The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-15
THE BEST-FIGHTING SHIPS.
Admiral JOuett Points Out the Good
Points of the Monitors.
Louisville Courier-JC

Admiral Jouett has always been great
advocate of an extensive system of coast
defense, and on this line he spoke yesterday
to a reporter. Questioned concerning the
strength against aggressors of New York
ct an editorial from the New York World,
OF Monday, Nov. s, an extract from which
is as follows:
mo war ship can approach within dozen
miles of New York on either side until it
shall have destroyed the formidable resist
ance of our great guns at Sandy Hook and
In the lower bay, or until it shall have
overcome our practically invincible borriers
IN the sound, and shall in addition have
passed the perils of He'll Gate with the ten
thousand torpedoes we should place there
II seriously threatened with attack
That paragraph" said the admiral, 'is
fallacious and misleading. You can only
see a ship eight miles out at sea, and there
fore, man-of-war twelve miles away from
| the harbor and totally beyond the vision of
| the gunners in the forts could leisurely
| throw it's shot and shell into New ork
| and be perfectly safe themselves. Give a
nall dozen good vessels with their high
| power guns, accurate charts and they can
| so place their shells that New York would
| be reduced in a surprisingly short time.
Forts are all right when 1t comes TO Keep
| Dor, but to prevent the ships from elective
| ly bombarding a city they must have the
assistance of our modern buil1 monitors.
The Puritan, for instance, is model of
| this kind of craft. She was built twenty
| years ago by John Roach, has a displace-
ment of 6,O60 tons, and was only recently
only thirty inches out of water and the two
turrets only peep about seven feet above
the surface Of the sea, so that at distance
OF one mile the vessel can only be vaguely
seen and looks like small, dark object.
Shells aimed at her from the ships of the
| enemy would strike the water and rico
chet above her, and 1 am sure that not
more than one out of a possible hundred
shots would be effective. And with all that
carries four twelve-inch guns, four six-inch
rapld-nring guns, four four-inch rapid-tirlns
guns, besides an armament OF Calling and
Hotchkiss guns. The boat is always ready
to stand out for sea. She can outlive any
gale, is sealed water-tght and with her
sides OF twelve-inch steel is almost invulner
able.
ANY large squadron blockading New
York city would be more powerful than all
question of time before either of them
would have to capitulate if the vessels
should concentrate their fire. But put three
or four monitors out in the shoal water
and let them poke their shot into the ribs
OF the enemy, and before you can say Jack
? obinson they will steam for the open sea
as fast as their screws can propel them.
4NoI onIy that, but SHOULD any o. The = =,
posing fleet become disabled monitor
could hustle up and tow her in as a prize
before the necessary repairs could be made.
Say that we are on the defensive instead
OF being the aggressors. We wouldn't want
to go abroad. Give us about thirty fleet
good pairs of legs like the Columbia and
Minneapolis, and we would have the enemy
tie Essex that was under command of Por-
ter during the war of 1872. Single-handed
she drove the commerce of England off the
Pacific ocean and was only finally captured
in neutral port. Forts are necessary, but
let us have more active and moving forts;
those that can venture out to defend the
coast and those that can prey upon the
commerce of the aggreSsor.
Let these little frgates go abroad; let
them burn, sink, destroy and then get
away. Run-why sir, would run like
dog after l had committed as much depre-
dation as possible and then saw bigger
fellow than / bearing down upon me. Let
US have about ten more monitors, even
though we have about that number now,
and we also need about twenty more tor
speedy frigates that 1 have just mentioned,
would put US in good fighting trim.
War with Spain? Well, it would be fool
hardy in the Dons to press us too hard.
Spain knows her navy is almost on a par
with ours, and as the fight would all be on
sea and about the vicinity of Cuba, she
| time, but only a very short time The
SpaniardS are an ignorant people, the most
densely ignorant, l believe, of any of the
civilized nations. But they naughty,
and should they their cause in Cuba
lost they would fight the United States OF
the expense of the freedom of the island to
save their honor.
LAS to war with England, that is almost
out of the question. England couldn't afford
it. If our ports were blockaded there would
be bread riot in the British isles in little
or time They are dependent upon
for their cereals. The United States, by the
way, / believe, is the only country that
could depend upon its own resources in case
of war.
Spain says she would first proceed to de-
| stroy our commerce. That is ridiculous
| Strange to say, but almost all of the exports
| of this country are carried by foreign ships,
| because the crews can be employed at
cheaper wages. This, however, is not to our
credit More merchantmen that could be
| turned into fighting frigates should be Ay
| ing the American flag. The government
IeI,D,. ahn11f in n inn
| such vessels, or let the big exporters build
| them and pay for their construction out
of what they would receive from ne gov
| try would really be embarrassed right now
| in case of war with any great power be-
| cause of lack of ships 10 convoy the sol
|