Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 252, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1912 — DAUGHTER OF VIRGINIA SENATOR CHRISTENS SHIP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DAUGHTER OF VIRGINIA SENATOR CHRISTENS SHIP

With all the ceremony with which Uncle Sam is accustomed to sur-

round the official birth of his fighting ships, the collier Proteus, latest and most modem of the auxiliaries of the navy, slipped from the stays at Newport News, Va., the other day into the waters of Hampton Roads, sponsored by Miss Lucy Fay Martin, daughter of Senator Thomas S.

Martin of Virginia. The christening of the Proteus, the twenty-second collier in the navy, was marked by even more than the usual formality attendant upon the completion of vessels of this class because of Secretary Meyer’s recently announced decision to perfect “this branch of t;he sea service and the importance with which naval officers generally are beginning to .surround the despised supply ships of the fleet. Upon the colliers, unarmed and unarmored, depends the efficiency of the big gray fighting ships which get the credit tor victories and, realizing this, the navy department is endeavoring to bring the coaling vessels to the highest possible state of perfection. The vessel upon the bow of which Miss Martin broke the traditional bottle of champagne, is made of steel and is equipped with the finest reciprocating engines in addition to two masts for use in case of emergency. She, is 522 feet in length, 62 is breadth, has a hold 36 feet 9 inches deep, a draft of 27 feet 9 Inches and a dianlfirpmAnt fit Id OCA fnna Qhp can carry 10,500 tons of coal la addition to 2,000 tons lot her own use. Her contract pnoe was $990,000.