National Republican., 1881-10-22
THE UNITED STATES NAvY,
ITS Decay and Present condItIon-sOnne-
thing About "Isepairs."

ABOUT the only good thing Mr. hunt
has done since he was placed at the head OF the
Navy Department was the conyonng of a board
Of officers Of different grades and OF various do
partments to report to him what Is required Tor
our navy-what class Of vessels and how they
should be built. II Is not latterng TO our pride,
ana yet II Is fact, that have not single yes
sel-of-war that we should reproduce, however
much we may need vessels for sea service. For
years we have done nothing but patch up what
should have been torn to pieces or burned to re-
pair wooden ship means large expenditure, as
large usually MS TO build new vessel, and then
to have simply weak ship, soon to rot and In
capable Of good service. IL is TO be hoped that
the board now in session win be able 10 agree upon
the essential points OF what we require, aud that
Congress will then be willing TO carry out the
recommendations OF the Department.
LONG AND LARGE WOODEN SNIP
lacks rigidlty of frame aud hence her enginery
can not be driven at n high rate Of speed in
rough sea for any length Of time without break
down. An iron frame and sheathed with iron
and wood gives the necessary rigldity and pre-
vents the fouling Of the bottom so fatal TO the
speed OF an iron bottom after few weeks In
tropical climate and especially If the vessel Is
lying In port: even at sea an iron bottom fouls
rapidly, hence the necessity Of sheathing and also
to prevent whole sheets Of iron being ripped.on
the bottom by shot or shell when in action. While
the original outlay to build such vessels Is as great
as for wooden ship, repairing would be effected
at small comparative cost, and when repaired they
nre substantially as good as new. flour cruising
navy was composed Of "sheathed" and "com-
poslte " vessels perhaps for the smaller ones, the
immense outlay for repairs" would cease and
our vessels would have speed and efficiency If
properly modelled.
VERY MANY OFFICERS OF THR NAVY
regard the building of armor- plated vessels OF
large sizc carrying guns, as no longeF desirable as
they are very expensive and can doubtless be
easily destroyed by properly constructed marine
rams. To compete with England in armor- plated
vessels alone would cost more than slOOOOOOOo to
build vessels that will be quito capable
of destroying all of her fleet that she
might send OH our coast in the event Of war be-
tween the two countries would not cost one-tenth
OF that sum, and they could be built in a very
shcrt time, provided we now build two or more OF
them to obtain the necessary experience in that
method OF construction and gain such improve.
ments on original designs as can only come
through construction. England has recently
launched the Polyphemus,
RAN OF NOVEL DESIGN,
| supposed TO have been modelled on one designed
by an officer OF high rank in our navy, but IL SO
| many OF the supposed improvements will be found
anything but advantageous In action. IL we can
accept or.platcd marine rams as equivalents
| In defense, at least against armor-plated guh-
| bearing ships, supplemented with torpedoboat
and appliances far as practicable. the building
| of q respectable cruising navy need not be con-
| sidercd us hopclessly expensive provided we re-
| solve 10 spend no more money on the old wooden
hulks which now comprise our navy" Suitable
vessels would be schools OF instruction in time o.
peace, and capable of destroying much of the
| commerce of an enemy in time of war, and, a
stated before would last years without requiring
| repairs, and when necessary repairs could be ef
| iected ut something like reasonable cost and thu
vessel would. in fact, be almost as good as new.
1T TAKES YEARS OF CAREFUL TRAINING
to make good officer ailoat, and should we fail
to keep up a respectable personnel we will find u
our cost that 1t cannot be improvised should w
have a war with any Of the great powers; nor car
a respectable personnel be long maintained 1t
inferior vessels, such as now compose our entirt
| navy What Is true of the navy Is equally truo o
our sea coast defeuses. They are in deplorabl,
| condition, and should be remodeled at once ant
| armed with the most approved ordnance. No prog
ress whatever has been made for several years pas
in the construction Of new or in the modification o
| our old works Quilt before the inventions o
modern ordnance and armored ships) for want o
appropriations therefor Our entire sea coast q
open TO the successful attack of the weakest natol
of Europe. SPAIN for instance, has
NAVY VASTLY SUPERIOR
to our own, and could in the short space of 81,
hours, successfully assail either OF our importan
seaboards on the South Atlantic or Gulf coasts
Thrty-six hours. steaming would bring a fec
from Halifax to Boston and New York. To defen
our coast against armor- plated vessels, carryin
rihed guns from nine inches to seventeen inche
bore, we have just 40 eight-inch rifles, carryin
short of1So pounds, fired with thrty-fve pound
of powder! And we have upward of 1000 mile
Of sea coast to defend Congress is responsible fc
the condition Of our navy and our sea coast de
fenses. The average Congressman would rathe
vote for an appropriation TO improve an unimpor
tant "creek" In his "deestrict" than to vote dol
lar to rebuild the navy or put our sea-coast dc
fenses in proper condition. W. II. @.