The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-04-10

the large side wheels Of steamers were so
exposed to damage in battle and occupied
so much broadside space to the sacrifice
of guns that the objections to them were
almost fatal.
The use of few steamers In the war
with Mexico gave such conclusive proof
of their military advantages over sailing
ships that an established policy of build
ing steam fleet was inangurated. The
first few vessels thus created were side
wheel steamers, of which the well-known
Powhatan was the type, but thereafter
Ericsson's system OF submerged screw pro-
pulsion was generally adopted In the
decade following the Mexican war over
twenty fine war steamers were added
to the Navy, several OF them being then
unequaIIed in any navy. The Merrinac
class of screw frigates and the Hartford
class of screw sloops belonged to this
period.
The Civil war then came, and brought
with it an enormous expansion OF our
fleet Screw sloops and frigates were
built in great numbers, but the chief &C.
tiyity was directed to the construction OF
ironclads and swift cruisers, both types
being the production of the requirements
Of war. John Ericsson Monitor was typi-
cal OF the ironclad, and was the germ
OF the modern battleship, being mast
less vessel with low iron sides, propelled
only by steam, and having the guns pro-
tected by circular iron turrets, worked by
engineers with machinery The swiftcst
and most successful of the cruisers was
the Wampanoag. projected by Engineer in
Chief Isherwood, and furnished with re-
markable machinery, of his design. The
swift cruiser, Ike the iron turret ship. Las
survived all opposition, and the main
features Of the two types are now COM
bined to make the formidable fighting ship
OF today.
The building of ships and development of
naval weapons ceased with the civil war,
and for almost score of years cur Navy
wasneglected and a condition Of decay and
inefficiency so grave as to becomea national
disgrace resulted Finally public awak-
enlng to public danger occurred, and within
the last ten years we have witnessed such
naval progress that there is now good
reason to hope that the American Navy
is once more to reach a condition worthy
Of tile dignity and power of the American
Republic.
OF naval operations and made possible
many undertakings formerly undreamed Of
Particularly striking in this connection are
Mr. Benefits accounts OF naval achieve
ments during the civil war, the most inl-
portant OF which could not even have
been attempted with sailing vessels. Steam
enabled Porter and Farragut to command
the Mississippi River from its source to its
mouth and thus split the Confederacy IN
TWAIN; in the hands OF the enemy as an
aid to privateering it drove American com
merce from the high seas, so that it b as
not even to this day returned TO its former
field
The engineer first appeared in the United
States Navy in 1896. when Mr.. Charles
H Haswell, of New York, was appointed
superintendent of construction and later
chief engineer OF the second Fulton. APP
pointnients were first made by captains
of ships in which the engineers were to
serve, and the tenure of office depended
upon the whims Of the captains, though
the engineers were bound to obey the
articles for the government Of the Navy
without gaiDin any protectionor privileges
from them. The oRe-si1ed arrangement was
disturbed by Congress in 342, when law
was enacted making the engineer corps
permanent part of the naval establishment.
The same law created the office of EN-
gineer-in- chief of the Navy and specified
that chief engineers should be commission
ed officers