Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1886-11-12
THE MODERN NAVY.
SWIFT CRUISERS BEING SUBSTITUTE
Ed FOR UNWIECOY iRoN-clADS.

Ocean Iastodons Driven OF the Seas by
Torpedo Boats and Swift vessels-speed
the Great Observation-Disclosures OF
Armor.
had an interview the other day with Ad-
miral Aube the French minister of marine,
at his cabinet in the ministry in tie Rue
Royalc, ill reference to the utility of the new
steel cruisers now being Luilt by the United
States government | showed the admiral
the diagrams and sketches of the Boston The
admiral praised the ingenious contrivances
for fighting, the pilot house, the central su-
pcrstructure of the battery, etc, and then,
looking at me with a sharp, penetrating
glance, asked:
Nv hat is her speedF'
'Not quite thirteen knots, sir,n replied.
The admiral shook his head and said en-
phatically:
Then, as war vessel she is useless. A
cruiser is of no Use whatever unless she has
speed enough to catch fast ocean steamer;
that Is to say, unless she has a speed OF nine
! teen knots Cruisers of less speed than this
are weakness, not a strength, to navy, for
| they will only I've captured or sunk by the
French navy are TO have a minimum speed of
nineteen Knots, capable of being increased to
| twenty knots during five hours at stretch
by the Application of an apparatus of tirage
| force. If they don't attain this speed the
government will refuse Them
then asked the admiral if he would ex-
| plain the best way for the United States TO
set about to get navy. The admiral rang
| an electric bell and said TO the attendant:
Don't let any one interrupt me for half an
hour" He rolled a cigarette and said:
MUST HAVE SPEED
You have truly magnificent body of
naval officers, you have splendid sailors, and
| You have no heavy ironclads, three points
| upon which you are most heartily to be con-
| graduated Naval experiments have now
clearly demonstrated that the huge ironclads
III which European governments have spent
hundreds and hundreds of millions have had
| their day. These mastodons of the ocean
have had their day. They will be scarcely
more useful in the next naval war than the
| grand old line-of- battle ships of Trafalgar
and Aboukir The maStodons have been
| rendered worthless by those microbes of the
sra, torpedo boats and swift cruisers The
| till lately have attempted the impossible
| They have tried to unite in the same vessel all
the means of modern naval warfare-the
ram, heavy guns, armor plating and torpe-
| does. The result is a vast unwieldly floating
| fortress, liable TO be sunk by the first we'll
directed torpedo. The United States, I re-
| peat, are sincerely TO be congratulated at hav-
| ing none of these useless monsters
Your situation is this. In the first place
YOU arc not hammered hy having any mer-
camille marine to protect In a naval war
this viii give YOU a great advantage All
YOUR naval operations can, therefore. he con-
| fined 10 nrotrctiuq vcur harho,s and destrov-
ing tho enemv's commerce Yon can make
vopr harhors imprecpable with vour land
| forts, torrNIoos and torpedo boats Forty OF
| fifty unnr,norcd cr,,iscrs with sufficient
| snsal couId DESTROY, vour epemv,s commerce
| for ali the ;ron-c,ads of al, the ea.,ts ~ tho
world wou,d TODAY he utterly inadoopate To
| bInct,de vour comets and nreva,. those
| r,,,,sars from oot,ing 10 900 Rut tboSo
| crpisers ebor,d have a minimum sr.aaa of
ri,ot,,ap KNOTS
| NOV =, nc ,,--r,, Yovss
| .sTha+ - ,,sor ,b,,- shorl3 to t,s,o, .ha,,
| H.. ,r.o,t tronsatIan,;o s,oan,ar. IT,,
shoriJ h.,s;do, ,ho or,;nor,r ,nooh;no -
- :. a.. -. So
- - en-, III Il a'.D'.
'5I.I; sip.o'.o.'ais -. 80
-. Ia 80 - - -.
| o,;-o a., - ns,;.;,,s oo.,,,,aa =,
,,;,o, E,,-ro r., - ono ~ 49, .-,,;,,-
| wore cornneJIed n Gpbt a huca Fnrone.n
irop-cIad tho ADVANTAGE would xtill he With
| a. -; g. A. -. -: - !,
| moving about with rar,,,litv is almost ;nnos-
sjble TO he hit, while the hugo iron-clad Is a
splendid target, and the huge steel plates are
| now perfectly vulnerable to projectiles
| charged with fulm cotton OF with meniline :"
Here the admiral showed me three steel
| plates pierced by projectiles containing
| iuImi-coton, meniline. and third substance
| q composition which is q secret of the French