The Indianapolis journal., 1893-07-01

Advice from q British Rear Admtral-Bat-
tie Ships Versus Fast Cruisers.
NEW YORK. June 3O.-The Herald's Lon
don correspondent says: Vice Admiral
p. H. Colombo, of the British navy, re-
garded as one of the authorities of the
world on naval matters. to-day gave q
rapid yet comprehensive summing up of
his opinions concerning the relative value
of battle ships like the Victoria and Camp.
ordown compared with swift cruisers of
high maneuvering capacity. I'm the first
place." said the Admiral, al cannot make q
dIroct comparison Of the value OF these two
Glasses for fighting purposes. because they
are intended for entirely different work. A
cruiser cannot do battle ships duty nor q
battle ship perform the service of O
cruiser. The battle ship Is expected to
night Extensively and defensively any tn ing
that meets her. The cruiser is q convoy for
merchantmen. q destroyer of comm cree or
a tighter of it's own class. A cruiser can
not tight battle ship, but battle ship
cannot catch q cruiser. Abstractly, their
respective values cannot be compared"
But" the correspondent asked. lis it
and less desirable as the cruisers speed,
coal carry ing capacity and rapldity in turn
ing are increasedW
mot at all. AS long as power with
which We may some time 60 to war has
battle ship we must have them. We cam
not give up the command of the sea. Our
national life depends upon 10. We must
be able to follow the enemy wherever he
goes. to engage him ct least on equal terms
while following him. For every battle
ship and every cruiser the enemy can af-
ford to send on such expeditions we must
have q slightly stronger battle ship snd
crnlser ready to follow. forcing the fght
at the frat opportunity. This is our duty
md -.
.Do.you think the situation of the United
States puts different face on the policy
we should adopt In building navyp
ITO certain extent" replied the Ad-
miral. after q moments reflection. You
see, there Is only one power that could at
tack you adysntageously. 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 10
France. Ii would be very difficult for hex
to send fleet across the ocean to operate
at distance Of three thousand miles from
her supplies. She might seize harbor
like GARDENERS bay. Long island, for
instance. as coal and supply station, but
cosllng her steamers across the Atlantic to
protect them against the United State war
ships. The expense. as we'll as the danger
would be enormous. Besides the fleet
would always be harassed by torpedo boats
and rams whenever it approached the
coast and that risk would be too great.
Besides, what could she dot She could not
blockade the whble coast and would
hardly try to force an entrance into your
great harbors in face of mines and torpedo
protection"
What kind of ships do you think the
United States should bulld9"
Battle ships. armored cruisers and tor
pedO boats" said Admiral Colombo en-
phatioally. "If you have war with any
South American state, some of them ar 9
acoumulat rather efficient war ships,
and you would have to be strong enough to
take the aggressive on the shores of yonr
enemy. Now, If Chill, for instance, had
two or three battle ships it would be USE
less to send cruisers to the Chillan coast.
Thev could not attack Chili's se8ports not
even blocade them, for the Chiltan battle
ships would raise the blockade whenever
they wished TO do so. Therefore, you must
have a greater force of battle ships tn a n
Chilli. If / had control of your
Navy Departments | should look at
States might go to war Then
should provide enough battle ships to be
superior to the battle ships OF any one of
these possible enemies. and continually
keep this superiority. | would also build
fast cruisers. many of which should be
armored. think very highly OF vessels of
such ty pes as the New York, which are fas {.
have a large coal-carrying cspacitv. mount
guns of high power. carry enough armor TO
protect them against any antagonist not
provided with an equal or q better battery.
Besides these you need fast torpedo boats
of all sizes as q warning to European pow
ers that you have the means of coast de-
fense in addition to your land Notifications.
which. of course would be sufficiently nu-
merous and strong TO keep up "A heavy fire
over the channels where torpedoes will be
situated