The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-09-23
FUTURE WARsH1P BUILDING

winch 1t has been credited with being.
The naval battles Of the future, as Of
the past, will be fought by the most
powerful engines of naval warfare that
can be constructed. The battleship, in
spite of its great cost, will continue to
occupy the prominent place. The tor
pedO boat will have it's uses, but they
will not be the most important uses of
a naval engagement. During the war
just closed the torpedo boat was prac-
tically of no use at all. Just before the
outbreak Of hostilities there was a great
scare on ccoun of the flotilla of tor
pedO boats n torpedo boa d~eStrOyers
which was said to be on its way across
he Atlantic from the Cape Verde ISL
ands. When the war actually came we
heard nothing more about them until
they were destroyed. In fact, torpedo
boats We're not used by either combat
ant except occasionally for dispatch
boats, a duty to which other craft could
be more advaatageously assigned. The
Winslow, it is true, was sent into the
harbOr of C%ardanas to recOnnOiter, but
his was gunboat service, and not the
work for which a torpedo boat is in
tended.
AS for the Spanish boats, there was
really nothing to fear from them. Sigs-
bee made quick work of the Terror off
San Juan, although the st. Paul, which
he commanded, was exactly the kind Of
a vessel, unarmored, and presenting a
full side, that torpedoes might be ex-
pected to inflict damage on.
The Furor and Pluton were among
the very best and most modern of the
destroyer class, and yet the Gloucester,
which is merely a converted yacht, de-
feated them both.
The war has taught us to rely on our
great battleships and cruisers with alb
solute confidence. Hitherto the ques-
ton has been open to fair discussions
tratiOn of their work in actual war
fare. But O we know what they can
do The two vessels which, as ships-of-
war, ave given the best accounts of
themselves on their merits, without re-
gard to the manner in which they We're
handled, although that, Of course, was
above criticism with all our ships, are
the Oregon and Brooklyn, and these
are types of vessels which are likely to
become more n more in vogue, not
only in the American navy, but in the
naVies of foreign powers. The Brook
Ign, for instance, with only foul inches
Of armOr on her sides, was far more
than a match for the Vizcaya, with a
tWelve-inch armor belt. This type Of
vessel combines speed with efficiency to
a most desirable degree.
lHf OHEGON AS "A
AS for the Oregon, it combines great
strength Of armament with a reason
able amount of speed and coal carrying
capacity in a proportion which seems to
be eminently desirable. Battleships will
be built more n more on the Oregon
plan, with greater speed, If possible,
without interfering with their effective
ness as fighting machines.
The navy will have to be supplied
with vessels particularly adapted to the
work for which, at the beginning of the
of vessels at all sorts of prices. When
the war broke out we were practically
without ships suitable for auxiliary SER
ivce. We had no patrol boats and hard
ly any dispatch boats, so that steam
yachts, %tugboats and even ocean lin-
ers had to be bought or chartered for
the use of the navy. The result was
highly gratifying when it is considered
with what sort of material we had to
bility of another war, the United States
will have to build ships especially that
are adapted for this auxiliary work.
Some of the ships which were bought
for this emergency can doubtless be
made to answer the purpose perma-
nently very well, but as a rule the aux
iliary fleet ought to be constructed
IIOll SpcCldly p1epdItu pidIlS.
We a speak from actual experience
now on a great many questions with
regard to which we could only theorize
three months ago. We know, for in
stance, that dry docks are needed large
enough to receive our biggest ships and
numerous enough to prevent the neces-
sity of their lying long without repair
or without having their bottoms clean
ed.
Our frst-class fighting ships have
been in a condition almost from the
beginning of the war, simply because
we did not have docks large enough to
put them into, n although ever our
smaller craft nave been so nearly ex-
empt from injury in actual combat, it
has been impossible to repair them
speedily, because we had not enough
docks capable even of accommodating
them. Had any of our ships suffered
been out Of the question to put them
quickly into condition again, and we
for dealing with "heavy goods" per-
fectly constructed signals and little
white posts on which are painted the
should have been at a terrible disad-
vantage.
The war has shown, too, that the bot
toms of all our ships should be copper
sheathed, so that they can be kept at
sea without the necessity of too fire.
quent docking for cleansing. At pres,
ent not n Of our important ships is
copper sheathed. The only sheathed
vessels in the avy are the six gun
boats of the Annapolis and Marietta
classes, and the New Orleans and AL
bany, which we bought from the Bra
lillian government at the outbreak of
the war. With copper sheathed bottoms
our ships would be at great advantage
| in JNn0 0vVIiCoc c1rah DC ~ ont f1 h.
frequent now that the wal mas brought
into our possession far distant colonies
FIREPROOF SHIPS.
Perhaps the most important lesson