The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-07-13

OPINION OF AN ENGLISH
DAIR4L.
The United states Needs More Battle
shIps-our safe Position

LONDON, June % -Vice-Admiral 2.
n. COlomb Of the British navy who
Is regarded "a one OF the leading naval
authorities in the world on matters OF
naval strategy and tactics, was inter
viewed today. He gave q rapid yet
comprehensive summing up Of his
opinions concerning the relative value
OF battle ships like the Victoria and
CamperdOwn, compared with swift
cruisers of high maneuvering ca
pacity.
"In the first place." said the adj
miral, 81 cannot make direct COM
parison Of the value Of the two classes
Of war ships for fighting purposes, be-
cause they are intended for entirely
different work Cruisers cannot do
battle ships duty, nor battle ships
perform the service Of a cruiser. The
battle ship is expected to fight Often
siveIy and defensiveIy anything that
meets her. y cruiser Is a scout for
fleet or a convoy for merchantmen
destroyer OF commerce or fighter Of
its own class. \ cruiser cannot fight
battle ships, hut battle ships cannot
catch a cruiser. Ab-tractly, their re-
spectiye values cannot be compared"
fsBut,U 7 asked, sis it not likely for
a battle ship to become less and less
desirable as a cruisers speed, coal
carrying apacity and rapidIty IN turn
ing are increased2'
mot at all. As long as power
with which we may some day go to
war has battle ships we mus have
them. We cannot give up command
Of the sea Our national life depends
upon &c. We must be able not only 10
meet the euemy's fleet with equal or
greater force, but TO make him stay
away from our shores by attacking
him on his own waters. satisfactory
defense demands the power of aggres-
sion. We must be able TO follow the
enemy wherever he goes. We must
have enough battle ships to go to the
eneny's coast and attack him at
home. He will then run risk Of not
only losing the fleet sent against Us
but Of suffering damage in his own
ports. An enemy that knows Us capa-
BILE OF repulsing aud attacking at the
same time will never dare send fleet
against u.s."
"But as gunnery improves do you
not think armOr will become prac-
ticalIy useless, as in the case OF the
foot soldier on shore 2n
sfThe comparison" replied Admiral
Colomb, "is not fair one. AS long
as the foot soldiers armor gave pro-
lection he wore it. A ship has good
protection against gun, and armor
is constantly improving in quality
Your own countryman, Harvey has
recently made an improvement in the
construction Of armor, greatly lncreas-
ing protection"
Do you think the situation of the
United states puts different face on
the policy we should adopt in building
a navy?"
$40 a certain extent" replied the
admiral, after moments reflection.
'sYOu see, there il only one power
that could attack you advantageously,
and that is Great Britain, and, of
course, Great Britain and the United
States are not going to war The only
other nation with very large navy
is France. 1t would be very difficult
for her to send fleet across the ocean
to operate at distance Of 1000 miles
from her supplies. She might seize
barbor like GARDENERS pay, Long
Island, for instance, as a coalIn9 and
supply station, bat she would need
powerful convoy for cOaling her
steamers across the Atlantic to pro-
tect them against United States war
ships The expense, as well as the
danger, would be enormous. besides
the fleet would be harrassed by tor
pedO-boats and rams whenever 1t APP
preached the coast, and that risk
would be too great. Besides, what
could she do? She could not blockade
the whole coast, and would hardly try
to force an entrance into your great
harbors in the face of mines and tor
pedoes."
what kind of ships do you think
the United States should build ?"
ssBattle ships, armored cruisers and
torpedo boats" said Admiral Colomb
emphaticaIIy. "If you have war
with any South American States,
some of whom are accommodating
rather efficient war ships you would
have to be strong enough to take the
aggressive on the shores of your
enemy. Now il Chile, for instance,
has two or three battle ships it would
be useless to send cruisers TO the Chi
lean coast. They would not attack
Chile's sea ports nor even blockade
them, for the Chilean battle ships
would raise the blockade whenever
they wished to do so. Therefore you
must have greater force of battle
ships than Chile.
''If had control of your navy de-
partment, should look at the nations
with whom the United States might
go TO war. Then / should provide
enough battle ships of any one of
these possible enemies, and cOntinu-
ally keep up this superiority. / would
also built fast cruisers, many of which
should go armOred. L think very
highly OF vessels of such types as the
New York, which are fast, have large
coal carrying capacity, mount guns of
high power, and carry enough armor
to protect them against any antag-
Onist. not provided with equal or
better battery. Besides these you
need fast torpedo boats of all sizes, as
Il warning to European powers that
you have means of coast defense, in
addition to your land Notifications
which, OF course, would be sufficiently
strong to keep up a heavy fire over
channels where mines and torpedos
unutI lac sifnota1