The morning times., 1897-01-03

well along in hand. Their principal char
acteristics are as follows: Armament, two
$40 guns in barbettes and ten 5.5-inch
rapid firers. Protection, a belt at the water
line, 2 inches thick along the central body
OF the ship. Tie barbctte armor is also 2
inches thick The coal capacity of 200 tons
should give a steaming radius of 10 600
miles at o knots.
In our service there is no class of vessel
corresponding to these efficient cruisers,
which were designed especially TO protect
the Spanish colonies, and are i'll every way
suited for this purpose. In our service the
only approach To them is, in the point of
size, to be found in our second-class battle
ships, the Maine and the Texas off ,0ooand
$500 tons, respectively. The former has
four 10-inch guns in turrets ten inches
thick, and the latter has two 12-inch guns
in lo-inch thick turrets. Both have six g.
inch guns in their main battery.
Some Peculiar Types.
Besides these types of second class battle
ships we have in our navy some other types
peculiar to ourselves. We possess, for in
stance, one armored ram, the Katahdin, Of
2,200 tons-neither Spain nor any other
power owns a ship like our ram-and we
have five double-turrcted monitors, the
most powerful being the Puritan, of 5000
tons. She carries l4-inch armor on her
sides and turrets and carries an armament
of four Pinch guns and six 4-inch rapid
fire guns.
The Terror, the Amphitrite, the Monad-
mock and the Miantonomoh are OF about
half the Puritan's size. Their armor is
eleven inches thick and their guns are TO-
inch pieces These monitors are essen
TALLY coast defenders In smooth water
and for harbor work they have proved
themselves to be the best of types. Spain
has nothing like them, and, excepting Rus
sia, few naval powers nowadays approve
OF the building or maintaining of monitors.
1t should be said here that only ships
launched and ip fit condition for being
Immediately put into active service are
taken into consideration in describing the
more prominent features Of the vessels Of
Spain and the United States. 1t is well,
too, to remember that Spain has been much
hampered by internal disscnsions and debt
and revolutions while developing her navy.
Shipbuilding in the navy yards OF Spain
progresses very slowly. 1t took from ten
to twelve years to build 5000 ton protected
cruisers, and one of them, whose keel was
laid in October, i $50, is still on the ways,
progressing a t the rate of 0.SS ton per
day The cost OF building in the navy
yards is from three to four times as great
as the cost in private yards.
OF three protected cruisers OF the same
class, two built in England cost S223, $50,
while the one built in Spain cost 81 40, :
600, which, even allowing 25 per cent
for exchange, still make the Spanish built
ship cost five times as much as her sis
ter ships.
spanish Navy Yard.
1t is thought that this state of affairs is
improving. Certainly during the last year
the greatest activity has been manifested
in the Spanish navy yards in fitting out
ships for service in Cuban waters. Officers
We're sent into Scotland to inspect mer-
chant vessels suitable for conversion into
cruisers for such service, but none seems
to have been secured, and six steamers
OF the CUmpania TransatlaLtica, a mer-
chant marine organization, under sub
sidy to the Spani sin government, have been
supplied with their regular armaments as
vessels Of the naval reserve and ia ken into
service at monthly rental of 81 10 500.
The Spanish people in all parts of the
world have this year taken lively in
terest in their navy, and in some cases have
contributed money toward its enlarge
ment. An organization OF Spanish sub
Jects in Mexico is reported to have contrib
uted 1925, 600 toward purchasing torpedo
vessel, and other colonies in Caracas and
Lima have been equally patriotic
1t must be remembered that these con-
! tributions had nothing to do with the
governmental appropriations. For 1896
the naval estimates amounted To 81, 49,
600, sufficient sum to carry on the work
in hand. Among the items appropriated for
Were an IL, ,000-ton battleship, two 1000
ton cruisers, two torpedo vessels and some
! tugs.
The vessels building nowi In Spain, but not
yet far enough along to be launched or to
| he commissioned for active Sc ervice for a year
| or two longer, are three Z 000-ton armoreG
cruisers, OF the type above described. three
! torpedo vessels CT s 80 tons each, two 400
ton high speed torpedo boats, and some
launches. The vessels recently acquired,
which can be put into service if required,
are four torpedo boats Of the largest type
and twenty-five gunDoats. These last
range in size from forty tons to three hun
dred tons. They are intended for service
in Cuban waters, and several of them are
there now.
1t may be OF interest to know that up to
July Of this year Spain had purchased nine
vessels in the United States and converted
them into gunbOats. Most of them were
small yachts, their American names being
| Sparkle, John E. Thropp, Navesink, Shrews-
bury, Leon Albeit Petrol, Aztec, Dart and
To-,
Nordenfelt machine guns. Their displace-
ments vary from % to SO tons The speed is
aboutten knots and complement fifteenmen.
They are in service in Cuban waters. Spain
has also purchased, for use as a transport,
the Innan line steamer City of Richmond
The Navies Compared.
A resume of all the information to be OBJ
tanned concerning Spain's navy leads to
the belief that at this writing her armored
fleet that can be made ready for sea con-
sists of five excellent, thoroughly equipped
arnored cruisers and one equally efficient
| battleship, a total tonnage of about A. 900
tons displacement In speed the five arm
ored cruisers average nearly twenty knots
and the Pelayo sixteen. But this sixteen
is ample. Speed will never win the day
among battleships if the maneuvering pow
ers Of the slower ships are good.
This armored fleet is very powerful
| one. The printed data concerning the arna-
ments of these ships, the total number of
guns they carry and their calibers are as
| follows:
Inch. Inch. Inch. Inch. Inch Inch, Inch
Sal,' SH..' lS6 10 Il 3 3 60 8 IS 8 3 = !.