The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-02-09

AFs Hts Destrueitvs Fos-isfi,ies overr.te1
Mhcrs Thcrs Il srn Reo-N

where Thers Il Sea Rso-t
An interesting discussion has been carried
on In Great Britain upon the use Of the ram
in sea fighting. not only because Mr. W. Laird
Cloves, who read a paper on the subject before
the Royal United Service Institution. lie a mem
Der also Of our own Naval Institute but be-
cause. ss British authority lately said. Amer
lean enterprise il taking the lead in this form
of naval construction.
In the Katahdin an example will be fur
nished Of modern vessel built and equipped
solely for use as a ran; and II Is partly for
| this reason that the question as TO what such
vessels can accomplish has a timely interest
here. In England tho fate OF the Victoria
which was sunk By being accidentally rammed
with the armored PROV Of the Camperdown.
has given like timelness to the subject.
The point Of Mr.. Cloves is that the possible
tiles Of successful ramminR are greatly over
rated by many naval authorities Hell coll
| lected all the Instances he can find. seventy
| four in number. OF attempted ramming. in
what may he called modern naval warfare. He
begins with the outbreak Of our civil war. and
comes down TO the present time. OF these
| cases thirty-two we're when the ship which
was to be rammed was under steam. with
| plenty Of sea room. and the results then were
| i've slightly damaged, one seriously damaged.
| and tventy-six not damaged at all Another
and there nine were sunk outright. two others
| disabled three seriously damaged. nine
that class. accordingly. the attempt at RAM
ming showed marked results. Besides these.
rSmmiST. ana oniy Sne was s unRuTt. While two
were sunk and one seriously damaged. FL
nally. six were at anchor, and two OF these
But there is another class Of considerations
How did the ships fare that attemp pied the ram:
course. in which there was no collision. there
was no dam age: in thirteen. slight damage:
herself sunk and another was so disabled that
she ran ashore. or to put this part OF the
cases whore there was actual damage done to
one or both OF the ships. the ramminR ship did
p0DSnt IN seven cases While in seven NOT other
cases she did herself the greater injury. thus
did not gain the advantage. In the other
twenty eight cases the ramininR vessel was
not injured and her opponent was
when Mr.. Cloves comments on his stalls
tics he nnds that there Is no case on record OF
successful ramming in modern warfare where
instances in which il was attem pied. not one
shows vessel sunk. and only one shows the
infiction Of serious damage. In narrow waters
ramming Is much more successful but there
the chances Of the injury OF the attacking yes
that all these cited cases OF resort to the ram
occurred before the automobile torpedo had
to-day and lost OF them before. the introdue-
ton Of heavy breech-loading and light rapid
fire guns:
TO the Zoe the more fatal wall BE- tie foe
artiiIefy. and when. any rang. up 800 yards.
eject. O Torpedo are 20 be i.ar.i Ana WY ,aoaId
gsdo .hien t.r less Easy 20 AVOID aud the Use q
that !. Necessary II may be granted tn.t having nr,t
% ns sSs pro :. sr W sa d ram
50 he no. ony rsk. laia.sng hi: own snip encogn,sE.
but Sdort: a course ,hst issv.. compsra;s.y Lite
BE- aed ann VA S.r 3. esd 10 I'd,
tive sea forces Of AIS own country.
Taking. up again his fourteen cases Of yes
sells sunk. excluding one OF the attacking
craft. out OF seventy-four attempts at ram
ming. Mr. Cloves after saying that the ram.
Seen much more ss drew rev ,R H c Silaa
sions. first that to endravor to effectively ram
control is hopeless, even il she be OF greatly
inferior speed secondly. that vessel that
cannot he sacrificed ought never to be delber-
ately employed as ram, and. thirdly. that for
ramminG purposes little ship is quite as
point suggests the building OF a few fast
small craft. intended Tor ramminE only. and OF
no particular valre" he declined to give an
In the discussion which followed the paper
ADMIRAL Nicholson said that although rams
thought that they ought TO tie used only as n |
last resort. and he doubted whether in action |
the ram would ever be satisfactory. lie also |
would have rams strengthened. so as to be
less dangerousto their vessels than now, or
other speakers were against removable rams. I
admiral Hamilton was for no rams at all, |
safety, ramming. he thought. should be done. |
II at all, at maximum speed. as illustrated by !
the Arizona's running into an iceberg at Ar |
teen knots. Mr. hrnold-Forster agreed that !
the ram should not be employed prematurelv, |
bur was in lin ed to attach more i'm pOrtance 20
II than the lecturer did. especially as shown in |
special craft Ike the Polyphennes. Indeed, ne !
favored specially designed ramming ships, |
and he observed that many OF the cases cited |
by Mr.. Cloves are those OF wooden ships:
Ire case OF the Arizona much In point. The shIp
vent Eieaming after the collision FOR several hun.
dTed mNes lie remembered. too. tie caso Of the |
northampton: the hammer escaped unhurl. The |
Grosser kurfurst and other examples also in !
favor Of the ram RAmming no thing bat |
was o., known to the Romans AMI TO |
ana those uf Venice in the middle Tue damage
to the amperdOwn was done above the ram
Mr.. Cloves. in reply. observed that the latest |
french battle shin. the Brennus. had no ram:
that accidents showed that rams were more |
dangerous in peace than in war; that mere |
superiority in speed would not insure success
TO the attacking shin: that some countries
however. were building vessels expressly as
rams
1t is rather curious 10 recall that Command
er Rockwell OF our own navy drew conclu-
sions strongly in favor OF the ram from this
same study OF history or experience And on
the whole. there Is no reason to doubt that the
kAtahdin will fulfil all expectations as q val
liable appliance OF harbor defence.