Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-05-26
Points of Similarity in Ancient and
Modern Navies. and Their
Difference.
The Ram of To-day Used for Same
Purpose as That of 0lden
Times
EvOlutiOus and Revolutions i'm the
Art OF Naval Warfare Have
Taken Place.

Between the modern battle ship and
the ancient war galley there are resembl-
ances SO curious as to tempt one into the
dangerous generalization that naval archi-
lecture, like history, repeats itself. Those
who knew the existing type to be an
evolutionary result and not an inheritance
recognize that In form, at lie sst, it appears
to be survival or return to the begin
ing, OF naval war construction. Queerly
enough, the identities are not altogether
pictorial because, notwithstanding the
enormous differences In design, material
motive power, armament and equip
ment, they extend to the theories OF
attack and defense. OF course. no evil
dences of descent can really be detected
| for battle-ships, even in the same decade,
| dlverged So widely as to have produced
such variant examples as the 12G.gun
three deck ship, and that low free boarded
monitor which made valueless for ever all
| trippletired, wood-horne ordnance. In
| section. waT-galieYs were shaped like the
| letter V expanded at the too, and were
| built with kee!s, ribs, beams and stern
posts. They had one Or more masts, and
| spread square sails upon yards. Al or
near the water-line the sharp brows
curved into rams; and within, deck, beast
works and towers; and in barbettsG
structures aloft military engines which
threw projectiles to a considerable dis
| 1ance were mounted. Burchett, in his
Most remarkable Transactions at Sea, ~
describes a galley which carried eight
wooden towers four amidships, two for
ward and two aft. From these protected
breastworks filed with loop holes, whence
an enemy might be annoyed. On the upper
deck was raised d machine which
would fling to the distance of 120 PAGES
stones weighing 300 pounds and darts IS
feet in length. E lch of the three masts
was furnished with engines for throwing
stones and large iron hooks; around the
bulwarks an iron palisade prevented
boarding and from the masts and spars
hung graphing irons. The roundtops
were brass, and in them constant watch
was kept by soldiers, to whom stones could
be conveyed in baskets fitted with tackles.
This ship was fully equipped, and was &C
| companled by smaller galieys and supply
vessels. Tie English battle. ship Trafal
gar, type of the modern battle-ship, was
completed In 1889. Her mild steel hull is
built on the Longitudinal system, and TIE
cast steel stem is fortified with ram COM
posed OF 5-lnch steel plates The mill
tary mast carries two tops as vantage
positions for rifemen and machine guns.
The armor protection is distributed in
| three layers; ~ a water.line belt, ~ a
citadel at the middle Of this belt ipclos-
ing the bases of the currents, and 81 an
octagonal upper structure ITO feet in
| length, containing the broadside battery.
From within three armored coming tow
ers on deck the ship is steered and fought; ;
four 13.5-inch breechoad ng rifles are
pair mounted In two turrets, disposed at
either end OF the lower citadel; and eight
5'inch breech-loading guns are carried in
| the upper structure. The secondary bat
terry includes eight 6pounder and eleven
3pounder rapid firing guns, and eight
torpedo tubes. In every modern battle.
ship tie latest theories prescribe as neces-
stiles dependent group of tenders, such
as cruisers, gunboats, torpedo catchers.
torpedo boats and coal supply vessels.
Twenty centuries separate modern bat
tle-ships and the galleys Of Diodorus Sic
illus, and yet between the new and the
old many analogies exist The ancient
method of warfare consisted, in great part,
in the driving of beaked vessels against
each other; and therefore skill and clerity
to its greatest advantage, were of the ut
most Importance. The victory thus usual
ly remained with the best sailor This
mode of conflict has been attempted to be
revived at the present time, and vessels
called 'steam-rams' are specially con-
structed for this species of conflict The
earliest powers having Efficient fleets ap-
pear to have been tke Phenicians, Egypt
ians, Persians, Carthapenians and
Greeks; the Greeks had fleets as
early as the beginning Of the Seventh
Century B. C.-the first seal fight on
record being that between the Cor
inthians apd their colonists of Corcyra,
in the year 664 B. G. The earliest great
battle in which tactics appear to have dis
tinctly been opposed to superior force. and
with success, was that of Salamis (480 B.
c. where Themistocles, taking advantage
of the narrows, forced the Persian feet of
Aerxes to combat in such a manner that
their line Of battle but little exceeded in
length the line of the much inferior Athe-
MAN feet. The Peloponuesian war, where
Greek met Greek" tended much to de-
velop the art Of naval warfare. But the
destruction of the Athenian marine power
In the Syracusian expedition of Ala B.
q. left Carthage mistress of the Mediter-
ranean. The Roman power, however,
gradually asserted Itself, and after two
centuries became omnipotent by the de
struction ct Carthage. The break. up
Of the empire, however, was al era
Of piracy, when every nation which had
more to win than lose by freebooting sent
cut its cruisers. Foremost Tor daring |
and seamenship were the Ncrsmen, Who |
penetrated in every direction from the |
Bosporus 10 Newfoundland. Combination |
being the only security against these |
marauders, medieval navies gradually |
sprang up; the most conspicuous being in |
the Mediterranean, those of Venice, Genoa |
Pisa, Arragon; on the Atlantic seaboard |
England and France. In the Mediter- |
ranean Venice, after long struggle with |
the Genoese, and subsequently with the |
Turks, became the great naval power. The |
ArIagonese feet gradually developed into |
the Spanish navy, which, by the epoch of |
Columbus had rival in that of Portugal. |
Dating the modern navies Of the world |
from the sixteenth century We find the |
British national and merchant marine ris. |
ing from ingignlfcance by the destruction |
Of the Spanish Armada in 1888. At this
time there was no decisive superiority of |
the feet of England over that of France,
but was inferior to the Du: ca navy. The |
Commonwealth dnd reign OF Charles II |
were signalizad by the struggle for mas
terry between the English and the Dutch,
became possessed alike of : he g --latest
merchant marine ana the most formidable |
navy for defense Through the Eighteenth
century the English and French were the
principal fleets; but Louis XVI gave de-
cided superiority to the navy of France;
and at the period of the Revolutionary