The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-06-15
GROWTHOFTHENAvY
FROM WOODEN CHIPS TO sTEEl
cRuisERs IN TEN YEARS.

FROM WOODEN CHIPS TO 6TEEI
Il cRuisERe IN TEN YEARS.
How the coarss Of the United States GOV
eminent within the Last Few Years IA
Resulted In oettins Ready Sea Flee
Adequate For Defense.
Ten years ago the United States did NO
possess q single modern ship or modern
arm Its navy and army were suppliet
with obsolete weapons and obsolete ships
Nota single factory in the United State,
was capable OF turning out the metal neces
sary for armor or projectiles. The govern
ment was not possessed Of any facility fol
the manufacture Of ordnance. Modern in
ventions Of projectiles and explosives wer,
matters Of theoretical knowledge to the
officers Of the two services, but they had
had no practical experience In their use
and most OF them had never seen modern
piece OF artillery nor witnessed the effect Of
. modern shot from high power gun.
Yet the navy of the United States gave
an impulse to the construction Of modern
war vessels which Is still manifested In
every first class battleship In the world
The idea Of the turret, that first occurred t.
Erfcsson and was first adopted In the Mont
tor, was the cause of the revolution which
has occurred In naval architecture in til,
last IS years. The monitor is the basis O
the great battleships that make formidabl
the navies of Europe, and that are expectet
to be added to our own service when tb,
vessels now In process Of construction ar
completed.
Having developed the ironclad up to Oh.
monitor type, however, and the war hav
In and dad . 1..I V-.tl al
laurels, and naval construction ceased
The monitors were unfit for sea service
30 that our dependence WAS entirely O,
wooden cruisers-the old Wabash, Frank
LIN, Hartford and other vessels of tina
kind These served for our flagships an,
fleets when Farragut went around th
world and until Admiral Walker took tn
White Squadron to Europe to demonstrat
that we had very seriously entered upo
the reconstruction of the navy.
While the American navy was resting
while construction on this side Of the waite
had ceased, the English, French and Italia.
naval architects were busy developin,
plans which have finally resulted in tn,
modern battleship. For many years thci
experiments resulted In comparative fai!
urea Iron ships, heavily armored, wer
built and were found to be unseaworthy
batteries were arranged in citadels and Il
broadsfde only to demonstrate their ineffect
iveness- Turrets were tried in echelon an,
with directed fore and aft fire, and wer
discarded. Iron finally gave way to con
position and this to steel.
All this time the war between the tarre
and the projectile was kept up. Som,
times it was the projectile that was sup,
rior 10 the target, and sometimes the tarn,
was superior to the projectile.
During the latter part of this period,
the Arthur administration, the Unite
States navy adopted q new system for til
instruction of it's officers. Captain job,
Walker, who was at the head of the h, |
reau of navigation, prevailed upon the SEE |
rotary to depend for scientific work upo |
officers OF the line. 1t was he who insiste, !,
Tor the first time that the scientific train |
Ing OF these officers at Annapolis shout |
not be thrown away the moment they en- |
iered upon their active duties. He pr, |
Vaiied upon the secretary to accept the lit |
sral offers made by foreign government |
md foreign shipbuilders and detaile |
Young officers who had shown talent &
hat direction to study under foreign con
tractors In order to acquire the experienc,
which hnd resulted from the experiment
made abroad
The navy today, by reason of this sy,
EN-, possesses corps of highly instrncte,
Inc officers, who are capable OF MAXIM !
plans for ship, of constructing it from |
keel TO quarter deck, of determining thu
'est combination Of metals for its armor
II building its guns, OF making its explo
ives and OF every other effort necessary t.
he completion of a first rate modern bat
leship.
Some OF the very best guns, the bes.
mounts for guns, electrical contrivances 70,
lighting ships and directing them in br I'll,
or nnd1ng ranges, are the Inventions O
'iiicers OF the United States navy, who's,
work is taken by the government without
compensation as part of the services that 4
re due in return for the education ant
raining that have been bestowed and com (
missions that have been earned.
During the last 10 years the United STATE,
'ayy has acquired a few cruisers which are |.
low In commission, none of which, how
yer, can be called first rate. On the way,
re several excellent ships which will be o
'reat service, very fast, with large Goa
ndurance and with exceptionally effectiy,
arteries. Two second class battleships
he Maine and the Texas, and three thor
ughly good battleships, the Massachu
etts, Indiana and Oregon, are the begin
ing OF navy. Even the most conserya |
I've citizen who believes that the Ulit,t |
tates ought never to be an aggressor an,
ught to arm herself only for defense will :
oncede that double and treble the numbe, I
I ships will be necessary for the defense of !
ur extended sea coast. l.,
But naval architecture has been reyolu.
Ionized, the speed of ships has advanced I(
rom 10 to 20 knots, while that of torpedo :
oats is very much higher The system
dopted little more than 10 years ago of |
spending upon the intelligence and train. i;
~ OF ourown naval officers has deyeloped .
thoroughly educated, scientific body OF r
len, capable of constructing as good bat II
eships and of fighting them as effectively IS
3 any body OF constructors In the world ~
o effective are modern weapons of destruc e
on that the chances of war have been ma
erially lessened. Ten years ago no one +
reamed of such ship as the New York OF II
olumbia or the Massachusetts or Indiana Il
: Oregon, and no one had any conception /,
the kind Of armor that has resulted from q
he discovery of the Harvey process. Ten ID
ears ago a 6-inch gun might have pene Ii
'ated any armor of the day. Now 10
lch gun will find 1t difficult to penetrate
he II or 81 inches of armor that will be pu,
pom the sides and turrets of modern bat lc
eships.-Henry Loomis Nelson in New p
ork World. Z
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