The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1864-12-01
Defense OF the Navy Depart.
bBgeMe.

Defense OF tie Navy Depart.
bssent.
Douail Mckay, ,he ship.buiIder,
whose opinion j. worth more than that
nf almost any other man in snch matters
has written q Iefrnsc Of the Navy De
partnent against The charges Of raistake
and inefiic,ency so freely made during
the war. He says that while in Eng
land he had free access to the private
and Government ship-yards. and also
IN France, and that our own do not
suffer in comparison At the opening
Of the war we had a feet Of twenty five
steamers, Of speed varying from nine to
| twelve knots an hour
"Such was the steam navy with which
the Administration began the task of
Vigorously blockaling $500 miles Of
the mos: difficult coast in the world,
against the fastest and best steamers
that the shops Of England could pro.
duce, built exclusively for speed and
bIo"kade.running at the particular 10.
calities in addition to which the
oceans Of the world were to be kept
free Of the steamers called Confederate
cruisers, bu, which;we in reality Eng
lish pirates, being built in England,
equipped with English guns, and man
ned by English crews, whose purpose
was not 10 fight our cruisers ~ var
vessels, but 10 plnnder orr sailing mer
chant ships, and to keep out OF the
paths Of our war steamers. The means
Of the command Of the Aiministra,ion
tor building steam navy to achieve
the hercul-an task just indicated, were
about ~" dozen machine shops, great
an., sin.'t, distributed from Mime to
Vars iansi, Uaa.. at Il II ,c.s snail
requisite t,r he production ~ marine
machinery The frs. class shops did
not exceed eight in number.
'.Nei,het va. there sufficient raw ma
terial IN The cnun:r, for he large and
sudden demand the iron, cooper, tin
and cool h.d I. he mined and manu-
featured Huu,lr..dS Of steamers, hund
reds i i,c.m"iis.s, >i.ls full of
tools, ..us of thousands IT tsla> Of
metal we,. called i.r insiarl,, aud
there w. n,,h.n. na hand y" answer
the cal. Ia 't,s pressing emergency
the De ar,mcnt d,i all tha, could pts
sible ne don. /, purchased every
merchan ~'eame. that could possihl.
be convrf,ea int b,ovk;.ling ve>s.
or a war crusier, and the nav, ailhi>
momen, contains every merchant steam.
er Of any size or excellence that has
been halit in the country. Il set al
work every t,eam engine factory IN the
laAd that could produce marine ma
uhinerv. I: considered al plans offer.
ell for almorinC vessels, and tried
many. |, instituted experiments IN
machinery, in ordnance, and in arnor-
plating. It rapidly covered the Mis-
sissippi and its tributary waters with
an immense inland feet. many of which
were armored, and which, sweeping the
rebels from these waters have been an
indispensable elemen, to our holding
tho whole interior Of .he country, as 1t
gives US the exclusive command Of it's
water highways. |, lined the Atlantic
cosst with such block aiding fleet as
the world never witnessed before, and
has practically closed the rebellious
district to the world, the few vessels
which succeed IN running the blockade
being to small 70 carry cargo sufficient
to give aid Of any consequence. The
rebels have not been able to impor,
drugs enough to supply the medical
department of its army.
"There are now in the navy, in active
service, 65S steamers, With an aggre.
gate tonnage Of 100000 tons, against
the original % steamers and 4e.7oO
tons With which the war commenced.
Of this number 200 steamers, with an
aggregate Of 24l 900 tons have been
built by thu Department. In no coun
try, aud with sucl, limited means, and
under such difficult circums, ances, has
there ever hecn put afoat in the same
time ,nch in nen>e nava! armamen,s
In nn pl.c" las 'hete been any failure.
but VII. never the naval force moved
victory followed. The rebel coast has
been held with graap Of iron and
nearly heyme,,cany sealed. The pirates
of.hr enemy ha.. been f,''awta around
the wt.rld, and cariurc9 whcre.et ttles