The times., 1897-07-04
In Comparison With the Nayie3
Of the World.
FIFTH In RELATIVE RANK
England, France, Russia and Italy
Ahead of us, aud Germany Close
Behind-0ur Present Need Many
Mure Bhttleships-w What Other
Countries Are Doing.

what its politics oTdain, the defense OF It's
home coasts is always the first essential.
The nature of this defense is fixed, for be-
you'd the fogs, beyond the windy Phrases
OF specially interested corps, this Is prima-
rily naval The integrity OF every surf
beaten shore depends on It's outer and first
line, and this must be battleships! battle
shipsl battleshipsl!!-th the more the better
All else Is aux laTy; all else is ancillary
To these bdttleships, cruisers, scouts, ram :,
torpedo vessels, and gunboats should be
added, much as artillery and cavalty sup
plement the infantry, which is the battle
hope Of military strength ca the second
line heavily aIInuTered aud armamcnted
coast and hdTbor defense craft aud tor
pedo and submarine boats should be ar
rayed, and experimenting these, fortitica-
uious, submarine mines and floating OBJ
sLrucuons, all uuder naval control, should
be provided But above and beyond all
else are battIeships, the infantry OF the
sea Tie further we remain from this the
greater our danger, and hence, fortunately,
the value OF the type has been persistently
pressed upon Congress for the last ten years
/ by various Secretaries OF the Navy
Except the monitors, all our modern
strips are built of steel, and i'll this con-
ncction it may be wen to refer to a NUS
conception that sometimes confuses the
popular mind as to the significance OF the
tenn, steel vessels" To many unac-
qua!nted with technical language the word
steel" waen applied to d warship means
tnat a steel vessel is aunoIed-is one fit
t. cope with other aunored constructions
IS surely obtained by constructing a vessel
Of steel, but this is utterly unliEe that
given by amor, for an armored structure
is one TO hiCh, in a greater or less de-
gree, hUth iE extent and thickness heavy
plates, usually Of steel, are boited This
wrirhting of the sides is made necessary,
IN all vessels that can carry the load.
by tie destructive effect or modern ord
narce-by the development, that is, Of
pToiectiies, guns and explosives. Where.
| owing 10 limitations in.design, drrnJr can
rot bc earned, protection OF another
nature /. atternpted, generally with rather
! less than more success.
This protrction is applied 10 the 81 aces
! upon which the buoyancy Of TIE ship tests,
| and depends upon water-tight COM
| partnents. min ute subdivisions below
water and protective decks IN conuna-
| ton with the surrounding coal bunkers.
! patent water-excludiBg material is al times
| employed, ana these appliances are sup
| pCSed 70 limit the destruttive effect of an
| enemy's fire by localiZing the amount II
| water admitted. But 1T the lest, these
! ingenious ideas are only tentative auI
! our employment OF them is induced more
| by what we hope than By what We may
| reasonably erect II is III TCssiIle t. se-
| cure this localiztug protection in wooden
! hull, bccause Of the difficulty in making
] water-ticht the Joints between tin Der
| aDd metal. and it is FeIe that the main,
| and perhaps the only defensive advantage
! possessed hv steel UnarmoTed cruiser
! over wooden ship is found. 1t may he
! well, therefore, to remember that steel
! means simply an outer skin. generally
! uurec-Quarfers Of an inch in thickness
The New York and the Brooklyn are
oar only examples OF the armored cruiser
class. For general war purposes, the u .Je
attains an importance second only 10 The
battleship These vessels are intended To
| keep the sea for long periods, to destroy
an enemy's commerce and to overtake
and capture any commerce -destroyers put
! S1''NNN- --AAAlph-AA titS HiftA a tAulllCN ~
the New Tork-2I knots does not equal
! that achieved by the Columbia and Min
| neapolis, stHl it is sufficient u enable
| her 10 cope with the most powerful ships
| Commissioned today in other services and
TO capture over 80 per cent of all the
ships in tie world, naval or mercantile.
This is an achievement of great things,
and IT Is set down here as an object
| lesson for those VINO are interested in
| wonderful improvements made in the
motive power OF naval ships during the
| last decade. 1t seems to me, however
! that the desire for speed may he pushed
| too far, and that when a very grea
trial speed of II knots can be attained
by a 9,000-ton fighting ship like the New
York, 1T may be mistaken policy &c
build such Ships as he Columbia and Min
ncapolis, and a sheer waste of money tC
| produce, mainly because of an ingTa ned
ego' ism, such overgrown monsters rs the
british Terrible and Powerful 1t may
crafty national pride to have afloat the
srnarteSt ships, but doubt if mere smart
ness is the quality most strpnuonsIy tC
be sought in man-of-war, especially when
such expensive smarthesS may only hops
10 be shown in the very remote case ni
chasing bakers dozen OF ships
The monitor type is so generally CON
sidered as purely American in inception
that n denial OF its all-arOund usefulness
is looked upon as an ingratitUde to d friend
who proved his worth in an hour of sorest
need. As it appears TO me, the useful
ness OF the type is limited by high sea
conditions, which relegate it to the Sec
Ond or UrSSihlV to the third class In Our
scheme OF rational defense; for the inber-
ent principles which luckily make it q
poor target and give it great energy as a
gun carrier r1ilitare against its employ
meut save at the threshold of our ports.
But as "A fighting machine in any but mod
crate weather, this characteristic Amer
lean type belongs unfortUnat tely to the in
ner and not to the outer line, not to that
defiance in the open upon which national
| safety Elust rely. Five of these vessels
are in commission, and they are most
competent factors in our fleet for harbor
and smooth water coast defense. Three
the Puritan, Amphitrite and Monadnock
are described as double barbette turret
monitors, au1 two, the Terror and Mian-
tonomoh, as double turTet monitors. The
Puritan, noble, cye-compelling warship,
Is Of 8 $50 tons, and the Others are uf
about 1000 tons displacement. These
five, with the thirteen turreted vessels
already menii0hed as of slight war value
constitute Our force of low free-hoartlel
ships-though technically we must include
with these that fine coast defense vessel
Monterey, now in service on the Pacific
coast.