The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-09-19
THE WEED OF Dnr DOCKS.
Our BiR Deep-drsught Armor-ciads Hsve
Inadequate DocEinE Accommodation.

Dur BIG ep-draught Armor-ciads Have
Inadequate DockinR Accommodations.
WASHINGTON. Sept. 1S.--Two facts have re.
Gently called public attention to the desirability
of possessing more and larger dry docks for the
use ofthe navy. One is the closcncss of the mar.
gin allowed to the armored cruiser New York,
which has been under repair ut the Brooklyn yard,
In getting In and out of the timber dock there.
She entered and went out with no difficulty
whatever, yet the calculation Is rather closer
than IL ought 10 he, unless very high tides are to
be watched for. The big war ship has n mean
draught Of 23S feet, and the depth cf wntcr
over the sill Of the simpson dry dock is nearly
25I& feet Mt mean high water. But It IL the
maximum draught that counts, and when the
New York passed out over the sill, she drew a
trlae above 25 feet. For several days previous,
the depth on the sill had been about oSts feet.
and thus she had had n margin of three and a
half 10 four inches only without touching; but
an unusually high tide OH Monday showed 70
feet and an inch on the sill. thus giving her a
good foot OF margin.
The other fact il that the 3ehrinE Sea flee; ia
now on Its way 10 home waters, and. after it's
seasons experience, Is expected TO need II gem
eral docking. with some repairing. this latter,
in the case Of the Adams. being extensive. Hut
the only dry dock the Government possesses on
the Pacific coast is the one at Mare Island. as
the new Puget Sound structure is not yet fin
ishcd. The vessels. therefore. will have To take
their turn, no matter how urgent may be the
need of them for other service.
II seems very clear that Congress should make
provision for n larger number Of dry docks. II
is true that three new ones are now in course OF
construction, namely, the one at Port Orchard,
In Puget Sound, already mentioned, which
Byron. Barlow IL Co. OF Portland, Or, are UNI
dertaking: the Port Royal dock. of which Justin
NfrTarthv NJ LNaRhipufnn IA tho contractor aud
the new Brooklyn dock, which Mr.. Gillies lie
building. But even these three will be insult
cient for the needs Of the navy. One reason 10
that the old-time docks, although of use for the
smaller vessels, are unable TO accommodate the
newer and larger ones. For example, the stone
dock at Boston was built wears ago, before our
present large ships were thought of, and It is
mad for them. Again, the Portsmouth, y.
H., dock was reported by Commodore Farquhar,
two years ago, to be not safe to lift over 5000
tons. II we should get into serious trouble" he
agement should take place off the New England
coast, any of our larger vessels which required
OF miles down the coast to New York, in order
to have the repairs attended to. We ought to
soon have on the south Atlantic. Tho same
could he said OF the necessity OF, a dry dock. on
M she thew sG sSe present = c kneTn Of fh the CfBm nreSu 6f
Yards and Docks. will, in his forthcoming re-
port, recommend the construction of more docks,
hlu IL IL ttlu Nhht ht IA n loE lo W lHhu
five, one to be placed at Portsmouth,, n, H.. an
other at League Island. n third at New Orleans.
a fourth at or near San Diego, and n fifth at
Mare Island, while the enlargement of the one
already there Is also desirable.
With these five or six additions and the COM
p%letion OF the three large timber docks at Port
Royal, Brooklyn, and. Puget Sound, IL could
fairly be said that the docking accommodations
were worthy of the new navy. The need of u
new dock on the New England coast has already
been adverted to, and also the desirability OF
having one in the Gulf or in the waters contigu-
GUS thereto. Indeed. for several years 1t has
been proposed to create q new navy yard or sta
ton in or near Gulf waters, and preliminary
measures for the purpose have been taken up BY
The reports OF examining Boards
have been in favor OF selecting for this purpose
Algiers. on the Mississippi, opposite New Or
and this is the reason. no doubt, why, that
point Is now spoken of for q timber dry dock.
for San Diego, its harbor has n strategic I'M
portance "a being the southernmost on our
Pacific coast, and IL would also be convenient
for vessels returning from South and Central
and needing docking.
Two points are especially worthy OF bearing in
mind upon this subject. One Is the great beam
Of some of our new vessels, that Of the Massa-
chusetts, Indiana, and Oregon, for exampls.
being sixty-nine feet. while the shape Of these
vessels beneath the water line also requires great
docking capacity. The other point is the Liza.
bility Of unsheathed steel bulls TO %corrode. thus
a far more frequent cooking for the
Jew steel fleet than for the old copper bottomed
wooden vessels. In order to keep up the speed
II the new ships, and to prevent them from
being seriously injured by pitting and by ma
growths, especially after service in tropical
provide them with sufficient docks convenient
or resort, so that they may never go too long
cleaning. In home waters, at least,
here should be no lack of this kind.