The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-22
OUR NAVAL STRENGTH.
HOW 1T COMPARES WITH THAT OF
GREAT BRITAIN.


Overestimated.
From the Philadelphia Ledger.
Washington. Dec lS.-The possibilities
presented in the Presidents message Of
yesterday naturally turn attention to the
condition of the United States navy, and
TO comparison of our naval force with
that of Great Britain That the United
States has tremendous advantages in its
geographical situation. in its independ-
ence of the outside world in the matter
of Internal food supply and all the mate
rial necessary for carrying on another
great war with another great nation and
in the strength of its very weakness in
the character and number Of its mer-
chant marine as compared with the inn
mense loss which would he entailed on
Great Britain through interference with
her vast commerce, does not nearly coma
pensate this country for the smallncss
of its available fleet of war vessels as
against the powerful squadrons the Eng
lish could muster at short notice. Naval
officers. although many of them do not
conceal their feeling that a war with
Great Britain would not be unwelcome,
fully recognize the disparity and their
acknowledgment of our weakness in this
respect is borne out by the naval lists
of both countries.
A general understanding of the compar-
atVe strength of the British and Ameri-
can navies may be reached by any lay
man through a perusal of the facts ana
figures shown below. That the United
States is lamentably weak in battleships
the great engines of war that have been
called floating fortrcsscs--cannOt be de-
MED. England has fully fifty batueShtps,
and against these we have but one M
However.
this sole representative of the most pow
erful hghting vessel, may be added the
double-turreted monitors Amphitrite and
Miantonomah and the coast defense yes
sci Monterey, the last named now in Cal
ifornian waters. The oregon and the
Observation-Disclosures of the Indiana
can be made ready for service in three
months, as they lack only their armor,
while the Iowa, larger and more for
midable cannot he placed in service I'M
der a year and half All the English
battleships, however. could not be sent
to fight the vessels Of the United States
and attack American cities. for the In
terests of England are so great and so
developed that she must perforce look
well to the protection Of her own terri
tory, or territory which she does not want
other nations to obtain. consideration
of the present situation with regard TO
Turkey and also in connection with China
and Korea will show the meaning of this
statement.
To proceed to a detailed comparison, the
Indiana Is about the SIZE of the Admiral
class OF BRUSH DdllltSnlpSt IN which, De-
sides its namesake, there are the Arson,
Ben Bow Camperdown and Rodney, and
TO these the Nile and the Trafalgar may
be added All these are larger and faster
than the Indiana, but she IS superior i'm
battery and armor and could probably
VanQuish any one of them.
Great Britain has also a number OF
first class" battleships, constructed last
year. OF which the Centurion and Bar
feur. with 10, 500 tons displacement and
1900 horsepower are samples. But these
likewise with
ana class in armor and armament The
only battleships of the British navy which
do so compare are those Of the Royal
Sovereign class, completed within the last
year or two, and of which there are nine.
They have 14l50 tons displacement and
1850 tons horsepower eacn. The side ar
nor is of the same thickness as that OF
the Indiana. They have four 67-ton guns
and ten 6-inch guns, while the Indiana has
four 13-inch, eight S-nch and four 6-inch
guns, showing her great superiority in
this respect.
In addition to these England has re-
Gently completed the Magnificent and the
Majestic, battleships of IA, 800 tons dis
placement and 1900 horse power They
are more highly armored than the YES
sells of the Royal Sovereign class. Great
Britain has likewise a number of old
time battleships, which would hardly be
serviceable against the United States.
There are about so battleships of all
into service.
In armored cruisers-vessels Of partic-
ular advantage in destroying commerce
or protecting outlying possessions-Creat
Britain is not so strong as the United
States. She has of this character of
ship the Blake (Which participated in the
Columbian naval ceremonies at Hampton
Roads and New York; and the Blenheim,
while our comparatively similar vessels
are the New York and the Brooklyn
Competent critics say, however, that the
New York is superior to either the Blake
or the Blenheim, and the Brooklyn is
said to be superior to the New York.
Next in formidability England has seven
Delted cruisers of the Australia class
They are slightly smaller and have less
horsepower than the Maine which is
also superior to them in battery. as is
the Texas. The Texas, while officially
denominated as a second-class battleship
may be placed in this comparison.
In war with Great britain the great
advantage which the United States gov
eminent possesses in having such YES
sells as the Columbia and the Minneapo-
lis-known as tirst-class cruisers-cannot
be oVerestimated. They are commerce
destroyers, pure and simple, and have
been not improperly designated the pi-
rates" Great Britain's first-class cruisers
are of this type and are the same size
as the Columbia and Minneapolis, but
have horsepower of 1900 only, as COM
pared with the 21,O00 horsepower of the
American terrors of merchant vessels.
The additional horsepower gives 1.-The
pirates" an excess of two knots an hour
in speed over their British counterparts,
which also carry less coal, and for that
reason and the others given they would
not be so serviceable in protecting Brit
ish commerce as the Columbia and the
Minneapolis would be in destroying 1t, al
though superior in battery. England has
nine of these ships.~~The recent speed
trial of the Columbia from Southampton
to New York shows of what these two
vessels are capable, and IL is claimed that
they can overtake the Campanian and
the Luca MIA, the fastest ships of the Eng
lish merchant marine, If the race should
begin within fighting distance.
How favorably the vessels Of the char
acter of the Minneapolis and the Column
bla are viewed by impartial critics abroad
may be understood from a letter written
by captain of the French navy pub
lished in a recent number of La Marine
Franchise, some Of the features of which
are quite pertinent to the discussion of
the probable result of a conflict with
Great Britain over the Venezuelan af-
fair, and Of our preparation for strug-
gle with her After directing attention
to the general insuhiciency and ineffi-
cheney of the French fleet as a whole, he
says
Having thus provided for the protec-
ton of cur coast and maratime ports
against an attack of the enemy, the next
step is to prepare the elements of a
vigorous offense, and here is where our
cruisers will come in: for the role Of our
active feet will be the destruction OF the