The New York herald., 1862-11-18
The New American Navy.


feas or victories scarcely less dscouragng they have
persisted for eighteen months in lighting out game
recently learnt, indeed. from The publication Of a re
markabie ctef that the views OF the contest universally
entertained in Europe presented to the government
oi Washington by the oldest solder III the states before
the struggle began General Wtnfcid Scot put The real
prospects or ne tecs the President and Mr. Sedrd
,rie as vet nos a battalion had teen ra,sed frea
and the exlercuce Of the campaigns has proved that h.
representations Of The reron commander fu eren short o
he trh Yet for all thls The Northeraers are stubborn
upon hopeless task. To prOdgious army.
mainalaed louger by volunteering, but consc pton
they now adding very large, if not a powerful
navy The numerical strength indeed, OF then active
sIuadrons Is especially notable, and, ~ these days Of
reconstruction and experimental fleets We shon'd
te uuwise If We omitted to observe their proceedings
In January 1861 the Americans had .orty ons vessels
of all rates ia clmmisson. There are now !wa hundred
aud ly of war carrying the federal flag SO tba.
the navy has been multired skiold IN less than two
years. This, however though denoting wonderful
effort OF the part Of the nation is not very eytraor
nary result when the circumstances reviewed on the
same conditions could send thousand cruisers o
! even shorter time The fact is as we have before
taken occasion 10 remark, that the Americans were
driven their old tactics by the sharp pressure OF
necessity Instead Of concentrating their energies
and theft expenditure one or two monstrous speci
mems ui taer respective classes, they pressed at
once into their service every floating vessel that
could be found. River steamers, ferry boats, mail
packets, merchantmen, and coasters were all brought
up, hastily armed, and sent 10 sea under the pen.
nant. The result Of course was an astonishing increase
OF the national marine and as happened an eiiisicnt
cue -too The ederais we're lighting against an enemy
who had navy at all, and consequently any Geet was
good enough for the purpose really effective squadron
might have of these makeshifts but the
Confederaes had squadron Of any kind aud 80 the
temporzed the Norherners succeeded keeping
the sea aud b skang the ports OF the helpless south
Although however the fderas acted with this jdsions
decision the spar of the moment they lost no time IN
putting better work III tram. They accepted very
promptly the conclusions Of European governments
spccliug eascd vessels anu ordered good many
ships ca The new model. AT the present moment they
have between twenty i've ana thirty ot thrss vessels
actually auoai, and n" lever tiias nriy even
baiding. Yet even here we mus not delnde Our
seves with the belief that the 'ron clad s;eamers Of
tie federal navy list represents anything like such yes
ssis included IN our awn squadron at Lisbon.
The urgency Ia the oemanu and the same pecnarty
tte contemplated service have been at wurk here aso
affect the eiciency of The ships turned oGt We know
by experience what repaired Tor such constructions as
these aud when hear that improved md power
ri models launched few months and for ESQ oo0
piece. se can lora veiy good idea oi ,net rersra
quality
With these auahGcarors however, the new federal
navy may certainly be regarded remarkable crca.
lion. That very gvernment which, few mon,hs ago,
had but ioriy inen Of war aicat has now 1cckadus
squadron Of .iy vessels IN the nth Atlantic and
another of forty the North Atlanic II has
third squadron y SHIPS IN the West Gulf, and
fourth Of twcliy one " the fas Gull Resides these
there ini,i.a the Potomac numbering twenty four
vessels and nne;her III ths Mississippi comprising twenty
t'ron the whole the federal navy mas been 10
signed peculiar aud exceptional an objcc, tia u
is hardly se to draw any general lessons from such an
example The Norlhsiner wanted eet. not 10
tcf the fleets OF eucpy but t. take on the Instant aud
sscp possession ot uueontestcd They required
gaooais for the igaton OF broad aud oilas
t. operate with army 10 the field. These necessi
ties OF their position they not only discerurd bu accept
without hours delay, and the result certainly does
them credit, II has, pdsed done them service. Mca
sured however, BY European standards their squasrons
hardly he rsga dcd effective unless We 10 pre-
that other nations have expended upon their naves
large amount of supcrfuous pains. W. cemd do IN
not only ,olaf the Americans ham dom. b f,s
much. By pressing every species OF craft into
the service and setting every building yard to work
without stint or scrutiny ne could 5000 multiply by
considerable figure the number Of sbps IN commits.
slon bat their qusity would not remain such az at