Evening star., 1896-09-12
THE NEW CUTTER GRESHAM.
British Naval Experts Regard Her as
q Man-Of-War.
n

British Naval Experts Regard Her as
Man-Of-War.
Special Dispatch to The Evening Star.
CLEV ELAND, Ohio, September 12.-At
half-past o'clock this afternoon the rev.
enue cutter Walter @. Gresham was
launched from the works of the Globe Iron
Company. British naval experts are Of the
opinion that the new vessel should be
classed as a man-of-war and not as rev.
eEue cutter. 1t Is known that the naval
attaches Of the British legation at Wash
ington have made a complete report to the
government Of Great Britain upon the char
acter Of the new craft. and that they have
classed the new ship as a gunboat. If this
report is accepted by the British govern
ment as hnal the launching Of the Gres-
ham VIII be contrary to treaty regulations
between the United States and Great Brit
ain.
By existing treaty relations each govern
ment Is permitted to keep but one war ves-
sci on the great lakes. The Michigan
serves this government at this time in this
capacity. 1t Is not known whether the
British government will enter a protest
against the presence of the Gresham in the
great lakes or not. 1t Is understood here
that no complaint has been made by the
British government to the State Depart
ment. In case that complaint is made. the
defense of the government would undoubt-
edly be that the Gresham and two similar
craft were constructed simply for revenue
marine service. Should objection be made
by the British government on the ground
that revenue cutter simply engaged In
preventing violations of the revenue laws
could have no possible use for torpedo
tubes and rapid-fire guns, such as the
Gresham. 1t is quite probable that the
State Department will call attention Of her
majesty's government to the fact that
England was first to adopt this novelty in
the construction of the revenue cutters
which were built two years ago for the
Canadian revenue marine. and that in ad-
dition to the novelty of their armament,
the Canadian vessels carry heavy steel
rams.
Quite unofhcially the officials of the rev.
new cutters for lake service will be pretty
formidable vessels They will carry bat
teries Of light rapid-fire guns, but they are
planned to carry much heavier battery
If necessary. They will be more than twice
as large as the vessels now in the revenue
cutter service and are expected to steam
over sixteen knots an hour. Contracts for
the remaining two cutters will be let in
November. The Gresham was designed for
service on one Of the upper lakes. 1t being
the intention for the craft to replace the
Johnson.
The English government during the past
few years has violated the treaty between
the two governments and possibly the
United States officials are unable to see
any reason why this country cannot main
tain revenue cutters on the great lakes
that are as formidable those which
patrol in the inland seas for the Britons.
Boats like the Michigan are virtually USE
less. Every time gun is fired aboard of
her the woodwork of the vessel is dam
aged.
The Gresham is 2O5 feet over all, 1Ss feet
water line. 32 feet beam, and 16 feet depth
of hold Her displacement at mean
draft of 10 feet 10 inches will be about
900 tons. She Is expected to maintain an
average speed of sixteen knots an hour
when the engine is developing about 1000
horsepower. She is built of the best open
hearth steel. the requirements for which
were that it should have a tensile strength
OF at least $1,000 pounds per square inch
and an elongation of not less than % per
cent in length of eight inches. -