The herald., 1897-11-28
LONGS REPORT
On Condition and Needs of
the Navy
VESSELS ARE NOT NUMEROUS
BUT NO BETTER FIGHTERS ARE
AFLOAT
VESSELS ARE NOT NUMEROUS
The Greatest Needs Today Are Dock
ing Facilities, More Ammuni-
ton and Many More Men
Associated Press Special Wire.

Associated Press Special Wire.
WASHINGTON, D. c., Nov. 27.-The
annual report of the secretary of the
navy, Hon. John D. Long. was made pub
lie today
He states in 1t that the present effec-
tive force of the navy consists of four
battleshps of the first class, two battle
ships of the second class, two armed
cruisers, sixteen cruisers, fifteen gun
boats, six double -turreted monitors, one
ram one dynamite gunboat, one dis
patch boat one transport steamer and
five torpedo boats. There are under
construction five battles ships of the first
class, sixteen torpedo boats and one sub
marine boat. There are sixty-four other
naval vessels, including those used as
training, receiving and naval reserve
ships, tugs, disused single turreted mon
itors. and some unserviceable craft.
There is, further, the auxiliary fleet, of
| more than twenty subsidized steamers
which comply with the requirements of
the postal act of March 8, 1891, with re-
gard to their adaptability to naval SER
| vice, and to an armament of main and
secondary batteries; second, of a much
greater number of merchant marine
steamers, whichc an be availed Of at any
time of need.
| These auxiliaries, ranging from 1000
to 1900 tons, will, if occasion requires,
| form powerful fleet OF ocean cruisers.
capable of swift and formidab attack
upon an enemy's commerce. Their great
coal capacity will also enable them to
remain long at sea in search of the
whereabouts of hostile vessels.
The country is to be congratulated,
says the secretary of the navy, upon the
results obtained in the rebuilding of the
navy. While it's ships are not so many
and it is not necessary that they should
be-as those of some other great powers,
| they are, in class, power and speed,
workmanship and offensive and defen-
sive qualities, the equal of vessels built
anywhere else in the world.
| With the exception of the five battle
ships, the vessels under construction
| should be completed during the coming
year.
| After reviewing the naval programs
of the principal foreign powers, the Sec
retary says that it appears, from the re-
port of the bureau of yards and docks,
that the most urgent need of the naval
service today is an increase of docking
facilities. OF the eleven government
docks-nine on the Atlantic and two on
the Pacific coast-three were designed to
accommodate battleships of the first
class, one at New York, one at Port
Royal, S. c., and one at Bremerton,
Wash, on Puget sound. But the dock
at NaU York haC hoan fnrc iv he
and is likely to be for three months more,
undergoing repairs. and at the dock at
Port Royal there is not only an insult
ficiency of water, but the cross-section
of the dock is too small to safely admit
battleships with bilge keels affixed. On
the Pacific coast there is but one deck of
sufficient size to dock a modern battle
ship. This is on Puget sound, 900 miles
from San Francisco. Access to it is
through narrow channel twenty miles
long, one side of which is in possession of
a foreign country. This lack of docking
facilities should be remedied at the
earliest possible moment. The neces-
sity is imperative. He therefore recon-
mends that the report of the special
board appointed by the department in
August last, which will be presented to
congress as soon as it meets, be substan-
TALLY carried out.
Secretary Long estimates the running
expenses of his department for 1898 at
s19 s37, ,153, and for 1899 at $22, ,232, 72S. His
estimates for the increase of the navy
are: 1928, 34,215936; 1899, $50, O01.
The following table shows the present
number, class and pay of officers and
men:
1903 officers on the active list, $3,414,-
500.
46S officers on the retired list, $685.
976.
1000 petty officers, seamen and other
enlisted men, SO, 40S, 1876.
1900 apprentice boys, 1929, 900.