New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-01-27
WASHINGTON TOPICS.
OUR ROTTEN NAVY.
WORTHLESS FLEET OF IRoN-CLADs-A 6Soo"'
or WASTE AND BLUNDERs.

orfivitV al winch
ana ont ~ pcSsbIe. what that "J0iy Qua So""'t VS."
.,na ,,ycr our ships-of-war wants OF q nc" "'c'o
sloons ia ths piping time OF peace zen i"'o .
a.. NTH an aucieut bureau officer whose dehsu' " "
eth our Navy with almost fathery eye ara WIZ
80 ,ho exact condition OF almost every snip o"neu
-, A., limited states. found bum In "ae VI
v " ,,i.orccrt over the delicate relations pe-
- ,h,s country and Spain Oke nearly every
o,her naval officers whom nave recen'S ~ -
~, said "iror-clsd" he, in manner ICES poiiV0 49,
,o,,lc demanded what expected the navy " Wv
Gu shonld insult us so long as " congress e eV
pau.Tnonlous in lite appropriations anu '"S .arna
-. NJ, Congress In its Internal penny WISE P'
-, .,,ovr had not called 70 discuss tue "'Soo'"
-, re,,l po,cy though had no doubt tha' 'oH
-o,s had been about as generous az 'ne p'op' Wv"
,ioos.d Ia be | was in searcb' otiihloruaton' "
,mcnc other thiags would Ike TO know "uy
onr iron.clad feet addition to what i'eN' " WV
Navy Register. "a 1865. with sorno
a,,oyoe that our iron-olad ships are routing auu
onc 10 the DOGS about as they can TAX auou"
war with Spain, Why, she would blow ue ou' VI CN'
waters in tilroe weeks unless we had year "o'o "
make preparation" II, ,,
Iv.nclv remembered something in "A report made oy
Admiral Porter after the fight at Fort tshef' III W"O
he said that one OF our InOntors-the Monsdhooh' VIC
bcvcd-eoud go TO Europe the most strongly lOr'
ned harbor there shell the city, and como hoino AGAIN
without the fear being followed by any ship OF war III
the best European navy Was not little strange that
We should Row be in such helpless condtoni
~Notatit" was the reply; admiral Porter don't oet
M onitors 80 much s he did his hobby, and that OF
good many other navy officers, now, Is the torpedoi
THAT'S going 10 be the greatest weapon OF offensive as
we'll AZ defensive warfare You It costs something 10
keep ships in good condition and II Congress only giVes
us money enough TO keep fleets In commission why
nobody tut Congress TO blame Il our ironolads 60 TO
the dogs The people think have devil of an iron
a.t,,c N s "A
he addedS "they'n find out we ever need navy
admit it did cost something, but Congress has been
stsngy enough since tbe to make ny for any gen.
crosby during thar time
"Kow LET Us sec what we have" aud taking out his
pencil and putting his spectacles, he went on to
euumerate our onclad vessels. First; there those
20 iehtraught monitors. built about 1857 at cost Of
s@0OoO but they re not worth anything, because, in
the fret place they can't carry their and stores in
the second place they couldn't 90 anyhow, and
in the third place, you caut find men who viii stand on
the deck Of monitor, with protection than they
would have standing tins table, and work q gun o
naval battle. These 20 that speaking OF have
no turrots you know; they planned for turrcts,
but when they completed It found thai they
were not big enough to carry them They nothing
but iron rafts and their decks, which OF wood
badly dccayed Under the most favorable circumstances
their speed would be about three four knots hour
where are they now 81 asked The most OF item
are lying at League Island believe OF three arc
at Boston, several here, dni few az New orleans"
"Why don't we sell them IL they are worthless z"
Sell them - with sneer, eve can't get RID Of the
Who do Won suppose would buy them y
After figuring little the old man continued Let
me see believe there of those monitors whci,
were built from the original plans The original rlonitot
whose fame Will never be forgotten, had au actual
pacity OF 81 uus and those built after her models cost
abont s750OO each The principal trouble with
thar the machinery, &C. far aft, that it
1T laaut fnng a 2
hoVs whenever they went to 10 keep their noses
down Well when ship can't carry her men, COAL
and sufficient supplies any way, you see "hat ="
,yos,e n ~ to he obliged 70 carry 100 tuhs
Of dead weight. Another detect wren prop
ahv res,,lteO IN the loss OF the original monitor,
o. the nroiecon Of the deck beyond the hull. They
aid that the leak was under the deck, and have no
doubt that the deck separated from the nun by the
,oucuegion the striking on ls under sac; the
Ietk and hull separated like the shells OF an oyster ao
nat 100 tuns Of ballast in her bows ddnt help her any
The decks Of these badly rotten their capacity, ~
,a,d before p insufficient ana their speed about six or
Deyen knots ar hour
"Of the CauOucus class a monitors, thnh we org
ally had 10 two OF them sold 70 PerI-and II was
with the greatest difficulty they were got there We
have now on hand eight their names, II remember
rightly ar. the Ajax, the Canonicus MahopNc, Man
haitian, s.ugus WyandOtte, Kewaydn, and Wlnnehago'
when the armament crews and supplies are placed on
hoard one a. these ships IL stands just inches out
Of water Two hundred and forty tuns on the deck OF
one OF them or l,ss thar half that amount Of water IN
SIDE viii sink IT, am free 10 confess that would rather
b. excused RON going to sea in any one OF them
"Now come TO the -four monitors, orders for the
construction OF which given IN 1882 one Of these
was gwen in charge Of the Naval Constructor at Phia
dclpha one vas he built at NewYOrk one at Boston,
and one al Portsmouth. These 70 be made OF wood
and plated with non. Each OF them was TO have two
urrcte four I5nch guns and their actual capacity is
fhpyra Tafp1 At IDfNg
1000 and CJe tuns Tie cost OF these ships
than & 00C each. The MonadnocE, built al Boston,
the frat 10 be completed, and as sLe less time
IN building than the Others, the cheapest Of all
she perfectly seawoTthy vessel, aud behaved ad
miiabiy Ia The light az Fort Fisher. She went safely
Cape Horn and rOtting in san Francisco
Tho Mautonomah another Of these four 10 Europe,
and her bstory Is well known; she is entirely
sound The Agamentcus now Terror is down al Cuba,
irll OF tahcrs and the originally known
the Tynavanda, built at Philadelphia, Z complete
failure
"Wherc is she nowt"
Kcttng a: League Island. believe: she tocset did
ar thing rut make her trial trip.
Then Ericsson was gouet0 do something wonderful
ne would tdId monitor entirely Of Ton aud It TO
have immense speed The result the Dictator con
sructcd Gcenpcint IN order 10 make her the most
powerful vessel ever known she had something ike
i0Inch cylinders aud two banks Of fires one above the
other Then, % avoid much az possible the friction
of the machinery, the journals made short.
Wo they tired 10 get her into the Fort Fisher fight but
al hst hr contemporaries out Of order and then
her Journals became heated, they might have known
they would. New journals had 10 be put into her.
and a. for her double banks Of fire., l have
been told that the upper lighted for when
THE lower Onef going nobody can tend
The upper ones Altogether she il about bad failure
running her is immense, aud always
works badly.
1.-THE Puritan was another complete failure, or would