Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-06-04
rHINGs or CURRENT INTEREST.
The Navy in Transition.

The Navy in Transition.
In the June number of Hsrper's Magazine
Rear Admiral Edward Simpson compares the
American navy rs IL was with the American
navy as 1t 10, and gives some forecast OF what
1t is likely 10 be. The retrospective glance,
at least, Is one in which the country may
take pride, for, as Admiral Simpson says,
our sailing vessels from 1S40 to 1860 were
the finest in the world. The Congress- for
example, in 1912, was 1.-THE noblest specimen
OF the frigates of the day" and the Ports
mouth was unsurpassed as corvette. In
the commercial marine American clipper
ships we're famous the world over, and, like
the war vessels, furnished models for all IA
tions But while our reputation was at its
zenith, a new era of construction was i'm
pending In the introduction Of steam as a
motive power. Then, however, as It CHANGED,
America was again able to take the lead. So
long az paddle wheel machinery exposed the
new motor to destruction by single hostile
shot, its disadvantages for war ships were
apparent But it happened that Ericsson,
whose propeller was unwisely pooh-poohed
by the British admiralty. was urged by an
American officer to leave England and, com
ing to the United States, he built for our
government the Princeton, the first war YES
sci that ever carried her machinery below
the water line, out OF the reach Of hostile
shot. Thus it happened that our country
kept ahead in the new construction as in the
old.
Meanwhile, in last compromise OF steam
with sails, some fine side whetlers, including
the Mississippi, Missouri, Su,quehanua SAr
auac and POwhatan, were built, aud of these
the Powhatan, constructed OF seasoned live
oak SO years ago, still survives, and is in com
mission. II was, however, the American
frigates of 1856 and 1857, the Merrimac,
Wabash, Minnesota, Roanoke and Colorado,
afterward followed by the Franklin, that
cht ny attracted transatlantic admiration.
The Merrimac, the first of them that went to
England, received the unqualified approval
of foreign naval architects. The British ad.
miralty at once laid many keels in order to
reproduce the type, and the ships built on
her model were the crack ships OF their day
in the British navy, and were employed ~
aAgships. During the three years succeeding
a fine class of cOrvettes appeared, compris
ing the Hartford, Brooklyn. Pensacola, Rich
mond and Lancaster, all still suTv wing. To
this period belongs also the renowned sloop.
0! war K-arsarge, the conquerOr OF the Ala
bama.
The war produced great number Of ves.
sells, including the 9O-day gunboats, the
defenders, and several ships of large dis
and left no impress on naval construction.
But this epoch also produced Ericsson's re-
nowntd Monitor, 'the progenitor Of all the
| turreted vessels in the fleets OF the world. "
Admiral Simpson also regards the broadside
armored vessel New Ironsdes AZ being "for
the time and service required, a success. -
| When the double-turreted monitors were
| built, the great bluuder was made of build
ing them, contrary to Ecrisson's views, Of
wood. They soon perished, their chief use
being that Of demonstrating, through the
voyage of the Misntonomoh to England and
of the Monadnock through the Straits of Ma
| gellan TO the Pacific, that monitors could nav
lgate the high seas The Puritan, Terror,
| Amphitrite, Miantonomoh, and MOnadnock
were afterward begun in iron, and Admiral
| Simpson supports the recommendation Of the
| advisory board 10 complete them. From this
| conclusion those will dissent who think that
| their armor can be- shot through with ease
| by the heaviest modern artillery, while their
| own turIets cannot accommodate such artil
| lery.
or wooden vessels built since the war men
| ton may be made OF the Tennessee, launch
ed in 1865. the only frigate Of first rate now
| in commission the Adams and Marion classes
OF small sloops, which have been useful for
ordinary cruising two diminutive vessels OF
the Alert class, the only iron huls in the ma
| w except the monitors the Trenton, launch
ed in 1876 perhaps the best type Of the mod.
ern wooden ship.
Altogether, large and small, principally
small, there are 32 cruisers in the navy fit for
service, built of wood, with low speed, most
| ly armed with smooihborers, with few
Pallisser converted rifles among them. All
these must soon disappear, under the late
act of Congress prohibiting repairs on wood
| ahf tuh ha ta n aNn ns4ad
one-lifth of the cost of new vessel. ln
their place must come steel vessels, with the
most powerful engines; Of speed many
knots in advance OF anything now known in
the navy armed with high powered breech-
loading steel rifles and secondary batteries
of Hotchkss guns fitted for launching self
directing torpedoes, like those of Capt. How
ell, which Admiral Simpson considers likely
to far surpaes even the Whitehead, especially
in being able to resist DETECTION by obstacles
aud, finally, protective decks, with water
tight compartments in the hull to secure
buoyancy.
The advisory board OF 1881 declared thai
the navy ought to have 10 such cruisers
The end of this year will probably foui
of them substantially completed, and fOul
more are provided for. The mishaps anC
disappointments of the Dolphin, the pioneer
steel vessel are well known, but Admira
Simpson stoutly defends her as "eminently
successful" and as "a stanch vessel, of great
structural strength, which does credit to the
shipbuilding profession Of her country
Secretary Whitney will not agree with these
laudations, which, however, are no doub
sincere, as Admiral Simpson was president o.
the advisory board under whose direction tht
Dolphin, Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago hav,
been constructed. His advocacy of stee
bulls, on account of their durability and o.
their allowing protective decks and water
tight compartments, is very strongly put
The coast defence vessels contemplated
comprising two classes Of floating batteries
and one class of low freeboard vessels ar
hardly less interesting than the cruisers. o
the batteries, one class will have armor from
II to 1G inches thick, and will carry two 7j
ton guns in a turret while the latte
will have armor from lG to Is inche
thick, and will carry two l07-ton guns
But here the suggestion comes of tn
need of total change in our naval arlil
ery. The new 6 inch steel breech- loading
rifle, which appears among the many illustra
tions of ships and guns, although weighing
5000 pounds lets than the ll-inch smooth
bore, has nearly double its muzzle energy
and takes three times its charge of powder
But the most powerful guns propel projec
tile 20 times as large as that of the G-inch