New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-10-06
AFFAIRS AT THE NAVY YARD.
ropNry couRr-MARTrAL ADJOURNED BY
ORDER OF THE SECRETARY.
,,.c WORK ON THE MoNrToRs-rHE AT
,.SrA IN pRYDocx-woRK IN THE SHOPS

w." o ,,,s week there has been steady drive III
~ nav Of work. and the people who are supe'",
..rang operations have had their hahus iui .,
s.'.,nss. The ending Of the Forney court-martiai
=. relief. not only to the accused oHcer anu HIS
-, M, N the members of the court and tnose
~ have been in attendance at its sessions eon-
.,,v "a expectation, the court only spent d s"oi'
H.. In executive session, and ADJOURNED uh'i lur-
49, orders by direction OF the secretary OF 'he
-, ,,s report being forwarded to Washington
Tho hrief time devoted to settling on Verdc' Is
,.ken 10 mean that the members OF the court were
-. ideally unanimous In their opinion OF the case
-. 4, % believed that the report was In lavor OF
Co,o,a, Forney II this belief is correct. the mat
80. q, nrobably settled. but II the verdict has been
A. o,her way those who know say there Is trouble
ahead for other officers. and the evidence brought
~, IN The trial just ended may be called on again
49, 49,. osa,nst some Of the officers who were
80 "a have committed the same offence OF which
C,or.i Forney was charged. This will make 1t In
,.resting for some OF the people who were anxious
o, have the Colonel convicted but will hardly help
che Colonel or course. nothing definite as to the
.su,t OF the trial could be learned. and the whole
matter will remain quiet until the authorities at
washington take some action IN the case. COM
,rodore Scard. the president OF the court, mas
coma TO the country for short rest. after his
ar,uous duty in connection with the trial
One po,nt made by Congressman Bartlett In his
s,eument for the defence that the two leading
one on oppos.ng sides OF the political fence. had
,.ksn occasion to rebuke the powers that be for
.he prevalence OF what seemed TO be desire on
the mart O, the Office OF the Judge
IN make a record In the way of overhauling off,
GERS and calling courts OF inquiry and courts-mar-
tial on the slightest provocaton. apparently at the
fpstigation OF the Secretary. His remarks on this
point were founded on truth for the record OF the
last year and a hal. IS not at all creditabe to
the administration OF naval affairs. or else be-
tokens an extremely bad state OF affairs among the
men TO whom the country looks to fight Its naval
battles when there are any to be fought. The gen.
oral opinion is that spirit OF nagging has been
deyeloped at Washington. which. II allowed to have
its full swing will result in the complete demon
alzation Of the service. and the dscreding of the
officers OF the Navy. both at home and abroad.
Orders have been issued by the department to
rush work on the coast defence monitors Terror
Puritan and Monadnock. The two former are at
the Brooklyn yard and In pursuance of the
ders work on the Terror and the Puritan has been
going ahead at A rapid rate especially in the con-
Btructve work. 1t is expected that the Terror will
be the first Of the three 10 be completed At pres
emit the chief difficulty is In the establishment of
the pneumatic system by which the guns and tur-
rets 10 be operated The work on this is some
what unusual. and extremely delicate. and while
1t has been going on In a moderately satisfactory
manner there are likely TO be some slight delays
before II is finished The Monadnock will be the
second of the monitors to go into commission. She
Is at the Mare Island yard and is waiting for her
gun mounts and the placing OF some OF her armor
Work the mounts is being pushed and they will
be delivered at the earliest possible moment. The
Puritan Is waiting for her coming tower armor
Her turrets in place and two Of her guns are
ready 10 be mounted two still being due from the
gun shops The opinion Is expressed at the depart
ment that six months Will see the completion of the
three vessels. No plans have been announced as TO
tha .atio ri @ Terror
will probably be attached to the North Atlantic
squadron. and the Monadnock remain on the Pa
cinc coast, and do short cruise duty II Is ex-
pected that after the vessels have been put in COM
mission and had years service they will be put
out OF commission. and kept in order to be put at
work at once In of emergency.
The Maine IT is said at the yard will be ready
for In a couple OF weeks and will join Rear-Ad-
miral Bunce's fleet at once. The jobs necessary 10
complete her being pushed to the utmost anu
all hands are afflicted with violent attack or
hustle" Her officers have only good opinions to
express of their ship and the men are satisned that
she will prove be good sea boat AS soon as
she s ready she will have her final speed trai anu
will then 90 into drydock for scraping and clean
Ing preparatory to cruising.
WORK AT THE YARDS
The Lancaster is tied up at the coal wharf ana
is taking her fuel preparatory to going 10 sea
This work will be Completed in few days. and the
the flagship Of the South Atlantic Squadron.
A beautiful, growth of seaweed and barnaces was
taken from the bottom OF the Atlanta In the tfhDer
drydock last week The growth was beautiful from
an artistic point Of view, but was sadly detrimental
70 speed and facility OF manceuvring. While the
ships boilers great extent responsible
for her slow speed. there is no doubt that eegrass
four or Ave inches long and barnacles which stuck
out anywhere from an inch to an inch ana nan
from her steel plates had something to do with the
fact that she could make only about nine knots an
hour under favorable conditions. on leaving the
dock she will be towed over and made fast 10 the
Chicago and walt her turn ior repairs; fashion
The floating steam crane has begun the task OF
lifting out her hve-nch guns and preparing her
for a long season in the stone dock when the Puri-
tan comes The last of the cylinders for her en-
gnes was successfully cast in the foundry a Few
finished is well under way. The last cylinder was
one Of the S and about eighteen tSn n
a pretty sight. and one not unaccompanied by dan-
o has YT eSds Se Sd dS few
the brace bars at the bottom were exposed. ana
that Of Pains best efforts. The molten metal sput-
tered and spatered and flew In showers all over
hurt. although there were holes burned in more
the mass to cool so that it could be handled. and
even then the men were INCLINED to Keep at
TSe big dredee was hau.ed out OF the Wallabout
channel. and the road to the timber dock and the
ground where there will day be big timber
dock the sound OF spile-drivng hammers Is heard
with a regularity which means completion OF the
work In short time as the contractors can
compass and everything is being done to expedite
the big Job which will hep II a.ong. The new
building for the steam engineering department IL
and In use force being at work setting
I'D a set OF small boilers The paving work is spread
ing out and will take In all the bad spots in the
yard before II is finished. Work on the other yard
improvements Is not In satisfactory condition. and
Just present 1t is difficult 10 find reason for the
delays.
torpedo boats intended for the Maine go has
been a hzzle. One OF the two sent out this
week 10 make run over the measured mile In the
North River and came ba tx TO the yard with
OF the blades Of her propeller gone. having struck
something In the river which tougher than the
meta. This damage can be repaired in short time.
as there several spare propelers In stock, but
there is opinion that there Is 'hoodoo'' at
tached to the boats. and they will never be OF
vice to the ship The steam engineering people how