Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 June 1896 — Cost of Naval Vessels. [ARTICLE]

Cost of Naval Vessels.

Possibly the following figures regarding the cost of some of the ships of the English navy tpay be surprising, and of Interest. Such a vessel as the Kamillas, a first class'battleship, costs about $4,350,000, excluding stores and guns. Of this amount the propelling and other machinery cost $510,000; hull and fittings, $2,827,000; gun mountings, torpedo carriages, gear, etc., $382,500; and armament, $375,000. The hull, etc., of one of their torpedo boat destroyers costs about $50,000, while the ehgihes cost $125,000. The disproportion between the cost of the hull and that of the engines is due to the enormous speed required of this type of vessel, and to the fact that they Incur no expense for armor, as in the case of battleships. To biilld the engines of a battleship, there are something like ten'or twelve different trades and professions employed, notably, draughtsmen, patternmakers, moulders, turners, titters; blacksmiths, erectors, machine hands, etc. Conduct will never be right while,convictions are wrong.