St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-04-09
IRoNCLADs CRITICISED.
Grave Fault Found With the
Yorktown, Concord and Ben
ninStOn

WASHINGTON, April SCOPES of the
official report to the British admiralty
of the committee on the recent English
naval maneuvers have just received at
the navy department, and are being
read with great deal of interest, as
they have very practical bearing on
some of the vessels in the new United
States navy. The Yorktown and her
two sisters, the Concord and Benning-
ton are identical with the Archer class
of the English navy. Six of those YES
sells took part in the maneuvers,
and concerning them the committee
of admirals say: sit is report
ed unanimously that the arma-
ment is too heavy, and consequently the
vessels are crank: that the weights on
the forecastle are too great and the fore
castle itself is not strong enough for
the weight it has to bear.'' Of the
Raccoon. the only vessel of the class
which appears to have experienced
anything like a heavy sea, it is reported
that. on one occasion, when going ten
or eleven knots against a moderate
swell, sea was taken on board which
carried away everything movable on
the forecastle, broke in the forehatch,
which was battened down, tore away
the iron stanchions supporting the fore
castle, ana bent the beams down three
inches. The committee is of opinion
that much of this weight sin the eyes''
of the ship should be reduced, and
suggests that the blowers" should be
slowed further aft, the spare anchor
removed to position near the
main mast, and that the two
SIX mch-guns on the fore
castle should be replaced by fve-inch,
by which latter means alone a saving
of over fifteen tous would be effected
1t submits. also, that to substitute five
inch for six-inch guns throughout, in
view of the ''crank" nature of these
vessels, as reported by their late cap
tains, is worthy of most serious consid-
erations. Admiral Sir Arthur Hood, in
his observations on the report of the
committee, says of the Archer class:
Il quite concur in the view that these
vessels are too heavily weighted for
ward and should prefer the substitu-
ton of five-inch guns for SIX-inch. one
pilot house instead of two, and the an
chors, especially the sheet anchor,
bear out the arguments advanced by
some of our naval officials at the
time the construction of our gun
boats was undertaken. They held that
the Yorktown and her class ought not
to carry guns of any larger size than
five inches, and that the little Petrol
should not carry guns of over AZ inches
at the utmost, while the English Maggie
class of the same size carry only four
inch guns. The experience of the Brit
ish admiralty is reviving the discussion
of the question of how heavy the arma-
ments of our gunboats should be. 1t
is not likely, however, that any change
will be made in the present plans before
the Yorktown has been given trial at
sea with her batteries ON board. If She
does not behave better than her proto-
TYPES in the British navy, it is safe to
say that the weight of the.armaments of
her sister boats and of the little Petrol
will be much reduced. Thus far the
only change made in the line suggested
by the English report has been the loca-
ton of the anchors further aft than as
originally contemplated.