Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1865-12-05

Report OF the Secretary OF the Navy.

Report of the Secretary OF the Navy.
Secretary Wells report fills thirty.four
| printed pages, in which the grand perform
ances and the satisfactory condition Of our
navy are suocinctly and modestly set forth.
| The capture Of Wilmington and its defences,
the fall Of Charleston and Mobile enabled the
department to reduce the actual naval force
very materially, and the reduction was
promptly accomplished. The reports says:
About the lst Of May orders were issued
to further reduce the squadrons in our do
mestic waters one-half Near the close of
that month q further diminution was direct
ed, so that the entire force retained in COM
mission should not exceed one hundred yes-
sells. In the early part Of July another and
still further reduction was made leaving but
thirty steamers, which, with receiving store
ships, composed the entire blockading SQUAD
rons on the Atlantic and the Gulf.
On the 3lst Of July the Potomac fiotilla,
which, under Commander F. A. Parker, had
rendered active service, was disbanded.
The Mississippi squadron, comprising at
one time about one hundred steamers, was
gradually reduced, and on the 14th of Au-
gust wholly discontinued. Acting Rear-Ad-
miral Lee was relieved, and Commodore Liv-
ingston, who had acquitted himself with en-.
ergy at the Norfolk station, and subsequently,
at Cairo, was intrusted with the duty Of dis
posing of the vessels and closing up the affairs
of that squadron.
The reduction of the blockading force in
volved also curtailment of tho number of
squadrons. In June, therefore, the North
and South Atlantic squadrons were consoli-
dated into one, known thereafter as the At
lantic squadron, commanded by Acting Rear
Admiral Radford, who, on the 2Sth Of April,
L.I L. T..
mand of the North Atlantic squadron. Rear
Admiral Dahlgren was detached from the
command of the South Atlantic squadron,
and hauled down his flag at Washington on
the 18th of July.
Acting Rear Admiral Radford, having been
appointed commandant of the Washington
navy-yard, was succeeded by Commodore
Joseph Lanman in the command of the At
lantic squadron on the 10th of October.
The consolidation Of the East Gulf squad
ron, commanded by Acting Rear Admiral
Stribling, and the West Gulf squadron, under
Acting Rear Admiral Thatcher, was also
consummated, and thereafter this force was
known as the Gulf squadron. Acting Rear
Admiral Thatcher remained in command,
and Acting Roar Admiral Stribling returned
to Boston In July.
Besides the vessels composing the several
squadrons, others are in commission in va
rious capacities The James Adger is
stationed at Aspinwall; the Michigan is as
signed to the northern lakes; the Sabine is
employed as IN apprentice ship; the De Soto
is the West Indies; the Massachusetts, and
South Carolina are still continued as supply
ships for the squadrons on the coast; the
Constitution, Macedonian, and several others
are connected with the Naval Academy; and
twenty vessels are used at the navy yards as
sg;p nI thot thara
actually In commission at this time, at home
and abroad, one hundred and seventeen ves-
sells of all descriptions, which number, should
the exigencies Of the service permit, will be
still further reduced.
In January, while Rear-Admiral Porter
was engaged before Wilmington, affairs on
James river assumed such an attitude, in
volving the welfare and security Of the army
by a demonstration on tho part of the rebels
with their armored rams from Richmond,
that 1t was deemed important to send thither
Immediately an officer Of ability and expert
ence Vice.Admiral Farragut, then in
Washington, was selected for this special
duty, and op the oath of that month pro-
ceeded to James river for that purpose.
The threatening demonstration below Rich
mond was not long maintained, and the oc-
casion having passed, Vice-Admiral Farragut
was relieved from this special service on the
I'd of February.
A special squadron of vessels, consisting Of
the Vanderbilt, Tuscarora, Powhatan, and
the turreted iron.clad Monadnock, left
Hampton roads on the I'd Of November, un-
der the command of Commodore John
Rodgers, destined to re-enforce the squadron
in the Pacific.
In Withdrawing a large naval force from
active service, in disposing Of the vessels in
discharging or detailing to other duties their
officers and crews, in making provision for
large surplus of ordnance ammunition and
stores, great labor has Of course devolved
upon the department and its bureaus. Some
idea NAV be formed of the extent Of that
labor from the fact that there were in the
several blockading squadrons in January
last, exclusive of other duty, four hundred
and seyenty-ono vessels and two thousand
four hundred and ifty-Gye guns. There are
now but twenty-nine vessels remaining on
the coast, carrying two hundred and ten
guns, exclusive of howitEers. Disposition has
been made of all the others. Some Of the
vessels are laid up in ordinary, some with
their crews are on foreign service, but many
have been sold, and, with most Of the men
that were actively engaged in hostile opera
tions, are now employed in peaceful opera
tiOns
As soon as our domestic troubles were ever
come, the duty of attending to our interests
abroad prompted the re-establishing OF the
foreign squadrons which had been suspended.
The European, the Brazil, and the East In
dia squadrons have been organized anew
upon as economical q scale as is consistent
with their efficiency, the interests OF com
merce, and a proper regard for our position
as n nation.
These squadrons, with another which is
soon to be put in operation in tho West In