Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-12
e e THE CRUISER COL MBIA
Danger Of overooih d1snoe on Account. of
~;a+ Her Remarkable Speed. *
Must Sfill Take B6e Precautfon rs to
Coast DcfenseA and Future
was.kips.

To the Editor of The Evening Star: ''
The result of theeresent trial OF the Co
lumbia while crossing the Atlantic has
gladdened the hearts of all true Ameri-
cans. But it Is attended by great dam
ger. one into which this country fell some
thirty years age; and from the evil effects
of which 1t is not yet certain that she IS
emerging even now. 1t is the spirit Of self
confidence, apt to claim that as one OF
our men-of-war Of a certain class has
outstripped all others in the world In one
test Of speed and endurance, therefore, we
need to build no more Columbus nor take
due precautions In coast defenses and oth-
erwise, whereby our few ships would find
shelter for repairs and other purposes.
When it was known that we were about
to try couple of triple-screw pirates,
capable of overhauling almost every mer-
chairman, European naval constructors
did not remain idle; several keels were laid
down in several countries, intended for
vessels which should slightly excel ours,
and SO act either directly against them.
or indirectly as consorts to merchant fleets.
If we rest on Our laurels, our commerce
destroyers will be outnumbered and out
powered in foreign navies, and especially
in that of our hereditary enemy. and we
Will ioSe ouT present dQNdHldSe utter nav
ing taught foreigners a new lesson in naval
warfare.
Let us glance at what has occurred be-
fore. Toward the end of the war Of the
rebellion four principal and some twenty
five minor confederate pirates" had work.
ed such injury to our commerce and ad
ministered such wounds to our pride that
1t was resolved to build a few ships of
the Wampanoag class, in which almost
n IN
The war ended before the vessels were
completed, but two Of them We're so far
advanced that they We're finished and
tried. No men-of-war up to that time had
made such speed as they did, in fact
though the official attestation of the fig
ures in the log book could not be gainsaid
on this side by the soreheads and prophets
of failure Zone survivor of whom. by the
way, is now crcaking about the Columbia
not being lin it, in the matter of speed
yet technical journals in England affirmed
that the speed was impossible; the admi.
rally, however, while denying the per-
formance of the Wampanoag for twenty
four hours. built a couple of ships which
made decidedly less speed at the measured
mile. Whereupo1 at least one engineering
journal calmly said: Therefore our ships
aye knot faster than the American"
we, having beaten the world of that day.
dropped further effort, and in a few years
our wooden hulls having doubled up. we
had no navy that any white power needed
TO respect. Shall we repeat that neglect
especially in the teeth Of the fact that the
BRUSH navy is being continually added to
in speed. and that they will not remain
beaten in the class of swift protected crUis-
ers! We must continue to build new Ships
end we must slightlyiimprove the speed of
our new Columbias.l b
The great American chronic naval
GROWER, upon whoseI ancient criticisms we
have touched, has arisen once more and IS
reported In q New THork paper as stating
Ntvvn1,i 10 To a.
type for the money" the point, however is
that we need several types, and she is the
pest or her type inr> the world. He also
stated that she only used six boilers and
TWO screws II she had set the triple screw
at work 1t would simply have dragged"
but Capt Sumner told, an Associated Press
reporter that '"Thereight main boilers and
three main engines were used" and GER
tainly If not there was disobedience of the
orders of the department. and the ship had
about one-third of it's power in reserve
Again. Her ordinary (coaD capacity is
LOO tons, but for this record VOYAGE :,25
extra tons were daken.) Does he credit
the machinery with driving ship deepen
ed by about one twenty-fifth of her dis
placement? OF course not, and the cap
tatn's official report gives the total guam
tity on hand at starting as 1,S61h tons,
While she brought into port 1913 tons AS
to the difficulty experienced toward the
end of the voyage in getting the coal out
of the bunkers, so far from that being
popularity Of the Columbia, it is "a defect
inherent IN every vessel with compart-
ments, water-tight bulkheads and doors
man-of-war is bundle of compro-
mises." and naval constructors have so far
concluded that this drawback must be
borne for the sake of approaching the
great advantage of unsinkability. The
growler had already intimated that the
Columbia would not be able to keep I'D
any extraordinary speed all the way across
the Atlantic; ne row says: Her speed
shows that she is not in it with"
five merchantmen he mentions.
Let it be granted that the swiftest of
them once made the trip in eighteen hours
less time, though the cruiser lost several
hours in slowing for heavy weather and in
rot using forced 6raught: then, at the Co
fumbia's rate of Is. IL knots, the difference
was 331 knots. spread over about seven
days, giving, say, 47.34 knots per day. CT a
trife less than two knots per hour-that is
If the vessels had started together, the
Swiftest liner would have been within raIg e
of the Columbia's guns for five hours, theo-
retically Qonger with forced draugh); the
Augusta Victoria would have been theoreti-
cally under fire whole day, and practical
ly both would have been sunk in the first
quarter of an hour, for the shot from the
Columbia's forward guns would have been
''in it, If she herself was not. OF course.
If the critic puts the merchantmen out of
range at the start, it must be confessed
that he might as well put her out Of sight
and in the Indian ocean. which would be
begging the question. But there is another
point: If in our first attempt the Columbia
can catch any merchantmen IN the world
except five purely passenger steamers and
not traders, has she not a right to the title
of commerce destroyer" And if those of
the five which are British were employed
to carry food in time of war, would they
save London alone from being starved cut?
We are told that "the armament of the Co.
lumbia is net what it ought to be-" but, as
the soldier said, You can't expect all the
cardinal virtues for $13 month"; and the
r., ss~,ivo To