, 1864-11-06
Tbs UnlTED STATES NAVY.

It's Growth and E&ciency--Tha
pa7al Vessels Eow Building.
Letter From Donald Mckay.
Mr.. Donsld Mckay, the vell.knovn ship
builder, writes TO the Boston 43ve.tier along
and interesting letter, giving an account OF
the rupld prcgrefs made BY our naEy since
the outbreak OF the rebellion. He saJs:
"Duripg my eoIocrn in England, before
the commencement OF the war, 7a5 per.
mitted to inspect all the royal dockFards and
Ill the principal private shiphui@diug estab-
lishments in the kingdom, and communlca-
ted> in d condensed form. the result Of my
observation to the C5n,nae-eia! B4Nsttn, aud
to other pspers. The letters, embodyfng my
views were copied extensively, and when tns
rebellion broke ont we're referred to By naval
writer's in complimentary terms. From Ea-.
gland proceeded to FIsace, where every IA
cility Was afforded me to examine the dock
yarda Of tho Empire. In the naVies OF these
great powers eaw much that WAS new, and
much that though. might be copied with
cdvantage by our own Navy Department, and
opened Communications With FOme OF Its Of
dcerp. nv suggestions Were al rays received
with marked consideration, aud some Of
them were adopted. When war was upon Us
my interest in our navy was Increased. I
knen the strength, d England and France
strength ELECTED trcm other nations, and
with many others cams frequently before the
public with view OF developing Cur naval
resources | saw that these powers respect
ed nothing but force, and knew that It we
desire: to prevent foreign intervention In
cur affairs, our navy must be largely Ia.
creased"
Mr. Mckay shows that at the beginning OF
The war the nary had only twenty-five war
steamers Of all classes with which to block
ade six hurdred miles Of the most difficult
coast In the world. sgatnst the fastest and
best steamers that the shipyards In England
could produce, built exclusively for speed
and bloekade,ruaning atthe particulsrlocali-
ties; "in ADDITION to which the oceans Of
the world we're to be Kept free Of the stean-
CTS called Confederate cruisers, bat which
were in reality English piraEess being built 10
Englan5 eaotpRsSa w,1a Engass gans and
not to fight our cruisers as war vesae1a, but
to plumber our sailing merchant ships, and
to keep ont OF the P4ths Of our war Steam
ere.n
He ADDS:
The meape at tho command Of the Admin.
tetratien for building steam navy to achieve
the letcp1ean task just indicated, were about
tMo dozen machine shops, great and small,
distributed from Maine to Maryland, many
OF them very email and without the tools,
work1nsn, or akiA requisite for the produc.
slon Of marine machinery. The dfst class
chops Did not exceed eight In number. But
f. 1nF% %t-r@n n~k nA L.
commanded BY the Navy Department for the
construction Of rev machinery. There we're
the enormous quantity Of Iepatss to the mer-
chant steamers Of the county to be done,
and new construction to be made for that
service. The Var Department also drew
largely on their resources for transport
steamers, while the locomotive and tool.
mixing shops found it utterly Impossible to
meet the demand upon them. Neither wns
there sufficient raw material In the country
for the large and sudden demand; the iron,
copper, tin and coal had to be mined and
manufactured. Hundreds Of steamers, hun
dreds OF locomotives, shops full OF tools, tens
Instantly, and there was nothing on hand to
ausWer the call. War steamers cannot be
built in day. Inexperienced labor cannot
be converted into skilled mechanics in day;
the prices Of machinery rose immensely, tue
pay OF the mechanics and the cost Of material
u
worth except ircm the Fictitious eaHss Of the
suddenness Of the demand. The result was
felt In the poor materials aud poorer work
marEhip with which the machinery was made.
Anv kind of material and the most unskifled
labor had to be brought into use, 2ud all
this time the amou Mt Of even that labor was
consequently diminishing By the absorption
OF men Tito the military service.
THE HLocKADE-
Tn }hfa nreeAfnp em prr4nrr FIJI, nana r. m nnt
cid all that could possibly be done. It pur-
chased Eysry merchant ste1msr that could be
converted Into blockadinE vessel or war
cruiser, and the navy Ut this momeut con-
tains every merchant steamer Of any size or
excellence that has been bu1lt In the country.
the land that could prod1c: marine machfne-
coast with such blockadIng feet a. the
world never Witnessed before, and has prac-
tically closed the rebelllous district to the
world-the few vessels which succeeded in
cargo sufficient to give aid ofany consequence.
The rebels have not been able TO Import even
drugs enough to supply the medical depart
mint OF its army. The coast around the port
Of Wilmington, which Ia the only one at
which blockade running is practicable, is
lined for miles on each side with batteries
which protect the blockade runners and keep
our cruisers at distance. These runners are
email veeaela Of hight draught md very low
decks: They are painted lead color, and ap-
proach the coast In the night. From the mo-
ment it ts possible to discover them until
they reach the protection OF the batteries is a
time Of minutes, not Of hours, and they owe
to that thelr occasional SUCCESS. We're the
circumstances such that they could not reach
thelt escape would be very rare. Nearly al
that have been chased In this manner at seE
have been caught. It ia not the speed OF tbs
blockade runI er5. but the condition Of the
hleckadlng service that gives them N oecas,
elonal succsss. Their fastest and newest
steamers, built principally for speed, have
been captured by cur sloops In fair chase, and
the speed Of the vaunted Alabama is EoW
known to have been greatly exceeded By tbs,
OF the KearsarKe- ~
3lr. McKny complies the following list Of
NAVAL VESSELS now BUILDING.
There is now In progress Of construction
she Chattanooga, OF three thousand tons,
building for the Department by outside par.
ties; also, the Idaho, Of similar tonnage,
and By other outside parties; while the De-
partment is itself constructing the Madawas'
Ia, Wampanoag, Neshaming, Ammonoosuc,
-about three thousand two hundred tons
and intended to have speed Of sixteen knote
per hour. They will car1y lmmenRe bate
ries,- be full 1}gRed, and will doubtless prove
the fastest and most forInldable ocean crnls
ezs ever bnilt By any power.
There are a1so In progress OF building bJ
the Department twenty Arat class Wooder
ecrew steamers Of two Thousand two hun
dred tons each, to have speed Of ,thirteer
knots, carry enormous batteries, and bs full
rigged, for ocean cruisers. They Will sooC
he Completed They are named the Autle
| tam, Arapaho, Gut rr!ere, Hassalo, Illinois
Java, Keosauqua, Kewaydfn, Manltou, Min
netonka, Moshola, Ontario, Placataqua, Push
mataha, Tahgasuta, Wanaloset. Wataugga
| Willamette, ContOocoDk and Mondamfn.
While these vessels are building there hav'
been completed the NipeIc, Sdewmut, Mack
| Peqnot, Maumee, Kansas, Yantic and Saeo
all screw vessels Of sos tons each. Tha ma
chinery is from the deslgns Of various par
ties building to compete With the Depart
ment. The first three, having the Depart
ment's machinery, have been thorough,
| tried, and can maintain speed OF II knots
There are now nearly completed the wood
en- iron-clad coast steamers TonaWanda
Miantonomah. :Agament1cus and Monad
neck, of ,564 tons, draTfug twelve feet q
water, and having two turrets each, carryin
two 15-inch guns, The Monadnock has bee
tried, ard ia found capable Of achieving
msximum sped Of II Knots.
There are also In process Of construction
four other iron-clsde Of the same type. bu
larger and to be fsster. They are Kalams
Passesonawaye a,~S K Ta'ao,gamona 81 aaaa m
The Department has also constructs
seventy -four wooden and 1ron-c1ad vessels
the Monitor type, with an aggregate ton
rege of78, 100 tons.
l iTtt.. c7.- Sod os