The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-07-16
OUR NEW NAVY.

The trial trip of the Minneapolis which
took place off the New England coast on
Saturday strengthens belief in Secretary
Tracy's proud boast that the American
navy has no rival in the world. The huge
armored ship covered the SO miles of the
trial trip at an average speed of 2305
nautical miles per hour, faster gait than
the greyhounds of the passenger lines to
Liverpool have reached. On one Of the
legs" Of the trip. which was "a miles
long, the ship travelled at the Incredible
rate of q. ~ knots per hour, which is faster
than the ordinary speed of railroad pas
senger trains.
The Minneapolis is the sister ship of the
Columbia, being 412 feet long. So feet ex-
IRENE beam, and a displacement of 1850
tons She cost without her armament
s., $50, 0CO, and the builders, Cramp & Sons,
will get about $500, 900 more for having ex-
celled the Government requirements for
speed. Thus she will represent af1oat
something over $4,000, 900, to which must
be added the cost of her guns. The out
lay will not be thrown away il we should
60 to war. for there is no foreign ship of
war which could overtake or escape from
same all over the world. future victories AT
sea will be won by the vessel which can
choose her distance to fight. or which,
should ramming be resorted to, can strike
an enemy with the greatest momentum.
II no war should break out the utility
of S3,000,000 ships will be confiued to the
lessons in naval architecture which they
teach. Naval constructors will learn from
the Minneapolis the lines which are most
conducive to speed a comparison between
her hull and that of the Paris and New
York and the new CuDard snip should
settle some principles. Naval engineers
will likewise derive information from the
working of the engines of the new man
Of-war. They revOlved at the rate of 124
revolutions per minute with $50 pounds of
steam, and yet this prOdigious rapidity OF
motion, which was equal to two reyolu-
tions per second, did not heat the ma
chinery or cause any unusual jar on board
the ship. The whole machinery must be
admirably constructed to bear twice as
great a strain pressure as steamers usually
employ.
Tue triumph of the Minneapolis comes
OPPORTUNITY TO console Americans for the
'
slve runs the crack American yacht has
been beaten by the Britannia. and for the
present. at all events, the centerbOard
must yield the first place to the keel. We
may derive some comfort by assuming
that, while the Britannia is the fastest
thing which the English have been able
to produce in the shape Of cutter. the
Vigilant is perhaps not the fastest thing
which Americans may construct IN the
shape of a centeTboard single sticker.
For forty years East builders have
been building sloOps with centerboards
which Outsailed everything in the shape of
keel cutters. 1t is hardly reasonable TO
suppose that their right hand has lost
its cunning, or that the English have al at
once solved the problem which defed a
generation of naval constructors. 1t is
easier to assume that there are defects in
the Viglant which were not detected
when she raced the Valkyrie, while the
Britannia CHANGED to be the masterpiece
of English boats; the lesson of the defeat
of Mr.. Gould's yacht is that we must pick
our flint and turn our disappointment 10
account
In the meantime we may console our
selves by remembering that the five fast
est vessels In the modern British navy,
to-wit, the Royal Sovereign, the Centurion.
the Barfeur, the Magnificent and the Ma
iestic, have a nominal speed of IS knots,
which IS equal to a sea speed of 16 knots,
while our Minneapolis showed on her
trial trip (whatever she may do hereafteT)
a sea speed of 23 knots, the knot being the
equivalent OF a nautical mile; while the
14.0O0tOn ships Of the class of the En-
press of India do not claim higher speed
than 171a knots nominal. The Minneapo-
Lis cnnld sail rnmnd snch yassels