The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-12-21
Mr.. Tracy and the Navy.

The management of our naval affairs
marks conspicuous success of the outgoing
administration 1t is perhaps in the build
ing up Of the new fleet that the vigor and
good Judgment OF Mr., Tracy have been most
manifest.
The tribute in his current annual report
to MI Chandler, under whom our steel fleet
was begun, and to Mr.. Whitney, under
whom it was brilliantly pushed forward,
mnst provoke an equally generous recog-
milton OF the progress which he in turn has
effected. And IT, as is no doubt true, the
advance which Mr.. Whitney made in the
speed, protection, and battery power of our
ships over Mr.. Chandler, and which Mr.
Tracy has made over Mr.. whitney, will
soon be followed by the gains of Mr. Tracy's
successor over him, yet the vessels and guns
produced or planned during the last four
years will remain a monument to MI
Tracy's executive skill.
In ships three great advances have been
made, practically resulting in the develop
ment of three new and uneuualed types
The battle ships Indiana, Massach usetts,
and Oregon. with their displacement of
TO- 200 tons, their eighteen inches of armor
and their four thirteeu-inch, eight-inch, and
four six-inch guns, throwing an aggregate
OF over three tons Of projectiles at single
discharge, show an enormous gain over
their predecessor, the Texas, of 6 300 tons,
twelve-inch armor, and two twelve-inch
armor, and two twelve-inch and six six-inch
guns. And yet already an advance is to be
made on them in all-around efficiency by
the new Iowa, of II 296 tons
Equally marked is the progress made in
| armored cruisers as typitied by the New
York of s, $50 tons, with her twenty knots
of speed and remarkable coal endurance,
which will enable her to keep the sea for
$1,000 miles without fresh supply OF fuel.
And this fine vessel, which Mr.. Tracy once
declared to be " the best all-round vessel
of any type" is now to be outdone by the
new Brooklyn of $3.50 tons, having still
greater coal endurance and greater battery
| power among her features. Finally, in
| protected cruisers, the two triple-screw
racers Columbia and Minneapolis, with
| their astonishing maximum of twenty-five
knots and sustained sea speed of twenty
one, together with an unprecedented radius
OF action, show the great progress even over
such cruisers as the San Francisco the
| Philadelphia and the Baltimore
In ship armor Secretary Tracy's admin
| istration has achieved a worldwide renown.
| The Annapolis trial of 1890, as his report
| puts IL, may be said to have stripped off in
| five shots half the protection of the armored
fleet of Great Britain and of most of the
| fleets of the world" The triumphs of nickel
steel were quickly followed by the Harvey
process OF surface hardening, with the re-
| suit of giving to our ships better armor
than is yet known TO any other navy. The
development of a new smokeless powder
anu vi d saie hiSh eAploslNe LOT the smells
in high-power guns, the manufacture OF
armor- piercing projectiles equal or superior
| to any others OF any nation, the heavy rapid
fire guns of four, five and six inch calibres
the improved breech mechanism for large
guns, which has nearly quadrupled the ra
pidity of fire, the new gun mounts which
permit the substitution OF hand hydraulic
power the supply of torpedOes, which had
been wholly lacking, and the use of nickel
steel in the manufacture of guns, are among
the achievements OF the four years whict
the secretary Of the navy has under review
Taken altogether, the record thus pre-
sented il most honorable To him, AZ it hal
been valuable to the country. Mr.. Tracy
prides himself that his administration hal