The record-union., 1893-12-30
SWIFT SHIPS OF War.
They Are Being Built by Many
Countries.
Nations Not Commonly Regarded as
Naval Powers Constructing Com
Commerce DestroyerS.

The twelfth volume of the series issued
by the office of naval intelligence shows
that all the world is busy.in building yes
sells for sea fighting or coast defense, says
the New York Sun. Quite as suggestive,
indeed, as the efforts of the great mari
time nations in this direction are those Of
countries not reckoned among naval
powers. Corea, for example, has bought
and armed German steamer, which she
calls Chi Riong, or the Sky Dragon. Costa
Rica has secured a GarroW gunbOat. Bul-
garia has ordered two armored gunboats
in Italy for defending the mouths ol the
Danube. Mexico is to have five first
class torpedo boats from England. Libe
ria has acquired a steel gunboat of 150
tons, the GorrOnommah, carrying Six
FOUNDER and three-pounder Nordenfelt,
and a couple of brass pieces for salutes.
Hayu has had built at Havre pair of
small coast-guard craft, the Alexandra
Ption and the Capois la Mort Siam has
her Maha Chakkri, steel cruiser, built
at Leith, OF $500 tons displacement, hav-
ing good speed and carrying four 4.7-lnch
guns i'll the main battery.
Advancing to maritime powers of more
distinction, we find Portugal making the
noteworthy acquisition of four fine cruls-
ers of twenty-one knots and five torpedo
boats. Denmark has added the torpedo
boat \ Nordkaperen to her little fleet. Chile
is said to have invited proposals from
Armstrong. Mitchell Il Co. for a 5,000-ton
protected cruiser of the Yoshino type.
Argentina, whose beautiful Neuve de
Julio, with its 2Z.74 knots, was the fastest
flyer of the international fleet in Ameri
can waters last spring, has bought the
500-tOn torpedo vessel Aurora. Her new
armor-clad. the LibeTtad, of 2,300 tons,
carries two 9.37-inch Krupps and four
4.7-inch Armstrong;. Brazil has talked
of ordering in France great fleet Of four
battle ships, six cruisers and six torpedo
vessels.
HOLLAND, SWEDEN, TURKEY AND JAPAN.
HOlland.has had under consideration q
programme of Sl0,000000 for new ships.
These would include six armored cruis-
ers of 3,400 tons, six 4,500-tOn torpedo
! vessels Of u knots, fourteen gunboats of
| 100 or 200 tons, and seventeen torpedo
| boats, but the budget committee did not
approve of the scheme to its full extent.
! During the past year or so a cOaSt-defenSe
vessel and three gun vessels have been
| launched. Sweden has been talking Of
! building fifteen armored ships, half a
dozen torpedo vessels, and fifty torpedo
! boats; but this scheme, too, has been ad-
| journed. The coast defender Thule,
launched last April, is Of 4,l65 tons, and
carries two l0-inch Armstrong; in an IL
| inch steel turret, besides four Bafors o.
inch guns. Turkey is building the ar
mored cruiser Abd-el-Kader, and the
gun vessels Keshaf or Explorer, Saiki-
Shadi or Joyous, Seyah or Traveller,
Nasri-Hudra or Divine Power, and Bari
kei-Zafer or Lightning OF Victory.
Eighteen other gun vessels are to be laid
down, if the money can be had, and a
Kiel topedo boat of $50 tons has been
! procured.
| Turning TO the Asiatic naval powers,
we find Japan building three 3,500-ton
! cruisers with steel obtained in England.
| Last year there was launched at the
| \ YOkusuka yard the nlneteen-knot pro-
/ tected cruiser Akitsushima. But chiefly
interesting is the Elswick- built protected
cruiser YoshinO, which is one of the great
war vessels of the year, and should be as
! famous as the NanlWa Kan was in her
day. On length of 800 feet, breadth OF
| 49,, and mean draught of II, with dis
placement of 4, $50 tons, she gets about
| l5,000-horse power and a great steaming
radius. In July four runs on measured
mile, with and against the tide, yielded
! the astonishing average speed OF 23.O3l
| knots This is a commerce destroyer o1
remarkable type, and is powerfully
armed with four 6-inch, eight 4.7-inch,
and twenty-five 3-pounder Armstrong
rapid-fre guns and five torpedo tubes.
China has launched 1,040-ton protected
cruiser of sixteen knots at the Foo Chow
arsenal.
OUTLAWS IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND.
| Coming back to European powers,
! France remains, as usual, the country to
which naval experts largely turn for
| points in construction. Her naval bud
| get for 1898 provided for two armored
cruisers, which will have about 8,0S7 tons