The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-17
DAILY NAVY EXPENSES
COSTS $4,000 EVERY TwENTY-FOUR
HOURS NOT In ACTION.
Estimated Daily Cost of $500 10
Maintain One of the Big Battle
Ships Like the Indiana.
New York Herald.

tanning a nrSt-claSS Datlle snip on IL war
footing? One thousand five hundred dol
lars. A large sum of money. but insignifi-
cant when compared with what the cost
might be in case of action, when the con-
f1ict of a single minute could sink the larg-
est ship, with her entire armament, and re-
quire the expenditure of more than s., COO 600
to replace her. Reliable estimates cannot
be made when the fortunes of war must be
taken into account, but the cost of main
tanning our navy on it's present footing i'm
mediately before the firing of the first gun
In actual conflict is known. That cost is
$4,000 for each day. A year ago the cost
was a trifie less than one-half of that
amount but think of the changes since
then, and particularly of the results of the
activity of the last sixty days, when ships
of all classes have been bought by our gov
eminent abroad and at home, and when war
craft of every kind-some, indeed, that had
become simple memory-have been
brought from hiding places, repaired,
armed, manned and in all respects put in
condition to wage warfare. This increase of
the number of our ships has been told by
the Herald from day to day, and such
names as Albany, New Orleans, Yale and
Harvard as associated with our navy have
become familiar. The manning of these nu-
merous new purchases and REVEALS, to-
gether with the addition Of the war strength
needed on ships before in commission. has
been the cause of the wonderful increase in
expense.
For an interesting example of the cost of
maintaining a battle ship in time Of peace.
when war is not even threatened, have
procured from the records of the War De-
partment the cost of maintaining the New
York, the most expensive ship in our navy.
The cost for last year was 1891 ,065.6 go, or an
average of $l0S6.29 per day. The various
items that go TO make up this total annual
cost will apply for the present purpose to
our armored cruisers and battle ships,
though, or course, varying according to con-
sfantly changing circumstances, and now
being increased by the war footing on which
our navy rests. OF the 1891, 065.60 spent by
the New York in 1897, $2S7, 1926 was for the
pay OF of1lcers, crew and marines; rations
cost $S5542.60; equipment, Sc, 1852 naviga-
ton 3,216.5S; ordnance, $14, 20; construc-
ton and repair. IS, 1895; steam engineering,
$2S,26l 70. Then there were incidental ex-
penses, navy yard repairs. medicine and
surgery and similar items.
PAY ON THE NEW YORK.
The records show that the pay of the off,
GERS, crew and marines of the New York
was greater than that of any other vessel
while the rations, medicine and surgery and
coal accounts were very much less. When
we add the separate costs Of maintaining
all ships in commission, for last year, we
have a total of IS, 549.71; or more than
$4,000 a day. During each day Of last week
the cost was double that amount.
The record OF the Inflated Maine is closed,
though her memory is a living inspiration
and this record shows that the total cost of
pay OF her survivors, and of those whose
remains are yet with her wreck or have
found burial in Cuba and the United States
was 9,126.60. The revolution of recent
changed sea fighting. adding not only to the
cost OF ships, but of armament, and particu-
and maintaining
In our previous naval fights the stanch
oak-r1bbed ships We're vehicles for carrying
men and guns, and their very decks were
often fields of battle, where contending
forces struggled, hand to hand. To-day our
ships are veritable fighting machines. They
their guns and movable parts through the
agency of steam and electricity, under intel
ligen,t direction; They are not only the
neer. They require men not only as brave
as those who boarded the enemy's ships
IN INF: former wars, but they, require men highly
skilled in their several departments. These
complicated ships need a large force of men,
and to maintain them at the very highest
standard of efficiency requires the great ex-
penditure of money referred to.
Consider for a moment the item of steam
on battle SHIP and you will better appre-
ciate the force of what has been written
Think of the sixty-one separate steam en-
gines, and Of the skilled engineers to care
for them twenty-four hours each day. Yes,
there are sixty mine. Each of the great twin
screws has it's engine. then there is an en-
CINE for the steering apparatus, separate en-
gines for the dyanmos, for the fire pumps,
for bilge, for ventilating fans, for ash hoist,
for capstans, and for the numerous winches
used all over the ship where nearly every
thing that has to be moved is too heavy for
human muscle to handle
Then there is the coal to furnish heat to
make all of this steam, and corps of men
TO handle 1t. Take, for example, the Iowa.
If she starts out of port with her normal
supply OF coal she carries 625 tons. If she
nils her bunkers she will start with 1,780
tons. That means about $1,000. Such a bat
tie ship as this carries about five hundred
officers and men. These must be fed and
clothed, and be paid for their services.
A FLOATING CITADEL.
One of these great battle ships is a float
ing citadel. 1t is town of five hundred in
habitants, more securely fortified and far
better armed for offense and defense than
was any walled and turreted city that has
ever existed. Her steel walls can resist any
attack OF guns less than her own When
she meets similar ones then comes the tug
of war.
II our floating citadel is the Indiana. for
instance, we have steel walls $50 feet long
with sixty-nine feet between them at the
widest point, holding engines of war and
propulsion of the most terrific power all
under the control of the highest human in
telligence. This is a moving city of ami
mate force, controlled energy and mani
mate strength, that can be directed at will
and its 102S8 tons moved at the rate of
seventeen miles hour, propelled by 73S
horse power.
Powerful as it is, it must, so near as pos
sible, resist an equal power. And what is
necessary in defense is better realized when
we consider that she may have to cope with
guns that. by the explosion of 900 pounds of
powder, can throw a single shot, weighing
nearly ton at the velocity of 1900 feet per
second. This shot has a striking energy of
1890 foot tons. One foot ton is the energy
required to raise 2,240 grounds one foot
against gravity. Multiply that energy by
$4,000 and comprehend the result if you can
No wonder that the maintenance of a.
single ship to accomplish all that is desired
OF 1t costs $3.50 each day. Here is what it
costs to maintain a battle ship on a war
footing:
Total annual expenses. .............s 547. 600
ray or officers, crew and marines. 326, 900
Sdtiohs ................ ................. IS 009
equipment ...-....>............. 1900. 1900
NAVIGATION charges ..................... 5000
Ordnance ............... ................. $4,000
Sonstrucuon and repairs............... 1900
steam engineering Observation-Disclosures. 80 OOO
General supplies NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 1000
Medicine, surgery, secretary's office
and Incidental expenses. ........... 78OO0
SUBURBAN SOCIAL MATTERS.
BrightwOOd.