The times., 1898-05-17

the armored cruiser must fight, for
| that is her function. Perhaps she may
! be likened to the advance guard OF an
/ army which must meet the enemy,
| fight him and hold him in check, If ne
| cannot beat him, until the main body
the battleships-comes.
The great fighting unit in a fleet ac-
ton is the battieship. She is designed
to stand to her work, TO give and take
! the hardest of blows, and to overcome
any ship that may oppose her. Her
| armor is the most invulnerable, ner
| guns are the heaviest, and the quail
| tiles of the cruiser and armored cruls-
er are subordinated to secure this pre-
| ponderance of protection and arma-
| ment- Speed is rarely sought and coal
| capacity is of secondary Importance,
| though, to be sure, both these matters
| receive a certain amount of attention.
Not unlike the battleship in essential
| characteristics is the monitor, but 1t
must be remembered that in the mon
itor both speed and coal capacity are
of still less consequence than in the
| battleship, for the monitor is to do her
| work near q base and in comparatively
smooth water, whereas the battleship
| can operate at some distance, and
quite as effectively blow high or blow
low. The latter is a sea keeping yes
sci, the former is not not, the one be-
longs to the off shore line OF defense,
the other to the coast defense; the bat
| tlship is common to all navies the
world over the monitor is found only
| in the United States.
A study of the development of bat
tleshps will show that the monitor is
her prototype; though as the two ap-
pear today, the one high up above the
water, bristling with guns, the other
| almost awash, with two conspicuous
turrets, there is little to suggest how
the one was evolved from the other.
From battleship TO torpedo boat is a
long jump, the one being the most
powerful, the other the weakest of war
ships; nevertheless the torpedo boat
was designed with the object of de-
stroying the former
So much has recently been told of
| torpedo boats and torpedo boat de-
stroyers that little remains to be said.
| The boat is good enough craft for
coast defense work, and in smooth
water on dark night she may shoot
her bolt with effect, but she is of no
account in heavy weather; and fur
ther, since the torpedo boat destroyer
merely an immense torpedo boat
has been pitted against her, the sphere
of usefulness of the boat has been
much restricted. The destroyer can
keep the sea, can go like lightning and
can work with the fleet. She is a most
| valuable adjunct TO the fighting eff
ficiency OF a squadron and one we
! would gladly add TO ours.
| Torpedo craft make excellent pick
cts, especially when large ships wish
to lie snugly at anchor So, too, for
that matter do tugs, these improvised
sentries which we have lately added
in great numbers to our fleet. They
steam about within five or ten miles
Of a squadron, watching carefully for
night hawks, and, as they are well
armed with small rapid fire and au-
tomato machine guns, can deliver a
perfect rain of bullets that would
quickly annihlate any swiftly dashing
pigmy antagonist.
These armed tugs are often called
gunboats, but this is a misnOmer. The
| regularly constructed gunboat is a
larger craft, partaking of the nature of
a cruiser Indeed, the gunboat prop
Ell is but a small cruiser in which speed
and coal carrying capacity are slightly
sacrificed in order to permit of the
mounting of a strong battery The
duties of gunboats are. quite like those
of cruisers, though not so extensive,
since their range of operations is
necessarily restricted by their limited
steaming radius.
When fleets go to war they must be
accompanied by many auxiliary YES
sells, non-combatants but none the less
indispensable TO the welfare of the
squadrons. For instance, the boilers
Of modern men-of-war should be fed
with fresh water On the blockade and
away from bases, cruising. this is not
obtainable; the time and coal needed
to condense water cannot be spared,
hence distilling vessels are a compoD-
ent part of a thoroughly well equipped
war fleet. Such auxiliaries mount but
a couple Of small guns 10 Tepel boat
attacks. a repair ship is another i'm
portant adjunct Such a ship is fitted
up like a machine shop, carrying spare
plates, tools and extra portions of ma
chinery. She has FORCES, punching
machines and other appliances for re-
pairing damages, and carries a crew
composed to a large extent Of ma
chinists and iron shipwrights.
With our fleet there is also a hos
pital ship. fitted with wards, operat-
ing rooms, modern appliances for
surgical operations and for caring for
the sick and carrying a corps of train
ed nurses This ship is painted white
and flies the Red Cross flag, so that
the foe may know that her mission is
sacred. She is absolutely unarmed.
Most important, however, of ali these
auxiliaries is the collier. Indeed, the
limit Of offensive sea operations is he
limit of the coal. Stop the supply of
coaI and the fleet must give over fight
ing on the sea and return home. A
collier carries nothing but coal, every
thing being sacrificed to make re-
for bunkers and the machinery to take
in and whip out coal most expeditions
ly.
Still another adjunct is the refrig-
Grating ship, with an ice mandatory
on board and immense cold storage
rooms for carrying fresh food.
So it is seen that to move a great
feet of ships is an undertaking akin to
moving an army, and requires elabor-
| ate preparations in order that the
fighting element of it may be adequate
to meet every emergency that can pos
sibly arise.