New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-08-18

save Tor some little liking on ner turretS. the
Terror Is nearly far advanced. and the work
the Lancaster will not delay her beyond her
appointed time.
AN OLD-TIMER AT THE YARD.
The monitor Wyandotte destined for the
Of the Connecticut Naval Militia. has come to the
yard from Norfolk. and has been tied up at the
Cob Dock wall, just ahead Of the receiving ship
Vermont The old "cheese5ox on a raft"
built by Miles Greenwood in Cincinnati IN 1852.
and is one Of the fleet which was added to the
Navy In that year from the designs OF John
Ericsson and has the old-style singe-screw,
''grasshopper' engines. The arrival or TINS reno
of the days OF long ago at the yard mas brought
number of visitors 10 the Cob DOCK, ana many
questions have been asked about her. The neet
OF which the Wyandotte is a fair sample cost
the Government between sS,o0O.0oO and slo'pooooo'
and comprised the Ajax, Comanche. can onicus'
Catskill Jason. Lehigh. Mahopac. Maintain
Montauk Nahant. Nantucket. Passa!c and wy
andottc With few exceptions they are Zoo leet
long. with beams from As to 46 feet depths either
IL feet inches or 13 feet inches. with an aver,
age displacement of 1000 tons. They were all
slow movers, their engines. OF $40 norse-power'
giving a speed which seldom exceeded SIX KNOTS:
and their armament was limited TO couple tl
l5-inch smoothbore guns and an occas ondl IL
pound howtzer while for protection they car.
ried side five inches thick ana turret
armOr Of ten eleven inches.
NAVAL. AFFAIRS AND ORDERS.
The President has in hand at Gray Gables for
disposition a number Of interesting naval cases.
to which three have recently been added. Com
modore Lester A. Beardslee. OF the Pacific squad
ron, has had his promotion to be Rear-Admiral
held back owing to the absence from washington
Of Rear-Admiral Walker, who was a member OF
the Board which examined him. The record has
since been signed and forwarded to the Pres-
dent The two other cases are those Of Lieuten-
ant George w. Tyler for promotion to be leu
tenant commander. and Ensign Marbury john
son to be lieutenant 0unor grade). Inc ohiy
the President has acted on since ne ieit
Washington Is that Of Gunner John Russell
whom he retired few days ago. No intimation
has been received as to his probable action IN
the Howell promotion case or the kersnner
court martial There seems to be good reason
for believing that he will promote captain
Howell and from the long delay In action on Dr.
Kershner's case the impression Is becoming
strong that he will disapprove the sentence or
dismissal and impose a lighter sentence. Among
the other interesting cases In the Presaents
hands is that Of Lieutenant James X. Coggs-
well. and 1t Is expected at the Department tnat
there will be little further delay In the dispos-
ton of these cases by the Chief Executive.
Already the constructors in the Navy are max
ing evident their opposition TO Secretary Her.
bert's plan Of sending them to sea- the con-
structors say that If they had had chance TO
show the Secretary the inadI'iS-bility OF sending
them to sea- 1t Is doubtful t. the order would
have been issued. They make the assertion that
five of their number being detached and sent on
duty especially since the contracts for eleven
vessels to be awarded. naval con-
structor is stationed at each Of the different
navy yards of the country. with the exception
Of Washington. and at New-York. Norfolk and
Mare Island there are several assistant con
structors Even had the Secretary not decided TO
order officers OF the corps to sea, 1t would have
been necessary to detach some Of them from the
navy yards when the contracts for the new
vessels are given out and send them to the yards
where the contracts are placed. Under the Act
of Congress three torpedo boats are to be con-
structed. one on the Gulf one on the MISSISSIPPI
tV1 ha QNt
also to be built, the contracts to be divided
among at least three firms In addition to THESE,
two battle-ships are provided for AS the Iatter
vessels will probably be built BY the Cramps and
the Union Iron Works. there will be no need for
the appointment Of constructor to look after
them as officers already at those yards In
the other cases it would be necessary to scatter
the members Of the corps among the different
yards They say there Is not an officer OF the
corps who is not duty at some point
where he is needed and they do not see how the
Secretary will be able to carry out his decision
without injury to the shipbuilding interests OF
the Navy. Orders regarding the duties OF naval
constructors at sea will probably be issued this
week unless the efforts Of the constructors to Sc
cure a revocation Of the Secretary's decision are
successful.
Assistant Secretary McAdoo and Rear-Admiral
Ramsay are both said to be opposed to the Sec
retarys plan, and there a. good reasons for be-
lievns that 1t will be so modified that II the
constructor goes to sea he will not be assigned
to duty as fleet constructor. though just how
much difference that would make so long as he
was away from the station Is hard to see.
The number Of orders issued last week was
comparatively small, among them being the fol-
lowing:
Brent Mccarthy. Of Portsmouth. N. H., APP
pointed pay clerk on the Lancaster
Lieutenant ]. N. Helm and Lieutenant p W.
Hourigan ordered to torpedo instruction at New
port in place of Lieutenant j. L. Jayne and En-
sign Philip Andrews. whose orders are revoked
Chief Engineer J. L. D. Borthwick detached
from treatment at the Norfolk Naval Hospital
and granted two months leave
Daniel Hubbard appointed pay clerk on the
Texas.
Orders to Lieutenant T. N. Wood are so far
modified that his detachment from Marine Bar
racks Brooklyn. will take effect on the day he
returns from extension OF leave Of absence.