Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-08-29
NAVY'S SECRET FACTS.
INFORMATION COLLECTED BY THE
INTELLIGENCE BUREAU.

u
fieet-How the Archives Are Conn
piled-A Record of the Worlds Ships.
When the war with Spain threat
ened, and before the actual beginning
OF hostllltles, the Secretary of the
Navy, at Washington, says the New
York Sun, was able to learn from his
subordinates on a few minutes no.
tice just what the strength of the
Spanish navy was, the character of
the vessels, the style of their arma-
ment-in fact, every bit of informa-
tion necessary to comparis on of the
navies of the two countries and a
forecast of the probable result of an
encounter between them. He found
out the character and extent of the
permanent defenses of Cuba and Porto
Rico and the Philippines. In fact, he
was able to assemble facts, the knowl
edge of which enabled him to take in
the whole situation at a glance.
The information about the Spanish
navy, on which Secretary Long was
able to call and which he is now using
every day, is locked up, with facts
about all the navies of the world, in
the secret archives of the department
kept by the Office of Naval Intelli-
gence. This Office is an attachment
of the Secretary's Office. 1t has ex-
listed for sixteen years, and in all that
time, until this year, it has never had
an official status. The clerks en-
ployed in it hitherto have been as
signed from other bureaus.
The Office was established in Secre-
tary Chandler's time. Its office was
to collect all the information obtain
able concerning foreign navies with
view to utilizing it in the building of
the new American navy which was
being planned. Uncle Sam has been
q pioneer in invention, but seldom in
experiment in naval matters. He has
chosen to go slowly and surely for
ward, waiting until the costly expert
ments of other nations had developed
the value of device before adopt
ing it.
In pursuance of this policy naval
attaches were sent to most of the for
eign courts with instructions to send
in information about foreign navies.
At the time the war with Spain began
there were naval representatives at
Paris, Vienna, London, Rome, st.
Petersburg and Madrid. Most of
these have since been recalled for
active service. These naval attaches
sent to the department. printed re-
ports as well as written observations
of naval operations and experiments.
Tho written reports were always
secret, and they cannot be seen to-day
without an order from Secretary Long.
They cannot be seen at all except by
some officer of the department, having
the Secretary's authority.
Another source of information was
the intelligence officer aboard ships.
Every Captain of an American vessel
on foreign station designated one of
his junior officers to make observa-
tions and report to the department,
and the other officers were asked to
give him the benefit of any informa-
tion they might pick up. Even the
petty officer and the sailor contributed
to the reports what they saw or heard
of the methods of foreign navies. No
subject was too small for observation,
from gasket to a sixteen-inch gun.
In addition to this special information,
all sorts of published information was
acquired-clippings from newspapers,
articles from magazines, photographs
of foreign ships, and pictures of for
eign guns and Notifications. The In
telligence Bureau contains the only
complete set of pictures of the Spanish
navy in the United States.
This accumulation of written and
pictured facts fills six large rooms. 1t
is arranged in cases against the walls
of these rooms, classified and care
fully indexed. Captain John r. Bart
lett, OF the navy, who is in charge of
it, explained the arrangement to the
correspondent the other day. He
pulled out file case which was one
of group marked "Ships." This
one was labelled "English ships"
The classification of these was marked
by red cards, standing upright in the
case, and each individual ship was
named on blue card which was held
by a rubber strap to a number of
W AltC Ou tdCu Wnll6 CdEu WIS
n reference to the files of the bureau.
In the case which Captain Bartlett
chose for illustration, Immediately be-
hind the blue card was card telling
of the launching of the ship; the next
card referred to a complete descrip-
ton of this ship; the next, to test of
her guns; the next, to an inquiry in
Parliament concerning her armament;
then came card referring to report
of an accident to her. And SO the
record went, until it comprehended
every incident in the history of that
particular ship-a detailed biography,
as complete as could be obtained in
the case of well-known public man.
The report on this ship is not ex-
ceptional. Every British ship has
like record in the Intelligence Bu-
reau. So has every Spanish ship.
The Navy Department has felt no anx-
iety at any time about Camara's fleet.
because it knew all along how incapa-
BILE were his ships.