Weekly North Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1850-1858, 1853-09-21
THE AMERICAN NAVY.

We have not seen for some time 80 full, and as we
believe correct, notice of our Navy, its material
and condition, as the following, furnished by the
Washington Correspondent of the Philadelphia In
quirer:
The subject of our Navy has recently attracted
general attention, and an impression very correctly
exists upon the public mind that in its present state
it is entirely insufficient for the wants of the country
even under ordinary contingencies, and quite below
the standard which the immense commerce of the
nation requires, and is also disproportioned to
large maritime resources The fault of this state of
things rests exclusively with Democratic Congress-
which has for years past steadily refused grant the
estimates of the Navy Department for building new
vessels. The consequence is, that our Navy is not
only not increasing but, so far as vessels
cerned, has actually retrograded; and such have
been the necessities of the service that there
no appropriations for new vessels, the Department
has been obliged to take the money appropriated
for repairs and it to rebuild old ships; and
though this operation goes under the name of repairs
it is really an entire new construction. You may
readily imagine what sort of repairs they are when
the old Congress frigate, which originally of 36
guns and about ], 900 tons, is now double banked
frigate of 1000 tons mounting 60 guns The old
Franklin "a is undergoing one of these REPAIRS
which will consist of stripping her of timbers and
plank down to the very keee, by using all her good
and sound timbers for the reconstruction of new
Franklin 60 feet longer and much broader than her
old namesake, giving her a screw propeller, and
mounting on her battery of Paixhan guns throw
ing 1O-inch exploding shells She will no doubt be
the finest and most powerful ship in the Navy. lam
very glad that the present Secretary of the Navy
has decided this plan, for we greatly want just
that kind of vessels and hope the complexion of this
ship will induce Congress to authorize the building
and equipment of dozen similar ones
The three heavy A gun frigates which were in our
Navy during the last war with Great Britain the
HaOf /Y,i5fo Sf0fpQ and Inna hav
been the immediate cause of changing the naval
architecture of all the maritime nations of the world
In order to cope with these vessels after first
victories during that war; Great Britain hastily raced
some of her small seventy fours, by removing their
poop and spar decks and leaving them with their
two-deck gun batteries complete; and she also, for
the same purpose, built five six what she called
so gun frigatcs, but actually mounting 60 guns AT
that period the ordinary tonnage of "a gun ship
was 16OO,to 1900 tons; of 36-gun frigates 1000 to
fgatcs that the United States began during the war
(Gueriere, Jara, &c) were 1900 tons. After the
war, and when Congress determined to make large
andpermanent increase to the Navy, the ne-ofbatte
ships were moulded for ships of 1000 and 1900
tons the fgate 800 to $780, and the sloops
700. The European nations, of course, adopted the
same system, aE7at present we have soops- -of-war,
like the Germantown, Jamestown &c, of 1000 tons;
frigates Cumberland, Potomac &C., of z, 600 tons
and lineof battle ships of 1000 tons to say nothing
of the Pennsylvania, of 3, 800 tons. The new Mace
donian, which is flushed deck ship is, believe
nearly 400 tons and cannot be designated under
any other class than soop-ofwar, as she has only
her spar-deck battery and none of her guns are un
der cover: she is in fact, heavy 3sgun frgate as
to dimensions; but with the frgates spar-deck re
moved, and her former gun-deck is now her spar
| deck; but instead of mounting Is pounders hcl
present battery is 80 Founders. Only to think of
sloop- of 400 tons mounting long thirty twos
| and with a crew of three hundred men!"