New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-12-01
SECRETARY WHITNETS REPORT

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Secretary Whitney's annual report is con-
sentative and busineSslike document. 1t IS not
marred by the displays of partisanship which
were so frequent in his earlier reports. 1t con-
tains clear and interesting recital of the prog
ress which has been made during the year IN
the construction of the new navy, and also
painstaking review of naval progress abroad
as well as of the operations of every bureau
of his department.
The Secretary has little if anything to say
respecting the mscalculatiOns in the designs
for his English "A merican ships, and the many
signs of discomfort in England with recent
types of vessels which he is closely initiating.
Yet these are interesting topics.
The Navy Department appears to have made
a bad bargain in purchasing English designs
for the armored vessels. The Secretary, in his
last annual report, referred confidently to the
arrangements made for the construction of the
two ships The armored cruiser designed to
have displacement of 6,6iS tons and speed
of II knots he described as already building
in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, while the battle
ship with displacement of $500 tons and
projected speed of II knots was to be begun
at once at Norfolk. A year has passed, and
little if anything has been done in either navy
yard. Work has virtually been suspended on
both vessels, although contracts for large
amount of material have been made. The de-
lay has been caused by miscalculations and
laundering in the designs. special Washing
ton dispatch, published in Wednesdays issue
of THE TRIBUNE, disclosed the startling fact
that the Texas will have to be heightened "a
feet and numerous changes made in the work.
ing-pans. Indeed, it may be necessary to
discard the original designs altogether, eS-
pecially as English vessels of corresponding
models have disappointed expectation. The
experiment of borrowing foreign ideas and
discrediting the ability of American engineers
and naval architects has proved signal fail
ure. The incoming Administration, warned
by the sorry experience of Secretary Whitney,
will do well to abandon altogether the policy
of building an English American navy.
1t has been notorious for several years that
many of the newer vessels added to the Eng
hsh Navy have been deficient in speed, sta
bility and defensive qualities. The articles
contributed to the current number Of The
Fortnightly Review by three distinguished
Admirals of the British Navy contain many
structures upon these vessels. Sir Thomas
Symonds contrasts the French battle-ships,
which have continuous armor from end to end
with those of the English Navy which are
armored only part Of the length
of their water-line, and contends that
this system of stripping ships of armor
greatly lmpairs their strength. The new
ironclads Nile and Trafalgar which are I'M
armored for II feet, he considers would have
little chance in an engagement with the French
batte-ships Admiral Baudn and Formidable
Equally dispaiagng is Lord Alcesters judg-
ment of the Rodney and her class, of the Hero
and her sister ship, Of new cruisers like the
Mersey, and of gunboats of the Serpent type
lie accepts the verdict Of those who have sailed
in these ships that the ironclads are incapable
of keeping the sea in a winter cruise, and that
the corvettes and gunboats are deficient in
speed. He asserts that corvettes built twenty
years ago, notably the Active, Voltage and
Rover. are preferable to the newer vessels OF
this class He insists that there must be no
more ships of the Orlando type, which carry
their armored belts under water and cannot
stow coal or provisions for voyage. As for
the torpedo-catchcrs, he condemns them out
right as radically wrong in construction
These criticisms of recent naval designing in
England are most instructive. Sir Thomas
Symonds and Lord Alcester are men who speak
with authority, and they express unqualified
disapproval of nearly every class of vessels
lately added to the British Navy. Secretary
Whitney chose a most unfortunate time for
borrowing and purchasing English ideas and
designs Vessels which are condemned by the
Admiral of the Fleet and by the commander OF
the ironclads that bombarded Alexandria are
not likely to prove valuable additions to the
American Navy. Even the Mersey, which Sec
rotary Whitney singled out as crack English
cruiser and with which he compared the At
lanta greatly to the disadvantage of the Ameri-
can ship, turns out to be failure. Another
Administration can well aft ord to allow Ameri-
cans to design American ships, in spite OF all
the nice things which Secretary Whitney now
has to say about his English American fleet.