Endurance Test of Great Battle-Ship
THE Delaware is one of America’s first battleships of the “Dreadnought” type. Last December she was sent on a voyage to Chile to convey thither the body of the late Chilean minister, Señor Cruz. She passed through the Straits of Magellan, reaching Valparaiso on schedule time. When she was nearing her home port of Boston, on April 25, having churned off 25,000 miles since she started, she received a wireless message to prepare immediately for a full speed test. Her commander, Captain Gove, considered that all the preparation she needed was a fresh supply of coal, which was given to her as quickly as possible, and right on the heels of this long voyage she immediately put off to see what she could do in maintaining her builders’ guarantee for speed. She was designed for a speed of twenty-one knots; and on her builders’ trial, with clean bottom and picked coal, she made an average for the first four hours of 21.55 knots, and a trifle over 20 knots for the remaining twenty hours of her test. But on this last test, made at the end of the longest continuous voyage on record for any battle-ship, the Delaware made 21.86 knots the first four hours, and an average of 21.30 knots throughout the remaining twenty hours. When the news of this triumph was flashed to Washington by wireless, the vessel was ordered to the New York port to be fitted out as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Vreeland, the flag officer who has been selected for the coronation ceremonies of Britain’s King.