El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-12-14
THEAUXILIARYNAVY
NAVAL ARCHITECTS DISCUSS TOPICS
OF GENERAL INTEREST.

Views of Experts on Models of Our
Coming OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Not
So Popular Now.
The Society of Naval Architects and
Marine Engineers, in session at New
York, had something to say recently
about s'The Steam Yacht as a Naval
Auxiliary" and w. P. Stephens, edi-
tor of Forest and Stream, who read a
paper on that subject, discussed the
work Of the Transformation and CONVEX
sion of naval auxiliaries of all kinds at
the beginning of the war with Spain,
and dealt exhaustively with the use of
yachts and ocean tugs for sea service as
fleet tenders and for general service.
''The possibilities of the yacht fleet
at that time for conversion to war uses
were," the paper continued, "even
from theoretio standpoint, far from
promising. Many of the vessels were ill
fitted in model for real service at sea.
There was a lack of displacement for
the added weights of armament and am
munition, of berthing space for crew,
of bunker space and suitable locations
for magazines. The nominal speed, in
many cases low in itself, was not real
lied, even in smooth water, and in a
sea there was serious loss of the aver
age working speed. There was no pro-
lection, no distilling apparatus; the Ca
pacity of the water tanks was generally
inadequate and the decks were not de-
signed to Withstand the shock of the
Tho dy~off q
than was necessary or desirable.
"The nature and extent of these defects
were fully realized at the outset, but
under the circumstances there was no
other course but to take the yachts as
they were and to make the best of them.
All things considered, they have done
their work quite as we'll as was to be
expected. They have served a certain
necessary purpose and they were capable
of doing even more had it been required
of them.
1.-THE lessons to be derived are, first,
the necessity for timely preparation in
the speedy building up of an adequate
navy, and, second, that to be done prop
erly this work must proceed for a term
Of years according to a comprehensive
and systematic progr amme, completed
in advance and carried out as nearly as
possible without change through success
sive administrations. The present use of
the yacht feet being confessedly but an
emergency measure, the question nat
urally suggests itself as to whether such
course would have been necessary had
our navy been theoretically complete in
all Of its branches; notab bly,, had the
gunboat and torpedo arms. instead of
being exceedingly weak, been developed
to the same extent as in other navies.
This question may at once be answered
in the affirmative, for the reason that
none of the vessels of the gunboat or
torpedo boat types is adapted for the
special service demanded of the convert
ed yachts.
1.-THE suggestion has been made that
some scheme of cooperation between
the government and individual yacht
owners might be put into practice where
by, in return for certain privileges or
compensations on the part of the former,
the latter might be induced to plan any
new yachts with direct view to their
to war uses. The objections
both to this method of procedure and to
the general policy Of reliance on the
yacht feet are very strong. On the part
of the government, the only effective in
ducement to be offered to the owner
must be in some form of subsidy, sort
Of special legislation, which is practical
ly impossible. On the part of the owner,
his personal requirements are directly
opposed to those Of the war vessel.
"While the actual cooperation Of the
government and the yacht owner is
n 1xyy, ~; Cd, h
profit the lesson now before them. 1t is
obviously to the interest of the govern
ment to encourage the building and use
of yachts; apart from the indirect ad
vantages of national pleasure feet
there is always the possibility of an &C.
casion like the present, when the larger
vessels must be depended on as a dernier
resort. While nothing can be done in
the way of direct financial aid, it is
wise and sound policy to encourage
yachting by the removal of all unneces-
sary and oppressive regulations. On the
part of the owner, it must be apparent
to him now, if never before, that his in
terest lies directly in putting his money
into vessel that, as far as possible,
possesses the prime essentials for con-
version to war use. 1t may happen, as
in this case, that the opportunity to sell
her at fair figure is coincident with
temporary inability to use her on ao-
count of war. How far he can go in the
between his individual re-
luirements and adaptability for CONVEX
sion is question to be settled with his
but he will hardly fail to re-
alize that it is too important a matter
20 be disregarded entirely, as it has been
n the past
The paper then proposed the recogni-
ion of three new classes of vessels
ma ller than the Petrol, of about 500,
100 and 200 tons, of low speed and |