The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-28
ooWER OF THE TWO NATIONS.
Vn HAS TWICE AS MANY
rattle SHIPS As FRANCE.

and They Are All SupefD SHips.
9,.once Has "A Great Many Torpedo
mats But Great Britain Exccls
IN DeStroyers.
From the Baltimore Sun.
washington, Oct. 25-The possibilities of a
&c in the relations between England
r,,pce growing out of the Fashoda
-,7ort and the preparations OF each
l.,.rorent to get on a war footing, have
s,.nerfs in naval matters to compare
~. rsaiive lighting forces of each coun-
- an the seas and its readiness for war,
18th IN equipment, personnel and expert
The British navy Is superior TO that
:, france but there is not that tremend-
Inference which is popularity assumed
TO exist
f. has been the recognized policy of
crsa, Britain to maintain navy largely
- excess of any two powers combined,
"a q, This she has succeeded so far as
-.-.,ir high types of formidable war yes
Ills ore concerned, but when taken in the
.-1,egate it is seriously questioned by the
.r,orte of the American service If France
n,s not a considerably more efficient naval
&c than she has been given credit for.
r.-scoe has been classed since the Franco
n-,ssi3n war as the second ranking naval
.,,-4r of the world and for years she has
ir.daed her claim to this title through
lar liberal programmes of construction.
Her prosress in the past ten years has
sssn remarkable, and in type of vessel
ard in the completeness of their equip
mt her best ships may be very nearly
ranked with some of the best OF the Brit
ist service.
rran.s made grevious mistakes in the
.ori,. davs of her naval construction, but
,te we'll known capacity of the French for
o,oioo4ripg was soon recognized in the
EIiIding of the most delicate types OF war
ms These are the torpedo craft, with
a,,f,5 the French navy is plentifully pro-
,iied although not comparing 10 Great
tri-ain in the number of what is now re-
earded as the most dangerous class, the
7lstrover boat meant to prey on the
or,oilar class and yet capable of operat-
no. AGAINST the heaviest warships. or
--5st snead. freeboard and strength, they
are sea-eoing boats, and can work around
tho English channel in seas that the tiny
rrsrcb tornedo boats would be swamped
IN france has, however, numerically
more effective feet of the smaller class
bnr on the whole, for real effective ngnt-
Inc the British torpedo boats and the
strength they comprise may be safely
.ooagni1ad as a third better than those
nj battlesbips both Great Britain and
France have many, but several OF those
claesed by France as of this type are
really old ships, with obsolete batteries
small and inefficient protection and the
PRODUCTS of her programme years ago
When compared in the tables presented by
the naval offices of each government
France makes a fair showing, but not
roore than one-half of her vessels are
rightly to be put in the same ratlnS WIN
those in the British service.
Vessel for vessel, Great Britain's are
ranked higher by the experts of the Amer
Ian navy. Great Britain has two pat
,jssbins of the highest type known to naval
architects 10 Frances one. She mas many
of over 1000 tons displacement, carrying
heavy batteries and of great steamlns apl-
ity for their type. r.
Frances best battleships are OF the 81.
Louis and Charlemagne type, of which she
has several building, and some lew N
service These vessels are of about the
same mower as the American battleshlp
Iowa and probably not SO effective as
the Kearsarge class and the new battle
ships lately contracted for Ranking AFTER
the battleships are the armored cruisers
like the New York and Brooklyn, the VIZ
caya and Colon, and the Blake ana the
BIenheim Combining all the FEATURES Oh
the swiftest cruiser, and many of those
of battleships. they are regarded as essen
tal to all navies. France has few. OF
these vessels. and none of them can com
pare to the crack vessels of the British
arm0red type lately constructed.
OF all other types of vessels available
Il for war purposes Great Britain, of course,
is far in advance. France has some very
fine auxliaries that she can call upon,
but Great Britain can put four times as
many aaoat, armed and equipped for ser
vice
Of blttleships Great Britain has twice
as many of the first-class as France,
three times as many of the second-class,
and more, even of the third-class. Great
Brtin, however, has not so many OF What
is known as coast-line defense ships and
France has more heavy cruisers. Coast
line defense ships are vessels designed Tor
nome work and have neither the speed,
armament or fighting efficiency of even
third-r9te battleships Arranged, as 70
rating, Great Britain according to the last
Official advices received from her office
Of marine. has 80 frst-class battleships, to
Frances is; she has u of the second rate.
70 frances 4: Il OF the third rate. to
frances 4, and of seagoing defense ships
fne has 6. While France supports r.
Great Britain has twenty-one large arm
cred cruisers, While France has consider
ably less
lt is IN the large, swift, commerce pro
lectors however that Great Britain ex-
res France greatly numerically and in
h-hllng strength, and also in second and
llFl-ciaes cruisers. Great Britain has
- hrst-class protected cruisers
rance has s. Great Britain supports as
'ood class protected cruisers, to
l1ncc's IS. Great Britain has Ii second
'ss cruisers. and France 6. She has
y 'hlr1-class protected, and France has
w. Or The third-class partly protected
treat Britain has % and France none. OF
gre sle0p class she has IS and France Is
r'auee. however. has IS third-class cruis-
VIVA no corresponding rating in the
'iI1sA service. In the line OF coast de-
i snse' non-seaeoing ironclads, Great Brit
W" mas u and France u. of the heavily
Ioled eunboats Great Britain has 40
pa France 70.
,'' Britain has 80 torpedo gunboaats
france Is. She has 95 torpedo boat
I'ters, while France has s. She has
'Ylheqo boats of class / France has
Il ~. class .. she has 20 and France has
T. 4