The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-04-27
The Great Naval Review.

The Great Naval Review.
The world has never seen a naval sight
the equal Of that which will be wit
messed in New York harbor to-day. There
have been great collections of warships
in other harbors in other times, but never
one so great, and representative Of so
many nations, as that which will pass in
review before hundreds of thousands of
people in the harbor of the metropolis Of
this country. In the Assem- bled feet are
the finest warships of the greatest ma
lions They are built Of steel and iron,
and ono Of them could easily sink a whole
feet of such ships as took part in the
great naval battles of the past, many Of
which, with their commanders, have
prominent place i'm history.
The wdrships Of the present time are
almost as far ahead Of the naval vessels
that commanded the seas before the war
Of secession as the swift steamers of the
transatlantic lines are ahead of the cara
wells in which Columbus disdov-
cred a new world. They are swift
sailors and only the heaviest guns
can penetrate their armor. They
can destroy seacoast cities without ap-
preaching them closely because they can
throw shot and shell half dozen mics or
more. The old time stone forts that were
considered impreQnable could be knocked
TO pieces BY them almost as quickly a a
fort made of wood could have been de
mollshed by the naval guns of half a
century ago.
What would be the result if these great
steel structures with their powerful guns
were arrayed against each other remains
to be seen. They have sailed the
seas and been admired in many
ports, but they have as yet engaged in no
great naval battle. 1t is to be hoped that
they will be peacemakers, and that they
will prevent war rather than encourage
it. The nations have spent hundreds of
millions of dollars in bringing them to
their present perfection, and they are
well calculated to excite admiration and
wonder.
A great navy may be a necessity to the
nations of Europe, but there is no good
reason why this country should have
much more of a navy than it has now. A
few swift cruisers could easily sweep the
commerce of an enemy from the seas, and,
therefore, a few such cruisers are far
more desirable in many respects than
great number of armored ships that
would cost millions of dollars a year to
maintain them No nation is likely to at
tack the United States, because very lit
tie could be accomplished by doing so.
The damage that the enemy's navy might
do US could be easily and quickly re
paired and if any damage should be done
us it would provoke retaliation of the
most costly kind
Wonderful as the development that ma
val architecture has undergone and as
perfect as the naval vessels of the present
day appear to be, no one can say that the
construction of them will not undergo as
great a change in the next genera ton as
it has in the last. 1t would hardly be
wise, therefore, for this country to
increase its navy much beyond it's present
size, unless there should be a prospect
that a much larger navy would be needed
in the near future. The aim should be
to build swifter ships than those
OIL OlltI I'd tlOllS Idtil6I Olldu 10 dttu uidL6
a great number of ships. Not only are
the ships likely to be rendered valucless by
Improvements and inventions in naval
architecture, but the cost of maintaining
a big navy is heavy drain on national
resources. We should of course, have a
navy sufficient to compel the respect of
all other nations, but a navy of that kind
need not be so large as to he burdensome.
In thereview today the American ships
will compare fayorahiy with those of any
other nation, and Americans who witness
the review viii have no reason to feel
ashamed of their navy.