New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-09
NAVAL PROGRESS IN SIXTY YEARS.

| History has received several additional chap
| tiers in connection with England's celebration Of
the long reign of Queen Victoria and much Of
| IL is in the line Of what has been developed in
| that time in the kindred sciences Of naval archi-
| lecture sh;pbuilding and marine engineering. Ii
| Is shown that IN the last half-century the steam
| shlp-whether of the commercial marine or the
naval defence-and those who have worked TO
perfect it in all its parts have steadily pursued
| the even tenor of their way. and one may well
ask if the limit Of speed, of weight of guns. of
armOrcd protection. OF death-deang imple-
mens of war. has not been reached. Yet who
| can tell what fifty years more Of experiment
will demonstrate? Scarcely a day has passed
| since Queen Victoria was enthroned that some
| thing leading to higher attachments and prog
| ress has not been developed There has also
| been exposed the fallacy Of many so-caled in
| yentiOns or schemes, especially in the mercan-
| tile and naval marine. There can be no risk
| of being disputed in asserting that the grandest
| inception and the greatest failure of the age
was the Great Eastern She was truly the
| levathan of her time. but she would not be at
| the present day. She no longer holds the record
Of being the largest vessel ever constructed
| other than NOahs Ark for the new steamship
| Oceanic is four feet longer than was the Great
| Eastern. But the Oceanic Is destined to be n
| financial success for she is built for business
purposes
If one really wants facts TO prove how great
| the stride has been in marine architecture with
| i'm the allotted time Of man, he must search the
| history Of the marine world. II was only three.
| score years ago in 1897. that the first iron
vessel was classed in "Iloyd's Register" Iron
| for marine construction had mp to that date
| been used for only few canaboats and some
| small river steamers Still. ii was at least
dozen years later before iron surely. and more
| or less rapidly. began to supplant wood. Even
then when the Crmean War broke out, in 1854
the English Navy chung TO its wooden walls"
with their picturesque spread of canvas. The
guns Of Sinopc sounded the death knell of wood
On warShps. proving that tLey We're no proirc
| ton against shell fire. England then proceeded
to build a large fleet of armorcd floating bat
| ferries and gunboats. and while II is admitted
that France launched dn 1859, La Gloire
| the first lroncad wooden frigatc in the world
the British Admiralty had declared that sail
| ing ships were unfit for active service" and
| had decided upon building an armored iron
| screw battle-shp This was the Warrior The
parent Of Englands modern gigantic warShips
she was lnocned i'll lNr'. was OF ?.2Io IONS
displacement. II knots speed. ana her heaviest
guns fred projecile weighing IA pounds
with An energy equal TO The perforaion AZ The
muzzle Of Sc inches Of iron. The Magnificent
launched in 1896 IL Of 1890 tons has n speed
of l1ia knots. and her Finch guns fire $50
pound shells with al energy equal 20 the per-
foraiion al the muzzlc Of $50 inches OF iron.
The adven, Of the torpedo has brought into
existence not only new type ~ vessel. bnt
also the rapid firing gun-a weapon that j. made
Ia calibrcs VARYING from the tiny 3ponnder 10
he S-inci or labout) 200pounacr. The new
craft. callc! the torpedo-boai. has speed in
the neighborhood Of 80 knots though the Tur-
binia, with Its three screws on each shaft, has
exceeded this speed One Is moved to ask how