Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-10-21
LESSONS FROM THE WAR.
Some Things Which Ao Absolutely Needed IN
Maintaining Navy.

Maintaining Navy.
Washington, Oct. 2o.--The war when
has just ended was the first IN Which
modern steam vessels have had a thor
ough trial, says, Engineer-in-Chiefi Mel
proceeds to note the important lessons, 50
far u they respect the h4 oi tbng tne
experience, as follows:
The vital necessity of giving the macniii-
cry of vessels III reserve frequent tests
oaxng s dGndtans so
before war makes the vessels service ab-
solutely necessary In several cases de-
gun cruising, and the repairs laid them
up in the midst of the war.
/ The great importance Of having all our
Value Value properly fitted out for repairs and
with adequate supplies of non-perishable
stores. It has been evident for long
! but money to put in proper repair plant
was refused year after year, and only
granted after the war began. The move
nent of large bodies of troops and their
equipment almost blocked the railroads,
| SO that after the beginning of the war
it was almost impossible to secure the
| forwarding of tools and supplies
That fresh water for the boilers is al
most as important as coal and tnat a dis
tilling ship Is an important adjunct of q
water can be readily obtained.
! That every feet needs a repair ship to
without leaving the station, and eonse-
quently that several ships should be
equipped so as to be ready to proceed
The great tactical advantages of water
tube boilers. That if more than two man
engines are to be filled. there ould be
not two main engines on each shaft. The
| New York and Brooklyn had their for
ward engines disconnected at the time of
"a iU and M ttI
| couple them. An accident TO any part OF
either of the two engines on a shaft dis
ship this fraction would be only third.
| That there should be frequent trials
under forced dranght to keep the blow
men thoroughly familiar with working
| under maximum conditions. 1t appears
that some of, the ships had never been
| trials until the day of the fight at Sam
| tiago.
That the location of the forced draught
| blowers is matter of serious import
ance. In some of our ships, owing to the
demands for al other space for other
purposes, the blowers had to be located
in corners or pockets in the fire rooms,
where it was impossible for human be-
ings to give the proper attention., owing
| to the intense heat due to lack of venti-
| lation. In the Cincinnati, temperatures
as high as 2o5 degrees Fahrenheit were
noted. and the. commanding officer when
| face scorched. The blowers must be
placed where they can be properly cared
| for. or else they are useless and might
as well be left on shore
That the personnel Of the service should
be adequate for the material. 1t has been
| notorious for some time that this is not
| the case ana we are providing tor de-
cided increase in the number of vessels
| with no increase whatever in the per
| sonnel BY sending nearly every officer
on the active list to sea We would be able
to give the regular ships fair compile
ment of trained officers but had the war
/
| greatly embarrassed TO supply the places
of those disabled or invalideq, for voun-
I tecrs, however well trained in other
ways, cannot entirely replace the regular
officers.
That we must make provision for train
| ing the enlisted men of the engineer d--
partment II our enlarged fleet is to be
| efficient.
That our fighting ships must have the
| highest practicable speed. There is al
most general agreement on this point
among naval men. and it is very gratify-
ships are TO have speeds of at least Isl
| knots, which is now recognized the
standard.
The chief says that the most obvious
effect of the emergency demand was 10
| demonstrate in a vigorous manner the
/ facilities and deficiencies OF the various
the policy which had been previously ad-
vocated by this bureau, of placing the
of more t seu5hern nrn Yards and stations alto in
ence at Key West in meeting the first
| great rush created by the demand for
repair work on the ships was "a proof of
| the vast increase in the cost of repair
work occasioned by insufficient buildings
and plants.
Vulcan, 1t is said. will convince the most
| skeDtical that this floating shop was of
inestimable value off Santiago. and that
there is no more important feature, to-
| day. than the maintenance of a we'll
stocked ship with every large fleet.
| The chief engineer says that there was
/ a remarkable absence in he
machinery department of the vessels OF
the fighting squadron during the war.
| Il sad affair that nearly every one has had
some accident. and the machinery of some
at the close OF the war. was in a condi-
ton that can only be described as hor-
fihle. where boilers We're burnt cylinder
covers broken, pistons and valves stuck,
and everything in bad shape This con-
the absence Of trained engineering super
vision and the use of boats for duty TO
which they Were not adapted.
The report explains its last comment
by saying that it did not require much
experience to prove, that torpedo boats
cannot be used safely as dispatch boats
and as tenders on hlockading ships far
from bases of supplies or facilities for
efficient repairs.
Great stress is laid upon the import
ance of water tube boilers, and 1t is said
that it will be hard to find any design for
not include water tube boilers. owing TO
the demand for small weight and high
speed.
The battleships last contracted for will
have such boilers. Reference is made TO
the remarkable performance of the little
Turbina in England, but it is said that
the results obtained 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 re-
port very strong recommendation look
ing to the early enactment of the per-
sonnet bill now pending in Congress-
| which he supports by a train of cogent
reasoning
SANTIAGO's conDlTIou.
Ice plan: Rrnken Oihnru.isa Civ lc Ia ce.a