The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-04-20
ARMOR FOR AUXILIARIES
SHIPS USED FOR CRUISERS ARE
TO BE PROTECTED

| SHIPS USED FOR CRUISERS ARE
TO BE PROTECTED
| No Time Lost by Naval Officers on
Detached Duty in Asking for As
signments at Sea-SOme Firms
Having Ships and Guns to Sell
Anxious to ExtOrt an Enormous
Price.
| By Associated Press.
WASHINGTON, April ia great
| deal of indignation has been expressed
F! by naval officers over the cold looded
! attempt of persons owning vessels or
| acting as their agents to eXtort from
| the government sums of money largely
in excess Of the value Of their craft.
The same complaint is also made as to
many kinds Of military and naval sup
| plies, although it is gratifying to note
! that in a few exceptional cases, by tube
makers and boiler making firms and
| some ammunition and gun-making peo-
pie, every disposition has been shown
to give the government the best terms
in price and time of delivery.
The navy department has arranged
| to place some light armor on the four
vessels acquired from the Morgan line,
the Prairie, Yosemite, Yankee and
Dixie. The Carnegie company has I'M
dertaken to roll Immediately light steel
| plates, one and one-half inches thick
Two layers of this steel will be placed
around the boiler and engine rooms Of
| the boats, making about $50 tons Of
| armor in each case. This will be suf-
| ficient at least to repel the fire of ma
chine guns and perhaps to keep out the
murderous six-pounder shell.
The navy department has received
| S9fiSf9 nfOrU inform that
loaded at Newport News upon the Brit
| ish tramp steamer Hampstead is not, as
was supposed, intended for the Span
ish naval craft at the Cape Verde ISL
ands, but is for a line Of merchant
steamers, so that apprehension from
| that score has been removed. The de-
| partment is still reaching out for YES
sells suitable for golfers, and several
cable messages were sent today to it's
agency in Europe looking to the pur-
chase Of some of these vessels.
Towns in Terror.
Applications are pouring in to the
navy department for the immediate
protection of supposedly exposed points
on the Atlantic and Gulf seaboard.
| Some towns ask for the immediate con-
struction Of batteries. while others
want war ships stationed off the shore
A vast majority of these applications
! are from very small towns.
| The two Florida senators called to-
day upon Secretary Alger to urge that
| protection be afforded to some of their
coast towns, such as Miami, and that
| troops be stationed there. The officials
say it is manifestly impossible to COM
ply with these requests and have no
| hesitation in declaring that the appre-
hension among the people Of these
towns Is largely groundless. They say
that there would be no inducement for
a Spanish naval force to attack unfor-
titled small coast towns. The only pur-
pose that could be served by such an
attack would be the collection Of ran
som. and this in no case could be i'm
posed for lack of time. 1t is also said
that the rules Of civilized warfare re-
quire that no towns shall be lombard
ed without at least twenty-four hours
notice, the object Of this delay being
to allow non-c ombatants to retire to
a place of safety.
Rear Admiral Sicard reported at the
| navy department this afternoon and
was Immediately assigned place in
the office of the secretary Of the navy
to act as official adviser to the secre-
| tary.
Nearly all naval officers on detached
shore duty have put in applications
to be restored Immediately to sea ser
vice. An illustration of the alacrity
with which they are coming forward
was afforded by the case Of Lieut.. A.
III. Baker. He has just returned from
Paris, where he accompanied Assistant
Secretary Cridler as a naval aide in
preparation for the Paris exposition.
Before shaking the dust of travel from
his clothes the lieutenant reported to
the navigation bureau and asked for a
sea assignment. By virtue of his rank
he probably will receive command Of
one Of the vessels Of the mosquito
fleet.
There appears to be mistaken i'm
preston in some quarters as to the
functions of this mosquito fleet. It is
not destined for shore guard nor yet
for attack, but, as explained by one
of the naval strategists, the primary
use Of the vessels Of this fleet will be
to protect the battleships and other
IRON clads from attack by torpedo
boats and destroyers. The purpose Is
to create in the navy something like
the same system that prevails in the
army in conducting hostile operations
The battleships correspond to the
heavy artillery, the mosquito fleet to
infantry and the torpedo boats to cav
airy.
Guns I'm Demand.
The borad Of naval bureau chiefs Is
considering the advisability of utiliz-
Ing some of the old converted smooth
bore guns for the auxiliary cruisers.
Working day and night and using I'D
the raw material for the manufacture
of guns as rapidly as it can be pro-
duced, the naval ordinance bureau is
unable to supply the enormous demand
now made upon 1t for guns of medium
caliber. This is the case notwithstand-
Ing the fact that almost all available
ordnance of this character in foreign
markets has been purchased. A large
part of the guns that have been put
apart for the auxiliary navy have been
absorbed by the recently purchased
Morgan line vessels, and it is the inten-
ton of the board to supply deficiencies
in the armament of the remaining YES
sells by the use of the converted
smooth-bore
These guns are really not smooth
bores at all, but are cast iron guns
lined with steel tube fully rified.
There are two classes of these guns:
First, q Nghty- muzzle-load-
ing Parfott gun. such as was used in
the Civil war, converted into a breech-
loader by cutting off the base and fit
ting q breech block. These are light