The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-11-28
UNITED STATES NAVY.
Facts from Admiral POrter's An.
nual Report.
The Efficient War Ship Of the
Future Described.

The annual report of Admiral David d.
Porter has been submitted 10 the Secretary
of the Navy. Admiral Porter says there is
general impression throughout the country
that very large amount of money (over $780,
10000 has been spent on the navy since the
war without anything to show for it,and this
impression has hndered the advance of the
navy. 1t must be remembered, he says, that
after the war, and up to 1869 a large sum of
money was drawn from the treasury to pay
war debts as well as to provide for the main
tenance of the navy; and it was not until
1869 that the navy settled down to run on a
reasonable annual appropriation for its main
tenance. During this time bills to the
amount of S190,000,000, in round numbers,
had to be paid for work contracted for during
the height of the war, while $50, 000, 900, was
refunded into the treasury. When it is con
sidered, he says, that all the naval
appropriations since 1863 were simply for the
maintenance of the navy with the exception
of about $5,000,000 for new cruisers, the
amount expended will be found to be moth
ing more than reasonable. Since 1869 the
average annual expenditure has been about
$l6,O0U0OO. Compare our expenditure, says
Admiral Porter, with that of any other navy
of Importance, and it will be proved that we
have kept within reasonable bounds Yet
half the people in the country are convinced
that naval appropriations are recklessly ex-
pended a comparison of the expenditures
i'll foreign navieS with our own Will go far to
put stop to the cry that wasteful extrava-
gance has been shown in the administration
of its financial affairs and will show the ne
cesslty of our doing somethingstowa build
ing navy if we want to keep pace with the
spirit of the age and to hold ourselves
ready to maintain the respect of foreign ma
lions. The assertion that we want a small
but effective navy" does not cover the case
No small navy can be an efficient one, if we
consider the needs of the country. 1t must
be large enough to command the respect of
the greatest naval power. Up to 1850 or
thereabouts our policy was to build better
vessels than were built in any part of the
world, and thus, for some years, VIC main
tanned small but very effective navy. All
the powers of Europe have been engaged for
the last twenty years in increasing their
navies, while we have been inditfercntly
looking on, not even taking trouble to profit
by their successes or failures in modern ship
building. During this time some grand ships
have been built, while Others have been shown
to be unequal to modern requirements.
Admiral Porter proceeds to dis,ribe the
features of a modern vessel. citing the Es-
meralda, ship of 5000 tons, built in Eng
land for the Chilean navy, as the most perfect
ship of her class ever constructed. She will,
he thinks, prove more formidable vessel
than either the Boston or Atlanta, and shows
herself to be unsurpassed as a commerce de
stroyer, There is no reason, he says, why we
cannot build ship of 5000 tons on the lines
and plans of the Esmeralda that will give q
speed of nineteen knots an hour, which would
quite equal the speed of any merchant ship
afoat
Admiral Porter submits plans for a good
boat, which, when completed, he says, will be
match for anything i'll our navy, and will
have speed enough to escape from a superior
foe. He estimates that her hull and engines
will cost S350, 900, and requests that an appro-
priatlon of that amount be asked for. He
says we have but one torpedo boat, and she is
not completed He recommends her compile
ton and that she be put in condition for of
fensive warfare.
All other nations are paying great atten-
ton to the building of torpedo boats France,
Russia and England have about one hundred
each, and now England proposes to build 250
more for cruising and home defence. She
Will probably complete the whole number of
them while we are considering the project of
building three or four
Admiral Porter submits, in conclusion,
what he thinks the government ought to do
In the next two years: First complete the
unfinished monitors and arm them with
heaVy rlfied guns, making them rams as
far as their models will pc nit; second
appropriate money for all the vessels that
We're proposed to Congress last winter; third
build as commencement four of the heaviest
monitors of great endurance and speed, each
to carry four siX-nch rifles in turrets fourth
build twenty torpedo boats of not less than
100 tons EACH with speed Of twenty knots
fifth, one cruising iron clad of not less than
4,OOO tons; sixth, have all our ships of over
1,25O tons supplied with torpedo boats, fitted
with noiseless condensing engines, so that
they cannot be heard when approaching an
enemy. The ships launches, which are now
called torpedo boats in our navy, are per-
fectly useless.
Admiral Porter appends to his report
table exhibiting the expenditures of the lead
ing nations of the world for the maintenance
of their navies during the last fifteen years,
as well as for the construction of new ships
since 1868. 1t shows that the expenditures
for the maintenance Of England were $685.
600 OOO; of France, SG30,0J0,00O Russia
$345OOO,00O Italy, S14?, 900, 900; Germany,
$lH,OOo,0O United States, $25l ,000, 600 For
the construction of new ships England has
expended sol 100000; France, sl2l ,OO0, 900;
Russia, SIS, 100000; Italy, SS},000,0yO; Swe-
pen, Sl4, 900, 600; Germany, $4,000, 900, and
the United States, 81 ,907, ASA.