The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-19
NAVIES OF SPAIN AND JAPAN.
Their Strength as Compared with
that of the United States.

New York Press
That ambassador Porter. skilled alike in
war and diplomacy, would make such
statement as is paraphrased in this cable
Is not credited by any one in this country.
General Porter, it is argued, would not
make a foreign news agency his confdant
in a matter Of such gravity, nor would he
out of respect TO the high position he holds,
venture, for publication or otherwise, any
conclusion which he might reach even aca-
demically. 1t is more than probable that
the English news agency has been imposed
upon and that some practical Joker has
got hold of its correspondent. Either
that, or the stuff is of Manchester make-a
yard wide and all cotton.
But, while the statement Undoubtedly
never was made, it would excite no alarm
in this country should events cause such
elimination as an offensive and defensive
alliance between Spain and Japan. The one
nation is living on the reputation OF a past,
glorious but dead The other is awakening
from the luxurious Incidence of Oriental-
ism. 1t is looking toward progress and not
sary for its existence. IT is more eager to
learn than to fight-to barter than to
quarrel.
Spain a naval power is not great. It
has many ships, but not powerful ones, and
their guns. are not, except II few in
stances, OF modern make. She, has. five
armored central battery ships the Almt-
rante OQuendo, the Cardinal Cisneros, the
Princess Da Asturiai. the Infanta Maria
Theresa and the Catalina; two armored
cruisers, the Cristobal Colon and the Pedro
d Aragon: one broadside ship, the Pelayo;
SIX ordinary CrulSerS-Ine ALFONSO All,
Alfonso Kill Aragon, Castillo, Don An
tonic de Ulloa, Comde de Venadito and Don
Juan de Austna.
Because of the demands made upon 1t by
the rebellions in Cuba and in the Philippine
islands, Spain'S budget last year did call
for the rapid construction of many ships,
but the progress made upon them was slow,
and, when launched, they will be a half
dozen years behind the progress which SCI
ence is making. Even of the ships they
have the Cardinal Cisneros Is scarce COM
pleted, the Princessa dAsturias was in
jured at her launching, the Almtrante
Oquendo, though off the stocks in 1891, had
only completed her trials in 1896 The Pc
layo and Vittoria are being fitted with new
armament and boilers and the Cristobal
Colon while a mammoth ship, is cast-off
from the Italian navy.
Japan is ambitious rather than powerful
in her navy. She has tremendous contracts
made for the contraction Of ships but the
will not be until 1902. AT that date fifty
four ships of an aggregate displacement
1906 there must be delivered sixty-three ves-
sells OF total displacement of 69,S95 tons.
Her present navy consists of the bar
bettes Yashima, Full and Chin-Yuen-Gc,
the armored cruiser Chiyoda, the central
battery ship Flu So and the cruisers Aka
shi, Akitsushima, Hashidate, Itsukushimas
Tsukushi, Yayeyma, Yamato ana fosnlno.
All these vessels have better guns than the
Spanish vessels. The guns are in the main
Krupps and Armstrong;.
So far as this country Is concerned, Its
navy is SO superior in the number and
build of It's vessels and their armament
that comparisons would seem exaggera-
lions. There are eleven battle ships, or
ships Of the line. to-wit: The Indiana, 1O,2SS
tons; Iowa, Il, 410 tons; Maine, e,6S2 tons;
Massachusetts,, 1O,2SS tons; Oregon, 102SS
tons; Texas, 6Sl5 tons; Kearsarge, ll,525
tons; Kentucky, 11.525 tons. and the Ala
bama, Illinois and Wisconsin, of 600 tons
each. In armored cruisers there are the
New York of $500 tons and the Brooklyn,
of 9.2z1
In unarmored steel vessels there are the
Atlanta, 5000 tons the Baltimore 441S; the
Boston, 5000; the Charlestown $780, the
Chicago, 1850; the Cincinnati. 9,213; the Co
lumbia, 1875; the Detroit, 20S9; the Marhle-
head 20S9 the Montgomery. 2,0s9; the Min
neapolIs 1875; the Newark; 4OSS; the
Olympia, $50; the Philadelphia, 1924; the
Raleigh, 3.213, and the San Francisco, 4,09S
Then there is the ram Katahdin of 2,155
tons and the double-turret monitors de-
signed as coast defenders, the Amphitrite.
the Miantonomoh, the Monadnock, the
Monterey, the Puritan and the Terror Be-
sides there are fifteen gunboats each aver
aging more than 1,200 tons and thirteen sim
gle-t rret monitors, besides torpedo cruis-
ers and submarine torpedo boats.