The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-06

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South Carolina. North Carolina, Mas
sachusetts, California and New York
From the lnHt official returns they now
number $3.50 In the states OF California
New York, Massachusetts,, North Car
DINA. Rhode Island, Maryland. south
/ Carolina, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Con
necticut, Michigan, New Jersey,
Georgia and Louisiana, and the de-
partlnent has been informed Of the
prospective formation of an additional
battalion In New York Cat Brooklyn
and an organization in Ohio.
/ During the past four years 213 guns
have been manufactured Of all caiibers,
as follows: Seventy 4-ipch, seventy-one
5-inch, six 6-inch forty-ffve S-inch, one
l5-inch, eight 12-inch twelve 13-ineh.
Including the 20 sets of finch, 35 sets
of 5-inch, 80 sets of 6-ineh, and 2 sets
of 8-inch gun forgings, for which
contracts have been awarded, we have
In course of manufacture at this date,
1876 gums of all calibers, from 4-inch to
13-inch. OF these, So guns are for
the auxiliary naval cruisers, for which
an appropriation was made at the last
session of congress En- addition to
the above. one hundred 3-inch field
guns, for landing and boat service, are
in hand and will be completed in the
near future. March L. 1893 116 guns
or all calibers were mounted aboard
ship. At present, including some tenn
pGrar1ly landed sending repairs OF
vessels, there are 1885,
The most important recent improve
ment in the batteries of ships has been
in the mounts for guns of various
calibers. This betterment has consist
ed mainly in the simplification of the
mounts and the application to the
larger calibers of the principle at first
employed in the rapid fire 6-pounders,
by which the recoil is taken up in
closed cylinder filed with suitable
liquid, the gun returned to battery by
means of springs. The 12-inch mounts
for the Iowa were constructed upon
this principle, which dispenses with
the use Of the hydraulic piping, al
ways hitherto considered necessary for
the manipulation of these heavy guns.
In designing the arrangement Of the
batteries of the new battle ships, the
department. has aimed to provide that
every turret gun shall be able to fire
upon any point lying within large
angle on either beam of the ship, and
that every broadside gun shall be able
to fire within the same angle on it's
own side. This principle is most fore
IDLY illustrated in the designs of the
Kearsarge and Kentucky and of the
Illinois, Alabama and Wisconsin.
The appropriation fer current ex-
pehses for the fiscal year ending June
80, 1896, exclusive of public works,
amounted to s14 ,843, sos, and there was
drawn by acquisitions to June 80, 1896,
$13, 002, 625, leaving a balance July i,
1885, of 81, S40,980. There was drawn by
acquisitions from July l, 1896, to Oc-
tober 81, 1896, s1,099, 522; balance Nov. l.
1896, $741, 457. Balances in the hands of
disbursing officers at same date were
So, 1856; available balance Nov. l. 1896,
| $744, 794. For 1897, the current fiscal
year the appropriations aggregate $780,,
562.660, including 81, 529, o54 for increase
of the navy. The estimates for the ifs
cal year 1898 include $19, 837 1853 for run
ming expenses, and s14,37 1888 for in
creases to the navy The total for the
year as estimated is $34, 215, 1886.
NEW BATTLESHIPS.
Herbert says:
When the department undertook, in 1892
the task Of laying down battle ships, the
drafts of the Indiana and Columbia classes
| bureau of construction was, directed to pre-
| pare plans for the new vessels that should
give them two feet less draft. 1t was urged
| that there were difficulties in the way, but
| the order was insisted upon and carried
| out. The battle ships laid down during this
| administration are, therefore, of lighter draft
! than those previously designed proved to be
when completed, being twenty-three feet at
! normal and twenty-five feet at extreme draft.
| This step, which in the right direction,
| it now appears did not go far enough, or
| perhaps it would be fairer to say that the
battle ships heretofore laid down, while
| adapted to the defense of the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts are not as we'll suited for
| operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Battle
/ ships that could enter the harbors of Savan-
nah, New Brunswick, Key West, Tampa,
Pensacola Mobile and the mouth of the Mis-
J sissippi at all times would have an immense
advantage over the battle ships of foreign
nations, few, if any. of which could enter
these ports. Light-draft battle ships, if we
! had them could make any of these ports
bases of supply, could sally forth from them
i or retire into them at will, and could there
I fore almost always offer battle on their own
i terms There are also many of our ports
| farther north which would give the same
+ advantages to such ships. / therefore recon-
mend the authorization at the coming ses-
esion of congress of three such battle ships.
The tables Of the comparative strength of
the navies of the world clearly show that we
are still quite deficient in torpedo boats. Very
many of the naval powers OF the world,
/ which are in other respects much weaker
/ than we have two or three times as many
| torpedo boats. l respectfully recommend the
i authorization of twelve torpedo boats at the
| coming session of congress.