The record-union., 1894-07-05
A NAVAL WAR COLLEGE.

A NAVAL WAR COLLEGE.
On the 18th inst. Assistant Secretary of
War McAdoo formally opened Naval
War College at Newport. r. I. Very
little has been said to the public about
such an institution, and it would seem at
first glance to be a strange proceeding to
open college for study of war methods
in time of profound peace.
But really the time of tranquility is the
right time in which to study the arts of
war. The purpose of the Government is
to have cur officers, and such others as
choose, thoroughly instructed in defenses
of the coasts of the nation and other
naval matters. Our method in the past
has lacked completeness in the teaching
of these arts, because the cadet cannot
take in and grasp so complex a system as
the art of war has become in the period
allotted to him at Annapolis, not indeed
nearly so well as can the cadet at West
Point. He viii there learn general prin-
ciples and much of detail, but he is not
able to consider all the new things, the
advances made in the greater field of in
yention, construction, etc.
The production of engines of war in
new and improved forms is constantly
going on, and in no forms Of invention is
there greater activity. What was ac-
cepted by the cadet of last term may be
obsolete to-day. What was considered
complete in naval construction last year
may to-day be abandoned; swhat was
deemed thoroughness of knowledge
in the matter of projectiles and explo-
siyes yesterday, may be rendered value
less by the discovery of the hour.
So that naval war college means the
keeping abreast by our naval men with
the advance of the time and the demon
stration of to-day. As Secretary McAdoo
asked of the class: ''Where stands the
contest now between the gun and the
armor? Will smaller caliber and thinner
plates be recognized as standard? If you
cannot have great speed and great resist
ing strength, which is best to torego?
How shall the monster engines of war
that are being developed be most skill
fully and ably managed in the wars of
the future?"
A naval nation, that is, q nation that may
be considered as possessing naval power
must be possessed of two things-the best
modern ships Well armed and equipped
manned and most ably Officered and second
nd asst m hp fret ha To,
produce these as quickly as possible when
lost or add TO their number when desired.
In other words, while the modern battle
ship, as against Its predecessors, Is like Odin
10 a pigmy, like Thor TO Lilliputian, still it
may be remembered shat it takes at least
three years under normal conditions to
build one Possibly mechanical genius. in the
face OF actual strife, confronted by invasion
and loss of liberty, might almost work
miracles IN the machines that il would iIn-
provise but IL would be utterly unsafe to risk
everything ON miracles OF this nature.
He is right in his conclusion then, that
the scholarship, learning, ability and
practical training and habit OF command
of the officers of the navy will be the
determining causes in case of sudden and
unexpected war, and, as he put it. ''war
is always sudden and unexpeoted.'
Our Achilles heel is at the waters edge.
and well armed, could not prevent the ire
Inendous and certain destruction that would
be wrought by the explosion OF monster
shell filled with high explosives in one of our
cities fired from the great gun OF q battleship
lying safely beyond the range OF our nearest
fort.
Five hundred men on a battleShip. wen
handled by a master of his art, might save
from destruction that which hundred thou
sand men on shore eould not restore; and
while our country is possessed of vast ma
terial resources, especially in the great Valley
of the Mississippi, stlll, in the very nature of
things, the storebouses of a large portion OF
our national richness lie upon the seaboard
and this viii continue as long as the great
oceans are the tree highways of all people.
Besides the studies of naval art, the
college is intended to be means of moro
thorough instruction in international
law, for the function of an officer abroad
is now, more than ever before, largely
diplomatic. In critical times the honor
of the nation and the rights of its citi-
zens may, in large measure, depend
upon the instructed judgment of the ma
val officer in matters of international law.
In other words, our naval officers must
more and more be many-sided men.
They must be versed in electrical science;
have practical knowledge of machinery
in use in engines. and generally be well
informed in mechanical science. They
must know how ships and guns are made,
how armor is forged, and how ammuni-
ton is made and proieetiIes and torpe-
does of all kinds are constructed and
handled. They must be qualified to set
tlp disputes between sailors: he informed