The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1881-05-04


An excellent book has been published by Chief
Engineer J. W. King of the Z. S. Navy entitled
The War Ships snd Navies of the World. " 1t
contains much valuable information which may
be Of interest to our readers.
The main stay Of modern navies is supposed to
be in their armor-plated ships and with these the
book principally deals: indeed in estimating the
relative strength of the several navsl nations he
casts aside wooden vessels altogether i IS curl
ous to note that the idea Of protecting vessels by
armor Is by no means a new one. As far back as
the sixteenth century the KNIGHTS of St. John had
a vessel protected by sheathing of lead; at
various times other materials have been used
upon special occasions. In 1872 Mr.. Stevens of
New Jersey constructed iron-plated floating
battery which, on his death. he bequeaihed TO his
State; she has proved white elephant to the
trustees who have lately applied for authority TO
break her up. But it was in 1875 that the armored
ship really came into use since then the advance
has been rapid and improvements in construction
are being made continually.
First among the navies of the world stands that
of Great Britain il number Of effective iron clads,
in average thickness of armor and in average
speed Mr.. King gives England 3 arnored ships,
with l1.6 inches of average thickness Of amor,
and average speed Of 1871 knots: while France,
whose navy al the time Of the second empire
threatened to outstrip that Of Great Britain, has
now y armored vessels, several having wooden
hulls an average thickness of Il inches and aver
ace speed Of Is knots In modern unarmored
vessels Great Britain also stands first with :" two
frgates Il corvettees and vessels of the rapid
tvpe:' France having " four frigates and y
also be added to the calculation Great Britain 5
4l9 merchant steamers from 100 TO 5000, most of
which could be easily turned into fast cruisers,
should occasion require Il.
Italy and Germany dispute for the third place
among the navies of the world The feet of
the former contains vessels which carry heavier
guns than the ships of any other nation, the
famous loO-ton guns. Two new iron-olads are
shortly to be added the Ifalid and Lepqaf0, they
will be Of 1880 tons burden, 1900 horsepower
and viii have a speed of 10 knots at sea. The cost
Of these vessels is enormous, about 1856, coo.
Tie policy Of putting such large quantity of
valuable eggs into one basket is certainly prob
lenatical. Germany possesses no ships which
can compare with these either in size or in weight
OF metal. Russia has no fleet which can compare
with those Of the powers already mentioned,
though she has spent considerable sums in build
ing and equipping the vessels she has: her great
effort has been Of late TO create aofieet Of swift
unarmored cruisers, and says Mr.. King mot only
has the Russian Government itself expended large
suns of money in the purchase and construction of
cruising ships but a private committee
has been formed at Moscow which have raised
100000 roUbles for the same purpose.
OF the United States navy there is not much to
sly indeed one has only to look at the columns of
the intelligent portion of the United States Press
10 see IN what an unsatisfactory condition it IS
There are no armored ships no ornaments of
modern rifed guns OF course by keeping only
a small navy afioat, great expense Is saved for
the present; but IN the event of hostilties break
ing out very heavy expenditure would be entailed
Thus during the late civil war sum of over
S64.000000 was expended by the United States, to
bring their navy up to the necessary strength.
Among secondary States probably Holland has
the highest place She possesses two sea-golng
Irun-clads, and seventeen monitors. The navies
of Sweden and Denmark are also by no means
despicable. The unspeakable Turk. who lately
possessed. far 1NdfeFiel goes, a fine raw.
IN the war with Russia proved himself inca pable
of taking care of the good things he had; and II
remains 10 be seen whether the Chinese and
japanese viii make better use of The nayies they
have. Chill and Peru have lately been testing
their nayies almost under our very eyes, and the
result Is that the Peruvian navy has almost ceased
10 exist. The Chilians have two armor-clads of
their own and are now possessors OF the cele-
brated Peruvian turret ship HgaSodr.
Il would be interesting TO follow ont this sub
ject. a. crfssO TO review the strength of the
VARIOUS nations in men, TO compare vessel With
vessel. and to see what expense they are put to-
We have only space 10 say that the ordinary ex-
psnditure of the principal European nations for
every ton Of their national vessels follows:
Russia $50. France S271 30, Germany S25l go
Great Britain SIG %, Italy $2ql. Austria Sl57
but the two LATTER maintain no squadrons abroad.