The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-02-18
THE NAVY OF THE FUTURE.

1a6 NAV OE 16E - hEs
II is by no means clear that our Govern
ment has not acted wisely in going leisurely
to the uPbuilding of new navy, and that
the clamor Of ship building and interested
contractors would not have hurried Us into
a system which the changes of the times
would compel Us to abandon with all the
outlay that went to its establishment Since
our civil war, the tendency has been con-
stantly toward the construction Of inYul.
nerable vessels. The ideal war ship was a
monster that could lie and take any fury of
cannonade as indifferently as an alligator
takes a bombardment of pop-guns. 1t
was to be so densely cased in steel that no
force could penetrate its motive power, en-
danger its magazine, or destroy any life that
was not needlessly exposed. AT the same
time it was to carry battery 80 powerful
that no strength less than its own could re-
sist it. In short, it was TO be at sea what
the old iron cased knights were on land, in
accessible to any sssailing force and irresisti-
bic when it chose to use Its own force. This
was all ve1y well in the ideal. 1t proved
not so well in the actual One
Ct these iron-cased monsters went
down like a shot ia q gale in
the Bay OF Biscay that common frigate OF
the last generation would have laughed at.
It's impenetrable casing that made it mac
cessible did not make it impondsrable. 1t
weighed the more the more it was made in
vulnerable, and then the weight made it
the easier victim of that awful power that
rides the seas on the white horses" OF the
gale. The first revelation of the radical de-
fects of the new naval system was its peril
in storms 1t could not meet the "wave and
the gale" with the confidence of the weakest
of the old wooden walls" So it could
never be Used with the efficiency of the old
system for cruising, for rapid trans
port to distant points that needed
protection, for attacks on ports of shallow
entry. The huge weight of the ships made
their draught too great for any but very
few of the deepest harbors and roadways.
This limited its utility largely to the service
of floating FORTS" But even these great
defects were not the worst. They would have
compelled the supp ementing OF armored
vessels by lighter ones that could run easily
and rapidly anywhere, but they would have
been invaluable in their own range of
service. The fatal defect appeared with the
improvement Of artillery, Heavy guns have
gone on getting bigger, longer, heavier
and more formidable, till now they weigh
100 toas, fire a ball of 1000 pounds, with
nearly half ton of powder, which gives
them the momentum of locomotive under
full steam. The shot, steel pointed, will cut
through two feet of solid steel and three feet
of solid timber backing. No armor can stand
such blows. II it is not bored full of holes
tered till the sea pressure seeksout the leaks,
pours in irrepressible floods and carries the
battered mass of helpless iron down to make
dens for strange fishes. A vessel with no
armer to diminish its carrying power can
take one of the huge Whitworth guns OF the
Italian navy, and lying out of the reach of
the smaller guns of a heavy stesl-plated
ship, or frisking about with its powerful
steam machinery so rapidly as to make
fair shot impossible, it can plug the monster
at pleasure, as sword-fsh does whale. So
it has come about that some of the longest
headed men of the day are arguing that ar
mored vessels have run their course, proved
their unftness for the general service of
navy, and demonstrated that the next change
must be to lighter vessels cased as strongly
as possible not to interfere with their rapid
sailing and maneuvering, and made to carry
guns of the most formidable force. Now, by
waiting, our Government is in position to
adopt the latest improvements, without sac
rifcing navy of the old pattern to give
place for it. So our delay may prove, after
all, q sort of Fabian policy-What Benton
called mastery inactivity