The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-04
FUTURE OF U. S. NAVY
DESIGNER OF PEERLESS OREGON
DISCUSSES BATTLE SHIPS.
Ideas on Our Needs in the Way of
War Ships and Guns by a Man
Who Ought to Know.


Lewis Nixon, in New York Herald.
The most striking lesson to be learned
from the war is that many things are ex-
actly as had already been predicted by those
giving thought to the subject. The adj
vantages of great speed, of protection for
men working at the smaller guns, of great
rapidity of fire and smokless powder have
been appreciated for years, and it has been
the endeavor in the various designs made
for war ships to combine all these features,
each developed to it's uttermost limit.
The war between China and Japan had
shown the disastrous effect of infiammable
material in the construction of the hull of a
vessel, and the lesson was only emphasized
in the fight off Santiago. To do away al
most entirely with wood, except as a cover
for the spar deck. and where wood is used
to make this fireproof, is policy which
no longer can be departed from. Metal will
be used very much more than it has been
in making furniture and in the lighter bulk
heads
The chief constructor of the navy has
been uniformly in favor of metal construc-
ton wherever possible and of fireproof wood
where wood was necessary.
The question of armor is, of course, one
Of the most important that confrontS us.
With the increased use of rapid-tre guns,
the absolute necessity for extending the
armor to very much greater areas on the
sides of the ships makes it necessary to re-
duce to a large extent the thickness of the
armor usedS
For this reason we find most of the mod
ern ships going down to a thickness as low
as nine inches for the belt The best idea
one can get of the development in this di-
rection will be by analysing the design of
our first battle ships-that is, the Indiana
and Oregon class, designed in 1890.
Great Britain had then just started eight
battle ships of IA 900 tons, having side armOr
eighteen inches thick and an armament OF
four 13l5-inch guns and ten six-inch guns
The mounts of the 13l2-lnch guns were pro-
tected by Seventeen-inch armOred barbetteS
The guns themselves were mounted in bar
bette in seven of the vessels and in a tur-
ret on one of them These guns, to be load
ed had to return each time to the middle
must be revolved all the way to the center
line" loaded and then revolved back again
to their original position if they were to be
Secretary Tracy succeeded in getting an
appropriation for three ccast-line battle
ships of about $500 tons displacement, to
carry the heaviest armament and armor
possible.
THE ENGLISH PROGRAMME.
Now. let US see just what this meant
England's programme called for 1872
guns, and if we were to follow out the true
intent of the law it seemed that we should
not go far below this size
The loading of the gun at the middle
line" as designed by the English. seemed
to me a great mistake, and l asked the sec
rotary of the navy if a thirteen-nch gun
which could load in every position, made
of great length, would not in his opinion
be more efficient than the 131s-inch guns of
the English, and therefore carry out the
law. After some consideration he directed
the use of the thirteen-inch gun loaded in
every position.
The question of armor was one admitting
of but one course. The English boats which
carried eighteen inches of armor. SO
eighteen inches of armor put on our
boats; Later this armor was made of
nickel steel and Harveyized, so. as COM
pared with these boats, we are fully so per
cent. more efficient.
The question of the remainder of the
armament to be carried by this boat was
q subject of considerable study, and ii was
arrived at follows:
Assuming that the thirteen-inch guns of
our ships loading in every direction. and
therefore having very much greater rapid
ity of fire than the thirteen and half-inch
guns of the Englishmen, had become disab-
led on both ships, we would have left on
the English ship ten six-inch guns only
protected by light shields
sion that the torpedo boat is an extinct type
Is think, mistake. have never be-
lieved strongly in these boats. but l do
think there Will be opportunities to use them
between nations when evenly matched.
have always thought that the proper policy
for the government to follow was the build
ing of battle ships
Advance all that is possible in the battle
ship, make it to meet the demands of the
changes as closely as they can be foreseen,
but keep on building battle ships-ships
able to meet and defeat the heaviest and
most powerful vessels that an enemy can
bring against us. After we have completed
this there will be time enough to develop
other types. although they will be gradual
ly added anyway.
| have always had strong faith in the fut-
ure of the aerial torpedo and think that a
seini-submerged vessel of great speed will
undoubtedly be developed, carrying an
aerial torpedo gun which should begin OPP
eratiOns against an enemy at a distance of
at least five thousand yards. and by hav-
ing all parts protruding from the water
closely as desired to the enemy without
danger to itself.
LIGHT MORTAR VESSELS
Light draught mortar vessels will be inn
portant factors in our coast defence-boats
drawing five or six feet of water and carry
ing. say four twelve-inch rihed mortars.
The mortar vessels having very little free
board can be built quickly and cheaply.
AS regards personnel" there is nothing
in the present war which shows that there
can be any improvement in the efficiency
and esprit of the sailors or officers of the
United States navy.
To meet the British navy as it stands
to-day 1 think n modified type of the In
diana, with greater sreed and very much
greater development of the rapid-fire guns,
keeping the present armamentbf thirteen
inch guns and eight-inch gun$ip armored
turrets, would be a ship which could sweep
the seas. In order to do this we should have
to go to a fourteen-thousand-to dispace-
ment, and the vessel even then would cost
but little more than the Indiana or Oregon
class.
There should be eighteen battle ships on
the Atlantic coast and twelve on the Pacific.
If we had that many fast battle ships we
would not bother about the cruisers, but six
New Yorks and six Olympias would be
most useful additions.
Possession of torpedo boats is very much
a case of fashion, and as other nations are
building them we must build them.
With the stand that the United States
must now take among the nations of the
be simply one of defense side, and
for offensive purposes For work on the
high seas am not great believer in the
torpedo boat. For harbor-defenSe purposes
there should be number of torpedo boats
of about two hundred tons displacement.
and these will undoubtedly be built unless
the development of the submarine boat i'm
presses itself so upon those who shape our
policy that they will be built for this form
of defense
The submarine boat is now an efficient
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