Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1901 — BATTLESHIP MAINE LAUNCHED. [ARTICLE]

BATTLESHIP MAINE LAUNCHED.

A Namesake o ' the 111-Fated Vessel Blown XJp in Havana Harbor, The new battle-ship Maine was launched successfully at Cramp's ship yard, Philadelphia, Saturday morning. A great crowd saw the warship take her first plunge in the waters of the Delaware. The big hull was let go just as the tide slackened, and slipped down the ways without a hitch. The weather was perfect. As soon as all was ready, Miss Mary Preble Anderson, of Portland, Me., the sponsor of the Maine, escorted by Charles H. Cramp and the Governor of 'her native State, took her place upon the christening stand, directly under the bows of the Maine. Nearby stood Admiral Melville and Captain Sigsbee, who commanded the old Maine when she was blown up in Havana harbor. Just as the ship was about to move, Crump gave a signal to Miss Anderson, and she broke a bottle of native wine on the bow of the bat-tle-ship, and said: ‘I christen thee Maine.” A defeaning noise of cheers from the 10,000 spectators and of whistles from the boats on the river saluted the battle-ship as she plunged into the water. The mere fact that the vessel was to bear the name of the famous ship sunk three years ago by a Spanish torpedo In the harbor of Havana was enough to center public attention upon its launchA jng. No other name could draw a greater crowd. The new Maine is a larger and more formidable fighting machine than the one which Captafit Sigsbee commanded. The original vessel was a second class battle-ship, while the new one Is a vessel of the first class, larger and swifter than the Oregon or Massachusetts. It will have a displacement ol 12,500 tons, engines of 16.000 horse power, a speed of 18 kuots, at a contract cost of $2,885,000. Like all the more recent additions to our squadron of firstclass battle-ships, its main battery will contain four 12-inch rapid-fire guus. Its bunker capacity of 2,000 tons of coal will give it a long radius at sea. When it is armed, equipped, and manned with its full complement of 518 men and officers it will be one of the best naval Vessels afloat. The memorable associations attaching to its name will cause the new Maine to be followed with unusual interest throughout the career that lies before It. Whether it be destined for victory or for unforeseen diaster, such as overtook its predecessor, its achievements and its ultimate fate, however remote in the future, will be marked and recorded with special reference to the historic episode that did sp much to start the war with Spain. In three years and five months from the night when the Maine was destroyed the United States has on the water a vessel bearing the same nnrae, ydt nearly double in size and strength the vessel that went down in Havana bay.