Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1892-06-18

They Drop Ou' Faster Than Steel ships
Arc Built to Rrplnce Th.ra.

Arc bNiit 10 NtpInce Thrn.
The days of our wooden navy are al
most numbered. Outside of the rrcriv-
ing ships and the apprentice squadron,
which are composed of oldtime sailing
craft or of steamers retired as unservice-
able for general cruising, only II wooden
vessels above the rank Of tugs survive.
Three of these, the Omaha, the Nipsic,
and the Swatara, will probably never
again go into active service, and fourth
the Tallapoosa, is to be sold this winter
at public auction on the South Atlantic
station. Still another, the Enterprise, is
used for the cadets at Annapolis while
the new steel practice vessel is building
at Elizabethport, and when this is fin
ished her sea career will be nearly over.
The gallant old Hartford is no longer in
active service. These deductions leave
us only II wooden vessels to rely upon.
Eight years ago, when our new steel
fleet was begun, there were no fewer than
81 servicable wooden vessels. Even a year
ago there were 1S. These veterans are
going fast, and Chief Instructor Wilson
says that by the end of 1894 only two of
them will be left He gives the Pensacola
a year of life; the 1roquois, Kearsarge,
and Thetis, two years; the Adams, ALI
ance, Essex, Marion. and Mohican, three
years. The stout old Lancaster now "a
years of age, having been we'll over
hauled and supplied with new boilers,
ought to last half a dozen years more,
and SO pass into honorable retirement
with 40 years of service. The Yantic
may contest with her the honor of being
the last of the wooden vessels in active
service.
But some of these vessels may prolong
their careers in the apprentice squadron
or at noorings. Much older than any
thus far mentioned are the Portsmouth
and jamestown, 10 gun training ships
with sail propulsion only. the former of
which was built in 1S43 and the latter in
1S45. Between them come the ST. Mary's,
the New York Public Marine School
ship; while the veteran of our fleet, the
Saratoga, will have her semi-centenary
next year. Passing her green old age, as
she does, in the placid waters of Phila-
delphia as the Public Marine School ship
of that port, her obituary may not be
written for many years to come.
OF all the wooden vessels, relics of tho
elder navy, there are two that best de-
serve to go far down the Goth century,
preserved as exhibition ships for the ben.
eft of posterity. These are the Hart.
ford, Farragut's flagship and the Kear-
sarge, with which Winslow sent the
Alabama to the bottom Of the sea- They
should be kept for generations yet unborn
to gaze upon, as England keeps Nelson's
flagship, Victory.
If there We're 81 serviceable wooden
ships when our new fleet was begun, it is
clear that in numbers we have since then
only been partly supplying the places of
the vessels that have dropped out. or
course, the gain i'll efficiency has been
immeasurabe; but in numbers the re.
verse is true, because we have now COM
plete for service only IA new vessels,
counting in the torpedo boat Cushing, SO
that we are behind the list of 1882 and
1888. The ships added are, naturally, far
better, with the modern improvements
in construction; but some of our older
vessels were as good for their day as our
best ships are for present times.
We have, therefore, not yet got up to
the point of increasing the navy, in ac-
cordance with the growing power, re.
sources, and needs of the country. We
have not yet made up for the dropping
out of the wooden vessels. And, what
is more, at the reckoning of Chief Con.
structor Wilson upon the longevity of
our fast diminishing stock of wooden
vessels, it will be long time before, in
point of numbers, we shall have reached
the standard of years ago.
Numbers as well as power must be had
for station work in all parts of the world.
The wooden ships carry the lesson, there.
fore, for Congress, that the work of build
ing up The new navy must not be relaxed.
New York Sun.