The San Francisco call., 1898-01-09

to predict that in future no British fleet will take the sea unless accom- panied by several of these handy little vessels. When the fleet is at sea the boats will act as scouts, keeping the Admiral informed of everything that Is happening on the ocean within a radius of two or three hundred miles,
 It will become impossible for hos tile force to take the fleet unawares, and the commander who has thesS scouts at his service will be able to choose between fighting and running away. And this. under the conditions of modern naval warfare, is every thing The terribly destructive wea- pons with which all battleshiPs are now armed rerder the annihilation of the weaker force almost @ certainty, No Admiral, in the future, will risk a battle unless he is certain the odds are with him, and the only way to in sure this is to obtain beforehand accu- rate information of the enemy's strength and movements
 If port has to be blockaded or a hostile coast watched, the destroyers will prove equally invaluable Expe- rlence during the British naval ma neuvers has shown that the small tor pedo boats now in use can be easily chased and captured by the destroy CTS. The torpedo boat, it must be re- membered, has no offensive weapon except her torpedo, and this Is design ca Tor use only against large vessels She could not use it, if she would against the destroyer, and in the mean tune she has to face a heavy fire from the guns of boat far swifter than herself There will be nothing for it put to turn and run back to port, and unless she has a long start. the swift est torpedo boat now known will not escape the murderous catcher.
 PractlcaIly, therefore, when the in- evltable great naval war comes. and circumstances render it desirable to invest an enemy's coast. two block ades will have to be established. The outer line will consist of heavily ar mored battle-ships or cruisers. watch ing for the hostile fleet and ready to attack it should it attempt to put to sea. But within this squadron there will be an inner guard, a fringe of swiftly moving torpedo-bo destroy CTS, who will make sure that no hos tile craft, however small, shall issue from the blockaded harbor Only bv the merest chance, and at the greatest of all risks, could a torpedo-boat es- cape through this line, and in prac- tice the attempt would probably never be made.
 For one thing, if a torpedo-boat sue ceeded in creeping out it Is tolerably certain that she would never succeed in getting back. Whether her attack on the battle-ships were a success or Q failure, the searchlights would dis close her whereabouts, and the catch CTS would take her under their tender care.
 done more to revolutionize the condi- tions of naval warfare than any which has been made during recent years.
 The torpedo-boat, once a much dreaded enemy, has received a blow from which it's prestige will never re- cover. The destroyer, which herself carries tOrpedoes and can use them if necessary, has taken the place of the mosquito craft, and now it is only a question which nation can build the greatest number of them.
 Just at present the United States has none, but the naval authorities at Washington cannot long overlook the signs of the times, and once American ingenuity is set to work on the problem. there is no knowing what develop ments we may see in this novel class of fighting ships. J. F. ROSE-SOLEY.