The sun., 1895-02-24

Hsw n Cswpsres with Foreign Fleets. spa
what u Most Reauires.

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Hsw n Compares with Foreign Fleets. srd
. what u Most Reauires.
wAsHINGToN. Feb 23.-Although both the
number and the types OF the war vessels re-
| quired by the United States must be fixed ac-
cording to our own standards. yet since the
need Of any war vessels at all has at Its very
base protection against possible attack 1t is well
| to observe what other countries are doing.
| Secretary Herbert recently caused to be COM
| piled some statistics on this subject which show
| that England has ~ battle shps, ~ coast de-
Tenders, and lS armOred cruisers in service, and
| 10 battle ships building; France has ~ armOred
vessels built and 20 authorized and building;
Russia's numbers are 40 and II, respectively:
Gsrnany's, 39 and 8; Italy's, 1S and 10: Tur-
key's.'1S and 9. and on with other powers.
Even Holland has 20 armorcd coast defenders
! In actual service, and Sweden and Norway 20,
such facts should not be ignored, because they
indicate the classes Of vessels which the expert
| ence of other nations approves, some Of which
also our own navy might have to meet
| These arrays are supplemented by many un-
armorsd vessels. Thus England, taking together
protected cruisers. ordinary cruisers. gunboats,
and torpedo vessels exclusive Of torpedo boats,
has n3s such war vessels In service and AZ au-
thorlzcd and building. The numbers for France
are 147 and "a; for Spain. which is very strong
In fast unarmored vessels, 90 and 20; for Italy.
72 and 10; for Germany, 30 and /; for Russia.
o. and .; for Sweden and Norway, 5I. and so on.
The pending bill for the increase of our navy,
however, did not provide any more unarmored
cruisers, for several reasons One Is that our
proportion of such vessels is already sufficiently
large, while more battle ships are absolutely
needed, and hate the additional advantage OF
furnishing coast and harbor defence. The House
Naval Committee in its report called attention
N agf Ia nj "a an nj tIa
Japanese fire was for great part OF the time
mostly cone entrated against the two Chinese
battle pa shits, one OF which is said to have been
90 slightly injured that il they had had more
ammunition they might have renewed the
battle with almost unImpared efficiency. 1T
is question: says the report, whether II they
had been properly manned and handled the
Japanese would have been victorious"
One of the arguments against battle ships in
the House debate was that the heavy armor
plates make them top heavy, in addition 10 the
immense armament they carry" and that for
this reason =" "sucil vessels are not seagoing YES
types or individual specimens of foreign built
8rmorclads. our own battle ships of the Indiana
lutely all tnat could be desired in that respect.
uhess ,h does nSt appear TO be the sgh,est doubt
thi, Board, and yet they are extraordinary in
their combination of heavy armor and heavy
armament. AS to the custom OF keeping battle
shipsi in home. waters. that simply shows that
their primary purpose is TO serve as first line
maintain and the expense can be greatly re-
duced in home ports where the crews can be
smaller and the items for coal and for wear and
Indeed. it should be kept in mind that 1t has
tie ships IN commission, AS far as possible.
after being wei tested they will perhaps be
TIM time TO- time in for Brief periods The service sn ON
distant stations and for peace purposes gen
be chiefly by era.ers S and
important possessions al! over the globe. keeps
in commission, according to the House Commit
tees statistics. only fifteen battle ships cruising
at any distance. ten belonging to the Mediter-
rapean squadron. four to the Channel squadron,
and one on the China station. while the re-
mainder are on the home station. either in re-
serve or laid up or under repair, and so on.
No, less strong than the argument for battle
ships lsthat for torpedo boats. In our own navy
there has been peculiar delay to furnish these
first place it was thought that pneumatic guns
might have n great future, and that boats would
have, have to S be =, built especially TO carry them
of search lights. and OF steel crinoline netting
Tor the protection OF vessels. all threatened TO
These considerations had so great an effect on
our Navy department about eight years ago
the value of surface torpedo boats. and sought
to develop submarine boats, with view TO
Thus IL has happened that our navy has dragged
in the rear in this particular
But the brilliant achievements of automobile
torpedoes in the three last naval wars. namely.
theChiltan the Brazilian, and the Corean, hnye
boats are powerful auYiiaries for warfare car
ried on. in harbOrs. Our navy. which has only
three such boats built, the Stetto. the Gushing,
and the Ericsson, must have more. and should
have them at once.
To learn what foreign nations are doing re-
sort may again be had to Secretary Herbert's
statistics. which show that France has ol7 tor
pedO boats in service and AZ authorized and
building; England. l65 and 81 respectively;
Italy. 11S and IL: Russia, 1853 and IA Ger
many. 40 and =. The contrast between such
figures and our total OF three built and three
more authorized Is greater than that between
our armorclads and cruisers and those OF other
powers. :, Even countries that are inferior to us
in total naval power far surpass in torpedo
boats Thus Austria has 81, Greece has 81 and
Holland has 30. Even Argentina. Brazil. and
Chill arc credited with 90 each in service. while
Japan. which has o6 in service. has 23 others
authorized and build ing. Certainly she has
paid for them over and over again by what tor
pedoes did for her at Wei-fiai-Wei.
The leading appropriations ask ed Of this Con- |
gress for the navy by the pending bill justify |
themselves In almost every respect Taxing |
the'case'of the appropriations for reserve guns |
and ammunition, the country is now paying |
subsidies to the Paris and New York. condi- |
toned on their being ready to serve the Govern
mont and yet we have no reserve guns for them |
II they should bo so chartered England used |
also to pay them subsidies. but she had guns and |
gun mounts TO put on board.
There is good reason to believe that when tho |
bill passed by the House has been voted upon |
by the Senate. and the disputed points adjusted |
In conference. il will form a contribution