The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-14
ENGLAND'SNAVAL FLUKE
ALL THE BIG SHIPS FAIL TO SHOW
GOOD SPEED.

The Machinery Almost Constantly
Out of Order and in Need of Repairs
The Old Vessels as a Whole Made
a Better Showing Than the New
Ones.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13-Naval officers
here and others who have had to do with
constructing naval vessels find much to
encourage their faith in the American navy
and COZ lie them for what appeared to be
bad failures in marine architecture in the
report of the last English maneuvers,
which has just reached the navy depart
ment. This repo. is entitled to weight as
1t was made by four admirals commanding
squadrons. First, as to torpedo boats they
fad that the boats are of great value to
the blockades, hut lily adapted
cry is constantly in need of
repairs and they require frequent attention
In the matter of water and coal. Doterio-
ration OF their machinery soon took away
from them the speed which constituted
their principal value
ALACK OF SPEED.
Touching the larger vessels the report
says that from all sides during the
maneuv9rs came complaints of defective
machinery. 7 q squadrons were constantly
impeded in their speed and movements by
'lame ducks" needing repairs. Failure to
realize the speed at which the ships were
rated from IL to II knots was
one of the most disappointing
features of "A the maneuvers. The
best speed the Rupert could make at tins
very beginning was eight knots. The
Shannon kept up nine knots with difficulty,
and another ironclad dropped astern making
less. The Infexible also fell behind fro II a
break in her engine. The Agiuc)urt, an old
ship, was steaming easily at the time under
two boilers.
THE OLD SHIPS THE BEST.
The old SHIPS in fact seem to have done
very well. The vessels that appeared to
travel with the greatest ease and least
smoke were the Black Pri ce, built in 1851,
the Hercules, built in 1868, and the Devas-
tation, built 1871. The Hotspur, North
ampton and Active rated as sixteen knot
ships had difficulty in keeping up ten
knots. Almost every. ..one of the fast cruisers
failed to steam up to their nominal speed or
TO maintain the maximum steam pressure
whe 1t was reached. The Mersey, an
eighteen knot snip, steamed at four cen and
a half knots, but had to slow down for sew
eral hours to clean her tuues. The Mercury
was the only cruiser in the first squadron
capable of making sixteen knots for forty
eight hours. This ship was built to COM
pete with the Wampanoag and other fast
boats built by the United States at the close
of theswar.
THE MOHAWK CLASS.
The Mohawk class failed in boilers and
tubes and the Raccoon practically broke
down. Tne Archer and Cossack had their
boilers retubed before they had been three
months ia commiss on. These are the types
for our new 2,O00-ton vessels, but the ma
chinery has been impro ed in design and
durability. The Serpent was under repairs
in port. An unsucce sful effort was made
to introduce like machinery into he new
practice ship for Annapolis. The Rattle
snake class proved to be entirely too delicate
for rough work.
INEFFICIENT STEAM POWER.
In point # fact" says the correspond
ent, "we are in this position. The least
maneuvers may be rendered abortive .by
t q Inc iiciency of our steam power. What
ever else the campaign br gs out it will
demonstrate this to a certainty. That there
is not an officer of either of the four squad
rons that feels the least confidence in his
ship to steam in an emergency
Winding up Their criticism upon the
machinery trials, the admirals say that in
view Of the failure of ordinary boilers at
high steam pressures, inquiries and expert
ments as to the practical employment of
tubulous or coil high-pressure boilers u i'll
be followed with increa ed interest. Our
own navy department has already begun
to make trials of these boilers at the in
stance of Chief Engineer Melville, and
upon his recommendations they are to be
Y1iaoad in tha uayV nOaSt 6afausa veasaIs