Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-01-28
Information on the Navy.

The American people have of late
years been pointing with pride" to the
up-to-date navy the government is con-
structing and placing ON the seas for
the protection of commerce and the coast
cities. but Il recent report, made by As
sistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt
to congress. throws an interesting side
light upon the navy problem which is
worthy of public attention.
Mr.. Roosevelt calls attention to the
fact that the Chicago is being rebuilt at
a cost greater than the contract price
for her original construction. He says:
There may be a legitimate question as
to the policy of rebuilding IN old ship at
such "a cost, but if rebuilt at all the job
should be done thoroughly. 1t is better
by far to have Il smaller number of
ships iirst-claSS and equal to any foreign
ships as regards their batteries. rather
than have a larger number of ships
really inferior to foreign ships that are
neminally their equals"
MI. Roosevelt then continues with
some information. which is hrrerepro-
duced for the bcneiitof the public:
IL earnestly wish we could withdraw
from active service the cruisers fitted
with slow fire guns and substitute ships
with rapid fire batteries.
AT present the real fighting %efficien-
cy of ships like the Raleigh, Cincinnati.
Marblehcad. Montgomery and Olympia,
compared with foreign vessels OF the
same nominal class, stands high, while
the reverse is the case of ships like the
| Baltimore. San Francisco and York
town.
IL have Just been talking with Cap
tain Cotton. who commanded the Phila-
delphia when she lay side by side with
the japanese cruiser Naniwa at Hawaii.
In event of "a fight the Naniwa's possibili-
| " of efficiency probably would have been
twice as great.
THE Philadelphia's IL siX-inch guns
were of the old-fashioned slow-tire type,
six in broadside. Against these the
Naniwa would have pitted her two
tcn-inch pivot guns and three of her
| six rapid-tire siX-inch guns. From three
SuliS ulOilt Ilcl Shllltu llC"o "pulu SoO
more than double the volume of fire
than it would have been possible to
obtain from the six guns OF the Phila-
dcIphia.
THE place of the Philadelphia was
taken by the Baltimore. The latter
would have put two eight-inch guns, old
fashioned slow type, against two ten
inch guns of the Naniwa and put in
broadside three rapid-fire guns OF small
calibcr on the Japanese ship.
If hostilities had occurred and we
had lost a ship like either of these in a
single fight with another ship of the
same nominal force we could never
erase its memory from our national rec
ords."
1t must be clear to every thinking
American that WI have reached a point
as a nation when we must make earnest
efforts and sacrifices. if necessary, to
place the navy upon terms of equality
with other nations. Japan will be
vastly superior to the United States as
a sea power in u very short time, while
Germany's naval program. il carried
out, will place her ahead of us within
the next six years.
1t is simply humiliating to think that
the Pacific feet had nothing to offer for
the protection of Hawaii that the Japan
csc cruiser then could not have sent to
Davy Jones locker with but little effort.