The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-11-05
nI1M NAVY.

4
| commencement OF the war, was permitted %
| Inspect all the Royal Dock. Yards, and all the
| principal private shipbuil1inE establishments In
The Kingdom, and communicated, in a condensed
! form, the result OF ny observations to tho COM
| Hr,cidi RjRrtia and other papers The letters
| tmbOuyWS my view "efg COPIED cN.ensiYciy,
| lud When llt Rebellion arIkC oIt g1lO Tgierr,d
10 by naval writer's in complimentary terms.
| From IrylJnd lprDceedClt0 France, whore ~ y
| facility Was Afforded IuO 10 examine the dOCk-
| yards OF u.y empire.
H. thu uayics Jf these great powers / SAW mach
| that was unw. and uugG that tl.ugh, might b.
| copied viii advantage W our 0Wl NlEy Depart
| mort, and ou2urd rawmuui alton "isI some VI
| is ,ui.,r-. My sa-gnsunN3 ".re always received
| with marked consideration, and some Ot then
| were adopted. When war Wds UDon It's, my
interest b. our navy wa. i.cr3as.d. kno" tho
! strength Oi England and France upon The ocean,
| and the respect WhJn Ma. strength elected from
| other rl. .ous, and With mg1y others cAn3 irc-
| uu,uty haiur, the publc With vIgN of develop.
| ing Dur own naval resources. ! saw chat those
| pOvJrsTCspJct,d nothing bat force, and knew thlt
| 1--WE GesuCd To prevent foreign intervention IN
] cur Affairs, our navy must D. largely increased.
! TclCr tn these facts ot tli, time 20 show lhat
| WbDu Wltu ol H3F1. nllir5, lwrits of that which
] ] know, snu which will stand the test ui ilis-
! minded scrutiny. Nothing is easier chan Cd had
| fault, aHd gll state from my own gs .urguGc
| thai, with all my care, never yet biilJ D. vessel
! tlnl came up tJ my own ideal; .ay som Htbiug
| m each ship which / desired 90 Improve. But
should have fr't uu'lir,y dealt with II my ships
| bad hlJn judged by their hl"mi3uCs rL.usg tuII
! BY their o. edts. The same ru,U propose % mp y
| to review of our naval aHar,, That tl J.c inc.
| rested may see what has been dJle and is 5Jl.
! dUiu- by thg Navy Department.
! ~ She breaking out vi the II bclliOn, The navy
! Of the United states consisted Of the folio wing
| steamers, namely The screw TigItcs MCrrnac
Wabash, Minnesota, Roanoke, aud Colorado, OF
abont $3.50 tons each; Of the large screw slOOp
| Niagara, of 1882 tons; Of the fr,t-cass screw
s'OOps Richmond Brooklyn, San JiCiniO, III art
ford, Pensacola, and Lancaster of about 2JOO tons
each Of the sccond-cllss soops Pawneo, IrO uoi7,
| Wyoming. hOhiCan, and DaCOtah, of about 1870
tons each of the third class soOps Narraganseu
and Seminole OF about $50 tons each OF fho FIRST
class padde-w wheel sloOps SusQuGhanna and Pow
haian, Of about 2i3O tons, the Mississippi, Of 1892
tons, and the Saranac, OF lti5 tons ana of small
pnddle-wbeel steamers Michigan, Saginaw, aud
Spithre, OF about 4I0 IONS each; making total OF
26 siesmers and 1900 tons.
Tie maNimum speeds OfthOse vessels in smooth
water, and for short time, were rs follows in
knots PEI hour, namely Niagara, 1919; Merri-
mack, Wabash, Minnesota Roanoke, and Colo
rado, Q; Brooklyn %; San Jacinto, 8 8; Hurt-
ford and Lancaster, Q ); Richmond, rs; Paw
nee, 3 lroquOis, Wyoming, MOhcln, and Daco-
tab, III; Narragansett and Seminole, 8; Sus-
quehanna and PowhataD, ii; Mississippi, 81;
Saranac, 90; Saginaw, o.; Water Witch o.;
Michigan, 1875. The Pensacola proved total
failure, anu the machinery had to be removed.
Such was the steam navy with which the Adj
minisrmton began the task Of vigorously block
aiding 500 miles Of the most difficult coast in the
world against the fastest and best steamers that
the shops Of England could produce, built eNclu-
tiCuar localities IN addition to which the oceans
of the world were TO be kept free Of the steamers
| called Confederate cruisers, but which were in
reality English pirates, being built in England,
| equipped with Ell gish guns, and manned by
| English crews, whose purpose was not 10 fight
| Uur cruisers as war vessels, but TO plunder our
| sailing merchant ships, and 10 Keep out OF the
| paths of our war steamers. With the enormous
| advantage of having all the ports Of the world,
| except those oi the country they pretended to
belong to, opento them for coaling repair, refuge,
| when closely pursued, and sale OF the most yalu-
able and less bulky portion OF their plunder and
with the sympathy and active cooperation of the
officials o those ports and with the strong incen-
tive of the free plumber OF large, rich, and
deienseless commerce, without The slightest per-
| sonal danger, even il captured, it is indeed mira
! Culous they should have been able to do us the
little injury tity have.
| The means at the command Of the Administra-
tiOn for building steam navy 10 achieve the
! heTculean task just Indicted were about two
dozen machine shops, great and small, distributed
from Maine 70 Maryland, many Of them very
small and without the tools, workmen, or skill
| requisite for the production Of marine machinery.
| The frst-Class shops did not exceed eight in
number. But the entire force of those shops
could not be commanded by The Navy Depart
| ment for the construction OF new machinery.
"a, - I'm the enormn1s quantity 81 ~ I at,tohb
| and new CONSTRUCTION 20 be made Tor that service.
The War Department also drew largely on their
resources fOT transport steamers, while the loco
| motive and tool making shops found IL utterly
| impossible TO nee: the demand upon them
Neither was there sufficient raw material in the
| country Tor the large and sudden demand; the
ron, copper, tin, and coal had 10 be mined aud
maEulactuIed. Hundreds OT steamers, hundreds
OF locomotives, shops full OF TOOLS Jens Of thou
sands Ol tons 0f metal were called for Instantly,
aOu there was notning on hand to answer the
| call. War steamers cannot be blilt in day.
| IEeXpeTI, need labor cannot be converted into
| skilled mechanics in day the prices Of ma
chine rose IN Immensely, the pay OF the mechanics
and The cost OF material reached point FAR above
thtx
| cause of the suddenness Of the demand. rhe
| result was tslt m the poor materials and poorer
wUiEm- nsnip with which the mlch!nery WAS
mace. Any kind OF material and the most un-
| skilled labor had to be brought into use, and all
, This time The GmCuut OF even that labor was con-
| ,cquInly diminishing by the absorption Of men
1 lLtO she m!llLtry service.
, In this pressing en- erCt ncy the Department di I
| all that could possibly be done. II purch Ased
! every merchgD n steamer tha, could be converted
| into hlnckading vessel Ur a var cruiser, aud
| the navy at tins moment contains every merChl mt
| sesine' Of any size or excellence that has hsel
. built in he country. 10 seJ Al work every steam
- engine factory in the lana that could produce
= | marine machinery. II clnsidercl all plans of.
a | iNred for 0rWoring vessels, and tried many IL
| instituted eN ptfimen's Ia machinery, in ordnance
auG in 0rmor-platng. ll rapidly covered the
?, Mls'isslrp. anu g riDnJlry waters with an M
10 | mCnsc nlnAd n5et, many of which WCr5 Rrmlral,
- ana WiCh, sweeping 'g Echrl from these wat rs
l. have been au indispensable element 70 oar
D. holding tle whole interior Of the country, as
u 1 ''' ''' tAN NAAilAtfh COMMAND OF DIS
IA | highways.
M Il ned he Atlantic coast with such bio *.
md acre tec' Os the world never witnessed before M
n has pTaCIc'ly ciCsei the renelliOus district q
+ | the NOld-tLe iJH Vessels which succeed In rin
b Mug thg blockade being TOO smalltO trry clr-1H
IT, | lumseut TO glye AID Vt any consequences. IN,
r., Rebels have not been ali1 . import even drug
% enough 20 supply the sdiagl deparmelr Of t1,r
r. amy. The ast around thg port Of Whining
ts | .Yp, which Is tnU Only one q. which block tde
M running j. practicable, is peculiarly f,vorlblp 10
~ that lu pose, and Is lined IUF miles on each 10
q with batteries which protect the Uiochade-uunar.
he | ana keep our cruisers aJ q distance. ruesc run
m nets arc small vessels Of light dTiughr and yor
he | .Ow decks.
ls | They are painted lead color, and approach m
w. | coast no toe night From tho moment ir r. pos
s sihlc g. discover thym until they reach the pr rec
n. ton oi the batteries is q time Oi mnu5a8 not o
I'd hCursi and thCy % that their Oc3 l5nul suc
o. cess. Wee the Circumstances su2h that the
r- could not reach the port until after chase Of
r." lcuts, their escapes would be very rare
is | Nearly oil that have been chased in this manne
10 nc see have been caught; il is not the speed Of h
o. Diochaderunners but the conditions of the block
n auns service, that gives them an occasional sue
of | cess. Their fastest and newest steamers, bull
de | principally for speed have been captured by on
IS s!ooPs IN fair chase and the speed of the Yauute
or Alabama If now kloRn to have been greatly OK