The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-10-21
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED.
Engineer-sn- Chief EIelville's Report OF
Lessons of the War.

Washington, October 2O.-In the war
which has just ended the first modern
steam vessels have had thoroughl trial,
SAYS Engineer-in-Chief Melville in his
annual report, and then he proceeds to
note the important lessons, ESQ. far as they
respect the machinery Of. the vessels,
which have been taught by thai. expert
ence, as follows:
Tho vital necessity of giving the ma
chinery OF vessels in reserve frequent test
under working conditions. In several
cases defects were found after the ships
had begun cruising, and the repairs laid
them up in the midst of the war. That
fresh water for the boilers is almost as
important as coal, and that distilling
ship is an important adjunct OF fleet
away from base where fresh water can
be readily obtained is seen. Every fleet
needs repair ship to enable the efficl-
ency to be maintained without leaving
the station.
There is great tactical advantage in
water tube boilers.
If more than two main engines are to
be fllied, there should be three engines
driving three screws and not two main
engines on each shaft.
The New York and Brooklyn had their
forward engines disconnected at the time
of the Santiago fight and could not stop
to couple them.
There should be frequent trials under
forced draught to keep the blowers in
good condition.
The location of the forced draught
blowers is a matter of serious Importance.
In some of our ships the blowers had to
be located in corners or pockets in the
fire rooms, where it was impossible for
human being to give them proper atten-
tion owing to the intense heat.
The personnel of the service should be
adequate to the demand. 1t has been
noted for some time that this has not
in vessels without any increase in the
personnel. With sending nearly every
officer on the active list to sea we were
able to givesthe regular ships fair.com
plement of trained men. but had the war
been of long duration, we would have
been greatly embarrassed to supply the
places of those disabled.
We must make provision for training
the enlisted men of the engineer depart
ment,
Our fighting ships must have the high.
est practicable speed. 1t is very grRtify
ing therefore that our three new battle
ships are to have speeds of at least Is
knots, which is now recognized as the
standard.
The record made by the repair ship
Vulcan. it is said. will convince the most
skeptical that this floating shop was of
inestimabls value off Santiago, and there
is no more importanb feature today than
the maintenance Of such ship well
stocked with very large feet
The chief engineer says there was
remarkable absence Of casualty in the
machinery department. of the vessels in
the fighting squadron during the war but
Of the torpedo boats he says:
''IJ is sad affair that nearly every one
of them has had some accident and the
machinery of some of them at close
range were in a fair condition, some may
be described as horrible, where collars
burnt, piston valves stuck, and every
thing was in bad shape. This condition OF
affairs seemed attributable to the absence
of trained engineering, supervision and
tho use of boats for duty to which they
were not adapted
References Is made to the remarkable
performance of the little Turbina in Eng
land, but it is stated that the results OBJ.
tained do not yet warrant an expectation
of the substitution of the Turbina for the
steam engine in the near future.
The engineer-in-chief includes in his
report very strong recommendation
looking to the early enactment of the per-
sonnel bill now pending in Congress
Vi hich he SupnOrtS.