Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-03-11
THE. ARMY AND NAVY
Preparations for'Defense Con-
tinue to Be Pushed.
lOOKINGAFTER NEWSHIPS
Seport That President Mex tnIcy Is Pre-
NrinE to Recognize the Itelligcr-
ehcy or ub. Denied. Inter
view With Senator Proctor
Gy Telegraph.)

| 'sNh"o1li\H1f'N, -M4rul 1U.-The Uni
ted states government has not yet &C.
qutred a s!ng.e addut> nal ship for p.t
nHvy. This is true not because of q
lack Of offers of Warships from abroad
out SIMPLY Ion the reason that the navy
| delartm"n't is proceeding with all ii
the ciftllnSpect .Gn consistent with the
NJ eds OF the case lin booking after the
| qualNleS and prices If the craft
Lieutenant Nr,ia k the United States
naval attache at Berlin, St Petersbu 9
ana !enha, is particularly active IN The
| quest for vessels. There was a good
dell of tu!k during the day about the
| ass lgnment of officers to the command
VI AUXILIARY cruisers. the St. Paul and
] 81 LOUIS being especially mentioned
! but Secretary Long set these stories at
| rest by the statement that he had not
made any such ass gnmen,s and had
| only progressed to the point of inf,rm
ing himself of the possibility of getting
| he ships Differed and manned quickly,
| NhIle looking after new ships The Of
iiciais Of the navy department are not
| heSect.ng the Old vessels. and arIang
| inents have been made to make short
| repairs on severa! ships, that i'm the
| ORDINARY course wCu.d not be treated in
| that fashion. but wC.lld receive a
| thorough and tme-consuming over
| AauIihg Illus, in the case of the Phil
adeIph.n. which has h. a five years hard
Work and has never yet been done over
| sS : the custom. orders have gone To
| Ntie Island Be. put 'nt.r in shape fear sea
WITHIN forty days. The Yorktown. at
| the same yard, is not to be ulael at
present. not only because she is in fair
| condition, but also because she is nor 50
tormidabie craft as to ma Ike it des,rab,a
70 u!Eert To- her repair attention re-
quired elsewhere AT Norfolk the New
| ark is set down for thirty days res,i,s
ana as god deal of work has already
been done on he'". she Will he almost a
new ship when She comes out of the
yard.
The big monitor Puritan has practi-
caiiy C%:Hp.@'"1 her repairs. The moni-
tor Comdnche. at Mare Island has been
examined and found IN to.erJbe coll
Ution. At League Island the m nitor
MaInt onomoh and the ram Katahdin
they have net yet had their orders
fhey probably Will remain in the DEL
aware River or drop INTO the bay The
torpedo boat Dupont SAILED today from
!fte ct at rHey y. vte 49, -nH --:--
1t was said at the navy department
today that nothing had been heard
from the inquiry at Havana nor from
Admra. Sicarl at Key West The pres
ence in the city of several persons con-
nected with steamship Lines and steel
works led to the circulation of a num-
Der # Sensational str,lies during the
persistancy of one that found currency
at the capitol, until it met a summary
denial at the hunds of Assistant Se2rc-
tary Day. to the effect that Nil ster
Wo2df"l-d had notified the Spanish
government that the President intt,nde j
to send to- Congress n message an
| IT. unc:ing his recognition of Cuban in
DEPENDENCE
Commander HawAey left Washington
this evening FOR the South with Chef
Engineer Wahs:tr and Surgeon Persons
10 enlist machin.sts for the navy.
y conference was he.<} at 3 O'Clock in
| the a. ffice of Assistant Secretary Roose-
| Welt TO map out plans for crming and
| equipping- merchant vessels as nuXil-
| nary yih!serS. Mr.. Roosevelt ~ esidei
| and Others present We're Captain Crown
| inshted, of-sbe bureau of navigation ::
| Captain ONe!l. of the bureau of ord
nance; Chief Hchborn. of the bureau
| of construction, and Commander Brad
| ford. of the Bur eau of yards and docks.
| THIS meeting he'd been preceded by a
| call from President GriSCom. of the In
| ternat:onal Navigation Company. which
! owns the four ships St. Louis, St. Paul
Paris and New York. The meeting
brought out a general discussion 81 the
work the various bureaus would be
| called upon To perform in making these
and other vessels ready as auxiliary
! cruisers. About 95 per cent. of this
| work w~u.d fall to the lot of the bu
| reau Of construction, which would have
charge of installing magazines. gun
| mounts. Eight protective armor for the
guns and magazines, and the circles on
| Which the gums swing. This work. it
is said. cou d be accomplished readily
within two weeks time, as all material :,
| except the guns are in hand. The 40
reau of ordnance could not supply all
the guns required within that short
| tine. ulth- ugh some seventy or more
are now available. The supply would
| be adequate. however. for the most If
| fect:ve auxiliary cruisers and The COM
| pete arma mcnt of the merchant ships
| could proceed as rapidly as possible
| thereafter On the question OF manning
the auxiliary fleet the navy department
| feels tfat the most effective St@p Won
De to enlist into the United states navaI
| service the present merchant crews 81
the several ships. These men will h
| thoroughly familiar with the vessels
and cord handle them with far greater
| ease than green crews OF b!uaiackets
The ships would be differed from the
line Of the regular navy. In the cas-
Of enlisting d merchant 1c2w the pay
and allowances would he .1hcut equiva-
lent to the rates paid ordinary sailors
and the time of enlistment d uht,ess
would be limited to short periods.
The proposed batteries fcr the arX'l-
iory cruisers consist in the case of tbs
stea naships ST. Louis and St. Paul ot
eight 6-fnrh guns, four 6-pounaers anG
four machine guns: the Paris and Ne"
York, twelve 6-inch, six 6-p under:
and six machine guns. 1t IS designed
TO give vessels Of ME Caracas anC
Ser.aca type a main battery Of eight 4
inch guns and from six 20 eight rlV't
fire machine guns. Thcse. of the Wig
Aanca class are designed to have {
i