Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-01-17
OUR NAVY.

OUR NAVY.
In these parl0us times when tn
whole world 5 talking war and all
Europe IS shifting blood, t wouldr1
take much 10 str up a first-class all
around shindy. Europe knows this.
Every European government has been
in a chronic state Of preparation for war
for years. but just now they are putting
in some more than usually important
work in this direction and this IS par
ticularly true of our ancient enemy,
England. In view Of the general ST
uation. it IS timely to look over our
own resources and estimate their
strength. for though the chance is very
small indeed that The United States will
be involved in war, It IS still chance.
According to the report of Chief Con-
s,ructor Eichborn, of the Navy Depart
ment. there were on July last in COM
mission or fitting out II wooden vessels
of 1890 tons displacement, and 80
steel or iron vessels Of 104,5OO tons dis
placement. or a grand total Of 43 vessels
Of 22.SOq tons displacement. Only
small reliance. however. could be placed
upon such relics as the wooden frigates,
the thirteen old iron single-turret mont
tors Cnow mainly in use as training
ships for the newly created naval mil
:t.a) and the six unarmOred vessels laid
ND in ordinary. Neither is it possible
10 take into present account the Kear-
sarge and her sister. the authorized new
battle ships, nor the torpedo cruiser still
unbu.lt. Otherwise, though, IN an emer-
geacy. as was directly shown, but
brief period of time would elapse before
all the navy could be made ready for
service.
Recognizing these exceptions, the new
navy may be said to consist Of six bat
tlesh.ps. two armored cruisers, Is I'M
armored steel cruisers tall but three of
which are Of the protected type), six
double-turret monitors, Is gunboats, 10
torpedo boats, the ram Ka,ahdin, the
third-raters Dolphin and Bancroft, and
the fourth-rater Vesuvius. The grand
total is thus a war fleet Of SO practically
modern craft. OF the batleships, the
largest and strongest is the Iowa G1,-
400 ,ons). with 12-:nch guns, as has
also the Texas 6.315 tons The In
diana. Massachusetts and Oregon are of
lO.2SS tons burden each, while the
Maine is Of 6,6S2 tons, with 10-inch
guns. OF the two unarmored cruisers
the Brooklyn is the largest and more
heavily armed: but the New York has a
speed of p knots an hour. OF the unar>
mored protected cruisers the queen IS
the Minneapolis C23.O7 knots, with the
razor-bowed Pirate" Columbia C22.S
knots as a worthy consort. The most
heavily armored Of all is the Chicago,
now being repaired The Olympia and
Baltimore both carry powerful batter
les as well. The other cruisers rank
in about the following order: Ph:ladel-
ph.a. San Francisco, Newark, Raleigh,
Cincinnati. Charleston, Boston, and At
lanta. The unprotected cruisers are the
Detroit. Marblehead and Montgomery.
The chief gunboats are the Yorktown,
Concord and Bennington. Only three
Of the ten torpedo boats (he Cushing,
Ericsson and St,lett0 have been
launched
The shipyards, the steel armor plants
and the gun works Of the country are,
however. in the best of condition. Ar
NOR could be Immediately forged for
the two merchantmen Of the reserve
naval force. And in the hour Of need
as great a new war fleet could be put
afoat as was born in the days of '76,
1872 and the Cos.
-O