New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-02-02
NEEDS OF THE NEW NAVY.
SOME OF SENATOR CHANDELIERS OBJEC-
TIONS'TO THE HALE BILL ANSWERED.

SOME OF SENATOR CHANDELIERS 0BJEC-
TIoNs'To THE HALE BILL ANSWERED.
USEFULNESS OF BATrLE-sHIPs AS COMPARED
WITH MoNIToRs-THE STEADY ADVANCE
OF NAVAL SCIENCE - THE NAVAL
POLICY BOARDS PLAN FALLS
BY ITS OWN WEIGHT
rBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TKIBrnEs
washing ton Feb. 1.-The report OF the So
called Naval Policy Board has been transmitted 10
the Senate In his letter forwarding the report secrc
tary Tracy expressly discaiins any adoption Oh i's
views. Neither have they been adopted by inc
Senate Committee. They represent therefore, INC
individual opinion OF certain officers. and nothing
more. The large scheme of Naval Development
which the Board proposes falls by its own weight
Nobody else subscrbes to 1T, and the Haze OIL
now before the Senate must be considefeo ehulep
apart from it, The main feature OF the Hale OH -
Its provision for eight battlcshps The essence Va
the bill is in the opinion of its friends fouhu Ill
the principle that If the country is TO have any Navy
at all, IL must have Navy that will be OF some use
for purposes of protection. II the Navy Is not "
afford protection it is not capable Of any substantial
action defensive force 1t is, they tmhh'
mere supernuity and had better be abolished. us
usefulness the United states consists soe IN telr
ornion in its ability TO defend the country from
actual attack or to ward of threatened ATTACK.
In order to fulfil its object. it must be possesseu VI
some actual fighting capacity. AS secretary ir"oS
said in his annua, report: "The country needs d
Navy that will exempt it from war, but the oniy
Navy that will accomplish this is a Navy that can
wage war"
The force of forty-two vessels of which the navy
will be composed when those now authorized arc
completed has little of this fighting capaclV' y,
this force eight vessels are small iron gunDoa's 'ia
will be left over from the old fleet, the largest oi
which is the Monocacy of 1870 tons and the smallest
the Palos, of 42O. Eight others are new guhpoa'S'
three of them of LOO tons. and five oil less tian
900; and one is small dispatch boat seventeen Va
the forty two may therefore be set down as hoo
fighting ships at all They have certain USES pu' 10
nonsense to talk of them as fighting iorcc'
There remain fourteen cruisers, eight harbor defence
vessels, and three sea-going armorclads' winch as'
may be classed small battc-shipS. vi lhese' .io
cruisers efficient and indispensable as they are lor
their legitimate purpose in war, cannot properly %
regarded as the foundation of real naval FORCE Ihcs
arc commercetakers and commerce projectors ahu lucy
are the fast scouts for armored force; but they
are nothing more. The harbor defence vessels nearly
all of which are monitors, are absolutely lhcapaoie Vi
fighting at sea- They are really floating batteries
without the speed or coal endurance required III any
except local operations, and their guns are piaceu ~
low that IL would be virtually Impossible 10 use lcn
In a seaway. Their place must be IN harporS WHICH
thpva
waters and where their light draught VIII be OF
ADVANTAGE In the French debates OF 1870, Dupuy De
Lone one of the foremost naval architects OF .lc '
said: The American IS essentially local Navy wa"
stcted TO meet the exgencles of the war OF secesso
The monitors are not batte-ships for ocean ser'ce'
Now what is this battle-ship, the construction Oh
which is proposed at the present time IL Is Simply
q vessel having the combination of armor, armament
eneed and coal endurance in a sufficient degree to
enable her to to be used at sea- she must also DC
sufficiently high Of water 10 give her guns 1arlJ
commanding position. This combination cannot 10
effected in pure monitor, with low freeboard nor
can il be attained in any vessel of 5000 or 4ooo
TONS IT is a mechanical impossibilty. ii the size
is reduced, the armor must be cut dowr' OF the ara
ment or the machinery or the coal-in other words
the defensive force the offensive force the speed or
the endurance. In fact, in 4,OOoton vessel IL
would be necessary TO reducc nearly all OF lhem'
Even the Maine and the Texas of about $500 TONS
involved some sacrifice in one or more OF these points
vet these two, with the projected 7,5ooton vessel
are all that we have TO which the name of batte-shp
can be applied.
pnt WHY IL will be asked, does the United Stass
need a Navy that will fight at sea Why Is not inc
local Navy suficent7 Simply because IL VIII ahord
no protection worth speaking OF to seacoast' Or
rather to two separate seacoasts, aggregang 13ooo
miIes in extent II we ever have an attack at all
and IL may be repeated. IL we are not In danger OF
attack We do not want any Navy whatever-it VIII
he an attack of battleships. II will be raid. or
series Of raids, accompanied perhaps, by blockades
upon our seaports If the aggrcssor has supply sta
ton not far Off he will that as base; II he
has NOT he will capture and hold at some out
living point To meet him with any hope of success
VIC must meet him at sea, and we must be able TO
destroy his base.
In any case we must drive away his blockading
batleshlps. None of these essential acts OF deesce
could be performed by feet Of monitors. battle
all AZ leisure,
have the amor and essential for harbor de-
Tenders, they cannot at the same time have the
speed TO escape from, or to overtake
an enemy, the coal necessary to
make cruise. Before they had gone far their fuel
would be exhausted They would be useful certainly.
in the defence of given point; but to rely on
purely local Naval defence with so many points open
to attack would require multiplication Of vessels
and, hence, an extravagant outlay.
A far more effective result could he accomplished
by a smaller feet Of batteships, the mobility of which
would enable them to act at any point. The minority
report upon the Hale bll states that the time has rot
arrived for the United States to build "unwiedy broad
side armorcd vessels, which, with European Nations.
are experiments Of at least doubtful value. and II
advocates the building Of harbor defenders, small
cruisers OF 5000 tons or less and gunboats, as a
proper step at the present time In the progress OF
o-.ruction As the present authorized force, IN
Guiding survvals from the old feet includes eight
harbor defenders, fourteen cruisers, OF which one
half are 5000 tons less: seventeen gunboats. and
only three small battleshps it would seem desirable
II anything like proportion is to be attained. 10
increase the battleshps the force
In which we are deficient. Batteships are the Only
vessels that really offer any certain protection for a
long line Of coast; and feet of even hfty
vessels. including monitors, small cruisers and gun
boats would not be regarded by possible aseressors
with half as much respect the eight tattleshp'
now proposed. Every who has given attention
10 the recent development of naval construct on In
Europe knows this.
The main point of Senator Chambers objecto
los in the supposed experimental character Of battle
ships.
About the type Of these vessels one word may be
said They are not broadsde haleshlps.7 and they