Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-02-02
ouR WOODEN WAR SHIP.
They prop Out Faster Than Steel shipA
 Are Built to Replace Them.

Are Built to Replace Them.
 The days of our wooden navy are al- most numbered. Outside of the receiv- ing ships and the apprentice squadron, which are composed of old-time sailing craft or of steamers retired as unser- viceable for general cruising, only sev- enteen 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 Talla- poosa, is to be sold this winter at pub lie 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 finished, her sea career will be nearly over. The gallant old Hartford is no longer in active service. These deductions leave us only eleven wooden vessels to rely upon.
 Eight years ago, when our new steel fleet was begun, there were no fewer than thirty-seven serviceable wooden vessels. Even year ago there were eighteen. 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 year of life; the Iroquois, Kearsarge and Thetis, two years; the Adams, Alliance, Essex, Marion and Mo hican, three years. The stout old Lan- caster, now thirty-four years of age, having been well overhauled and supplied with new boilers, ought to last half a dozen years more, and so pass into honorable retirement with forty years of service. The Yantic may con- test with her the honor of being the last of the wooden vessels in the service.
 But some of these vessels may pro- long their careers in the apprentice squadron or at moorings. Much older than any thus far mentioned are the Portsmouth and Jamestown, twelve gun training ships with sail propulsion only, the former of which was built in 1s43 and the latter in 1s45. Be- tween these 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 Philadelphia 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 the elder navy, there are two that de- serve to go far down the twentieth century, preserved as exhibition ships for the benefit of posterity. These are the Hartford, Farragut's flagship; and the Kearsarge, with which Winslow sent the Alabama to the bottom of the sea. They should be kept for genera tions yet unborn to gaze upon, as En- gland keeps Nelson's flagship Victory.
 If there were thirty-seven serviceable wooden ships when our new fleet was begun, it is clear that in numbers we have since then only been partly SUD- plying the places of the vessels that have dropped out. Of course, the gain in efficiency has been immeasura ble; but in numbers the reverse is true, be- cause we have now complete for service only fourteen new vessels, counting in the torpedo boat Cushing so that we are behind the list of 1882 and 1883 The ships added are, naturally, far bet ter, 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 even made up for the dropping out of the wooden vessels And, what is more, at the reckoning of | Chief Constructor 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, therefore, for congress that the work of building up the new navy must not be relaxed.-N. Y. Sun.