The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1883-07-18
CRUISERS FOR THE NAVY.
A TALK WITH Ex-COMMANDER COR.
RlNGE ABOUT THE NEW VESSELS.
Reasons for Giving them n Greuter Speed
than Fourteen Knots mn Hour-What
Foreign Vessels ure Doing.

"Have youseen the Navy Departments
advertisement for proposals for new cruis-
ersH" asked reporter Of ex-Commander
: Gorringe.
81 have a copy Of it in my pocket.
notice that the department calls for sew
eral vessels and the second paragraph Of
the advertisement seems TO require that
bidders shall lie prepared to build both
hull and engines OF these ships, or en-
gines only. If it means this it excludes
all but three Of the shipbuilders of this
country, for only three of our iron ship
yards are fitted to build both hulls
and engines. But / am not discouraged
about this. / mean TO put in my bids,
md may say to you that l have already
arrah1oi with one of the most compe-
tent engine builders in this country to
build the engine II my bid be accepted
hy the department.
GLOW are war ships built in Eng
landY
"About four-fifths Of the English war
vessels have their hulls bull itn the gov
ernment dockyards. Hull building and
engine building, though closely allied,
are essentially different businesses. At
least two-thirds of the English shipbuild-
crs do not build engines. 1t has been
found In practice in England that ia
shipyard has also engine works these are
apt TO he only partly employed, and thus
Il loss occurs. An engine builder, how
ever, builds both laGd aud marine engines,
and thus may keep his place at work for
several purposes. Hence, English ship
builders more and more get their engines
built for them outside of their own yards
and by engine builders"
Have you any opinion about thepro
posed cruisers?"
81 do not think the department calls
for adequate speed to make them efficient
cruisers. The highest sea speed required
is, see, fourteen knots an hour, which
NOWADAYS cannot be considered fast
enough to keep out of the way of n mod
crn ship of superior force. A cruiser
means n ship to cruise after an enemy's
merchantmen. Now. to set fourteen
knot cruiser to catch o scvonteen-knot
transatlantic steamer would he like set
ting pug TO catch greyhound. II has
been demonstrated cOnclusively that
high rates Of speed for ocean steamers
are not only possible but will be had.
Several Of the transatlantic steamers
have averaged fifteen knots m hour for
whole passage, and some Of them
attain as high as seventeen knots an
hour. No passenger steamer is highly
thought Of in these days which will not
average mean sea speed of fifteen knots.
A man-of-war, to be effective for lis.
must be able TO catch such steamers.
The English have now man-of-war-a
frigate-which stcams eighteen and a
quarter knots. She has done it, and
they are building more such ships.
What would he the use Of our cruisers
going in the highest, mean sea speed Of
fourteen knots AGAINST such ships rs
these or against the fast transatlantic
steamers now in use which, in case of
war; would be turned into cruisers by
tho English government? In other re-
spects, SO far Os | can Judge frem the
advertisement, the vessels appear to be
well designed. But, must say that in
the important matter Of speed they are
totally inadequate"
lis high speed attainable from Amer.
lean ship-yards ?"
! at ccrtainlyis. No one will deny that
that we can do as welt MS they ON the other
side, and on the other side torpedo boats
have recently been constructed which
have steamed for three consecutive hours
at the average rate of twenty-five knots
an hour. Sixyears agoI was on French
torpedo boat which averaged eighteen
and two-tcnths knots for three consecu-
tive hours. 1t is well-known fact that
the larger vessel the easier it is to drive
her ut high rate of speed, and it is safe
to say that if you can drive 300 ton tor
pcdo boat twenty-five knots an hour you
can drive 800 ton ship Mt twenty-five
knots if you wish to. In my opinion
these cruisers should have been given q
maximum speed of not less than twenty
knots an hour, even ii the greater part Of
the battery had to be omitted to secure
this speed. Nowadays great speed and
few guns are the most effective"
"ls it easy to drive man-of-war ahead
MS fast 0s one Of the transatlantic steam.
crs ?"
"Much more easy, because the mer
,, chant steamer must have her model ant
, her capacity such as to provide for freigh
and passengers, while the man-of-war hal
. only to provide for motive power anC
a guns. BY reducing the number of gum
a you reduce the space necessary for
crew, which enables you to put In pro-
portionatoly larger engines. BY tho time
these cruisers are finished, unless the
Secretary requires higher speed, they
will be relatively to the cruisers OF other
nations and to transatlantic steamers IN
course of construction as slow as our old
tubs arc to-day. In other words they
will be out of date before they are COM
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