The Portland daily press., 1892-01-23
Special Correspondence.l

buClC al q vi Wdk w I'LL Slllll, j
would like to have you step into the
navy department with me and take a
look at the models of the new ships.
OF these there are seven or eight, stand ,
ing in their glass cases always sur
rounded by visitors. Each is a master
piece of workmanship. every onea thing
of beauty. No wonder we hear from all
sides such ordinations as wonderful, :"
grand" majestic" Each model is an
exact duplicate in miniature of the ship
which it represents. The smallest de-
tail is reproduced. and everything is in
precise proportion.
The people who come to look at these
beautiful models gain from them bet
ter idea of what modern naval vessel
is than they could by a visit to IA man-of-
war itself. Here the entire craft is I'M
der inspection at one glance of the eye;
here all details and proportions are
brought into easy comparison. And it
is a satisfaction to note with what pride
the visitors behold those miniature dupli-
Gates of our new naval vessels. with
what enthusiasm they speak of the new
found ability of Uncle Sam to protect
his subjects and his honor in the utter
most quarters of the earth. These mod
els kindle the enthusiasm and the patri-
otism of a people who don't want TO
fight, but by lingo, etc.. in remarkable
manner | was looking at the models
the other day when Secretary Tracy
came up with young Woman. She
had not seen the models. When her
eyes beheld them she lifted up her gloved
hands and exclaimed, with just a trace
of bitterness in her tone:
''Oh, | wish were man-how |
would like to be mani"
WHY" asked Secretary Tracy.
$50 might be a sailor on one of those
beautiful, those majestic ships. was the
reply. Il would rather be sailor on
the New York than-than" -
Secretary of the navy, you were go
ing to say" interrupted General Tracy
with a smile.
Eyes, or president of the United States
either added the enthusiastic young
woman.
"This only goes to show the value of
those models as object lessons" COM
mented Secretary Tracy. Il have been
advised to send the models to all the
large cities of the country for exhibit
ton. Senators and congressman tell me
if | would do so public sentiment
could be created which would demand
the expenditure Of a hundred millions
of dollars year for the new navy. But
have no authority to send the models
out for such purpose; they will, how
ever, all be exhibited at the Worlds
fair"
Visitors to this hall of models see the
very ships on which we depend for the
humbling of the arrogant Chilians. They
learn at glance that the old navy is
thing of the past. The day of wooden
walls and slnoothbore guns, fired by
loose powder and using spherical projec-
tiles, is gone forever. The old time
sailor has disappeared, too, and the ro-
nance of navigation, of jack tars strung
along the yardarms in peaceful review,
or cutting away the rigging in storm or
battle, belongs to the past. The man-of-
war of the present is big steel and iron
machine, and the men on board are ma
chinists rather than sailors. With dou-
BILE sets of great engines, twin screws,
steam pumps, elevators and hoists, power
tackle, electric lights and signals, steam
and hydraulic .hoists for shot. and by
draulic apparatus for turning turrets and
shifting guns, the modern man-of-war
is simply series Of machines.
The ship itself is a floating machine,
the high power gun is machine, the
crew is organized and disciplined into a
machine which moves like clockwork,
without much sentiment or display of
bravery until some part of the physical
machine gives way; then the man comes
to the front. In this multiplication and
elaboration of machinery we see what a
perfect and costly piece of mechanism,
what triumph of human skill and in
genuity the modern fighting ship has
become. 1t is said there are in COM
plete new ship, like the New York or
Philadelphia. thirty distinct machines.
No one fact could better illustrate the
idea that war at sea is now mechanical
rather than heroic. 1t is even thought by
some critics that the development of the
mechanism of fighting has gone too far;
that the offensive machines are too COM
plicated and too liable to arrangement
in whole or in part, which will render
them useless.
AS looked at the models was struck
with the fact that shipbuilding ingenui-
ty has not yet devised protection for the
ships boats. Everything else is pro-
tected. The coal bunkers, containing
when full 500 to $50 tons, are ranged
alongside the boilers and engines, so
that shot to reach vital part of the
ship must pass through thick walls of
coal besides the eight to twelve inches OF
steel plates. The decks are all curved
and of steel from two to five inches
thick-thickest where the most protec-
ton is needed. Along the hull on either
side runs broad belt of steel, from ten
to fifteen inches thick, adding addi-
tional protection to the boilers and en-
gines.
These protected cruisers-for, mind,