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| THE BATTLESHIP ILLINOIS - The sinking of the
British battleship Victoria, a model of which was exhibited in the
Transportation Building, gave a melancholy but not less eager
interest to the United States marine exhibit at the northern pier,
where a ship of war modeled on the latest patterns adopted by the
Navy Department, was exposed to the closest public scrutiny and
study. The engraving shows the structure of brick, built on the
bottom of the lake, and simulating a man-of-war, which was conceived
by Commodore R. W. Meade, and furnished with all the implements of
human slaughter. Thus built, it was a full-sized model, above
water-line, of the ten thousand three hundred ton coast-line
battleships Massachusetts, Indiana, and Oregon of our navy, and if no
mistake be made, the creation of such a ship in Lake Michigan in
reality would violate a treaty with Great Britain. The principal
guns seen on this vessel were of wood, but there were enough machines
on board which were genuine to destroy almost anything of ordinary
resisting power that might be within a distance of three miiles. A
nearer view of the upper deck and search light is shown on another
page. Among the real guns on board were four six-inch rifled
breech-loaders; twenty six-pounders; six one-pounders, two Gatlings
and six torpedo guns. The interior was a museum of war, in which a
student might be kept busy for months. The length was over three
hundred and forty-eight feet; greatest width, sixty-nine feet;
conning tower, seventy-six feet high. Designer, Frank W. Grogan.
Cost, $100,000. |
