The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1892-03-31
QUA woopen MAR sHlPs.


Dun WOODEN Wan SHIPS.
my Drop ost Faster Th.n ssesl ships
Are BuiIf 70 ssspiace Them
The daysof our wooden navy are al
most numbered. Outside Of the receive
ing ships and the apprentice squadron.
which are composed Of old-time sailing
craft or Of steamers retired - unser-
yiceable Cor 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 Enterprises
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 ia active service. These
deductions leave us only eleven wooden
vessels to rely upon
Eight years ago, when our new steel
feet was begun, there were no fewer
than thirty-seven serviceablee wooden
vessels. Even year ago there were
eighteen. These veterans are g, ing fast,
and Chief Instructor Wilson says tnat
BY the end of 1894 only two Of them
will be left. He gives the Pensacola q
year of life; the Iroquois, Kearsarge
and Thetis, two years; the Adams,
Alliance, Essex. Marion and Mo
hican. three years. The stout o d Lam
caster, now thirtv-four years of
age, having been well overhaulei and
pplied with new boilers, ought to last
half dozen years more. AMI so pass
into honorable retirement with forty
years of service The va tic may con-
lest with her the honor of being the
last of the wooden vessels in the
service.
But some Of these vessels may pro-
long their cEreers in the apprentice
squadron or at mornings Much older
than any thus far mentioned are the
Portsmouth and jamestown, twelve
gan training ships with sail propulsion
only the former of which was
b lilt in 1S4s and the latter in 1S45. Be-
tween these come the st. Mary's, the
New York public marine school ship;
viii e the veteran of our fleet, the
Saratoga, will have her semi entenary
next year. Passing her green old age,
as she does, in the acid waters OF
Philade phia as the public marine
schnol lip II that p TT. her oblt airy
may not be written for many years to
come.
OF all the wooden vessels relics OF
the der navy. there are two that de-
serve 10 go far down the twentieth
century, preserved as exhibition ships
for the benefit Of posterity. These. are
,, the Hart ord, Farragut's flagship; and
the Kearsarge, with which Winslow
sent the Alabama to the bottom of the
sea Theys should be kept for genera
tions yet unborn to gaze upon. as En-
gland keeps Nelson's flagship Victory.
If there were thirty-seven servieeable
wooden ships when our new feet was
begun, it is clear that In number we
have since then only been partly sup
p wing the places OF the vessels that
have droppei out. OF course, the gain
in efficiency has been inme nsura BILE;
but in NUN bers the reverse is true, be-
cause we have now complete for service
MY 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 vet 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 vet 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 b 1ilding mp the new navy must
not be rel axed.-N. Y.Sun.