Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 58.djvu/41

Rh was launched at Brest on July 25, 1899, will be completed by July, 1901. Should this promise be fulfilled the time consumed in the construction of the vessel will be little more than thirty-one months, which is considerably less than for any French battleship previously constructed. It must also be remembered that the 'Suffren' is the largest battleship yet designed for the French navy, her displacement being 12,728 tons. In some respects, the 'Suffren' outranks the British vessel, as but six months and twenty days elapsed between the laying down of the keel and the launching.

Neither Germany nor the United States can show records to compare with those of the British builders, despite the expeditious delivery of merchant vessels which has been made by firms in both countries. The United States has now several plants capable of building and launching a battleship in an interval very nearly as brief as the best of those above recorded, but American builders have been so retarded ever since bringing their plants to the present stage of efficiency by difficulty in securing prompt delivery of armor and other material that the possibility of making records has been precluded, and, indeed, it is not strange if under the circumstances there has been small ambition to make the endeavor.

The photographs herewith reproduced as illustrative of the building of a battleship represent the 'Hatsuse', which was launched during the summer of 1899 at the Elswick shipyard of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., of Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, the builders of the cruisers 'Albany' and 'New Orleans', the only foreign-built war vessels of any considerable size in the American navy. The 'Hatsuse' is a battleship of the largest size, and represents in every respect the most modern practice. She is 400 feet in length, 76 feet beam, 27 feet draught of water and 15,000 tons displacement. Her engines are capable of developing 14,500 indicated horse-power.

The first photograph was taken about three months after the keel had been laid. It shows the framing of the extreme end of the vessel, with three tires of beams in view.

The second picture in the series, taken about six weeks later, looking aft from about amidships, shows the after barbette about half constructed, while the protective deck is practically completed. The third view represents the vessel ready for launching, and the fourth and last depicts the launch on June 27, 1899. In conclusion, it may be noted that the 'Hatsuse', the launching weight of which was fully 8,000 tons, went down the ways several minutes before the appointed time.