New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-11-14
ENGLISH PLANS AND AMERICAN SHIPS.
government.

ENGLISH PLANS AND AMERICAN SHIPS.
The battle-ship Texas is in a bad way. She
lies in a drydock in the Brooklyn Navy Yard,
with a number Of her bottom plates buckled,
several Of her ribs strained and bent, and her
keel in danger of collapse. She is partly sub
merged. in eleven feet of water 1t will not do
10 pump that out Of the dock for fear OF further
damage to the ship Neither would it be pru-
dent TO let in more and float her ont of the dock
and 90 TO sea- Present indications are, there
fore, that she will have TO be lightened ana
LARGELY dismanlled, by the removal of her guns
etc, when perhaps she will be able to support
her own weight Then the dock can be emptled
and the necessary repairs made.
Until the dock is emptied it may not be pos
sible TO determine positively the cause OF TINS
disaster, but ii is practically certain that one or
two things will be found to have occurred.
Either the floor Of The dock has given way I'M
der the great weight Of the ship or the frame
work Of the ship itself has begun to collapse
through structural weakness. The dock in ques-
ton is the timber drydOck which was built I'M
der the first Cleveland Administration, when
Mr. Whitney was Secretary OF the Navy. 1t
was scarcely intended to hold so heavy ship
as the Texas. Moreover, a bed Of quicksand
was found under it, which gave its builders
mich trouble 1t Is possible therefore, though
not probable, that the dock is partly at fault for
what has occurred. On the other hand, there
are very strong reasons for suspecting the Texas
Of that structural Weakness which the Demo-
cratic politicans responsible for her so quickly
and falsely charged against another ship which
had been built under Republican auspices. Her
original plans, for which Secretary Whitney paid
q large sum Of money to an English designer,
were exceedingly faulty. ship built in ac-
cordance with them would probably have sunk
by her own weight The Democratic Admins
tration stuck to them, however; they were Eng
fish, you know. But 1t had them so modified
as to assure the buoyancy of the ship In so
doing the frame of the ship was weakened: per-
hgps fatally weakened. In the closing months
of the Cleveland Administration Mr. Whitney
determined to go on with the ship and ordered
work on it to be pushed as rapidly as possible.
The succeeding Administration had nothing TO
do but to carry it to completion and make the
best Of bad job.
That it was and IS bad job seems now rea-
sonaby certain. The overwhelming probability
is that the present damage is due to structural
weakness of the ship, that in turn being due
to the ll-consdered and modified English de-
signs The crushing in of the ships bottom was
noticed on Saturday last. The dock was then
empty, and q careful examination Of it failed
to show that ii had settled given way at any
point or that the keel-bocks were improperly
placed. The vessel seemed to be collapsing
simply because har framework was not strong
enough to bear up her weight when deprived
of the support Of the water Final investigation
will probably show that such was the case. The
choice will therefore lie between leaving the
ship too light and weak to bear her own weight,
and making her SO heavy as TO imper her
buoyancy. In this dilemma the present Sccre-
taiy of the Navy may extract some comfort
from reperusal of communication addressed
to him, when he was chairman Of the Naval
Committee of the House by Mr. Whitney, then
Secretary Of the Navy. Our true policy wrote
Mr. Whitney, lis to borrow the ideas of our
"nelghbors and give them 10 our ship
builders in the shape of plans" The Texas,
living damaged and helpless in the Navy Yard
dock is the full frnion Of "our true policy