nations. The figures prove that it is paying even less. Steps have been taken by Secretary Daniels, of the navy department, to provide an adequate supply of fuel oil at a reasonable price. Owing to the increased demand for oil, the price has been increasing rapidly un- til the secretary fears that it will reach a point that will seriously in- terfere with the development and use of the internal combustion engine. Moreover, the Bureau of Steam Engi- neering has been steadily extending the use of oil burning boilers. The secretary will probably recommend to congress that a sufficient sum, of money be appropriated to operate the oil tracts in California which were set aside by order of President Taft for naval use. It is estimated that the tract contains sufficient oil to supply the needs of the navy for a period of 40 years. In its second bid the Midvale . i i