The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-20
NO ADvICEs AT WASHINGTON.
Officials Lack News of the Movements
of the Fleets.

of the Fleets.
WASHINGTON, May 1.-THE bulletin
board at the Navy Department failed utter
ly to-day to produce an item of interest
regarding the movements or whereabouts of
three great naval squadrons now believed
to be in the Gulf of Mexico and the waters
Of the West Indies. AS near as could be
gathered there was sound reason for this
in the fact that the Navy Department itself
had received no cablegrams of Importance
and the alert corps of United States con-
| sular officers scattered through the West
India islands had nothing to report. This
absence of positive incidents gave oppor
tunity to the secretary of the navy for the
| transaction of considerable quantity of
business and also enabled him to leave the
| department in the afternoon for the Capitol
| to give to the naval committee of the House
| an exposition of his views on the naval
personnel bill. The war conditions of the
| day, in the opinion of the secretary, have
afforded the most conclusive evidence of the
necessity for the passage of some such
| measure as the personnel bill and he is using
| every effort to secure congressional action
| upon it.
The absence of official news of any
| character from the fleets to-day gave
| the widest field for speculation, and all
| sorts of stories were afloat as to the where
| abouts of the vessels and the imminence of
an engagement The report that came
| from Madrid of the bombardment of Santi-
| ago de Cuba received some credence, mas
| much as it seemed to show that General
| Greedy, the chief signal officer, has set in
motion the machinery of the navy to carry
| out his declared purpose of cutting the ca
| bles that afford the last connection between
| Havana and the outside world, and thus
| isolate Blanco. 1t is not believed that the
| bombardment amounted to anything more
| than this. The dispatch from Havana to
| Madrid saying the Spanish fleet had arrived
at Santiago cannot be confirmed here.
The naval authorities are relieved of a
good deal of embarrassment by the con-
| sent of the French authorities at Martin
| iuue to allow the scouting vessel Harvard
| to remain in st. Pierre until her repairs are
completed. 1t was supposed at first that
she would be allowed only seven days stay.
and at the end of that time would be forced
| out to risk attack at the hands of some
| ambushed Spanish cruiser or torpedo boat.
Work on the three monitors Mahopac,
| Canonicus and Manhattan at League island
| has advanced so far that the department
| expects to have them in service in week
| or two. They have been supplied with new
| boilers. One very useful quality of the new
| boiler was found to lie in the possibility of
| passing the small pieces Of which 1t is COM
| posed through the smoke pipe hole, thus
| avoiding the tearing up of the decks and
| shortening the time required for the work
| fully one half These monitors will be a
valuable addition to the coast defense.
Mr. Niblack late United States naval at
tache to Berlin and Rome, reported at the
Navy Department to-day and had some
amusing stories to tell of his experience in
every seaport of Europe trying to buy a
ready-made navy in thirty days. The de-
partment officials are very much pleased
with the energy and ability shown by the
young officer in the discharge of the i'm
portant duties confided to him. He has been
ordered duty as watch and division officer
on the Topeka, one of the ships that he
helped to purchase in England
Judge Advocate General Lemly to-day
completed the circular defining the chief
characteristics of the sixteen torpedo boat
destroyers and twelve torpedo boats pro-
vided for by Congress in the present naval
appropriation bill. The destroyers provided
for are to be of larger type than any vessel
of that kind we now have in the service,
about four hundred tons, but the torpedo
boats will be about the size of the average
torpedo boat now in use, namely, about $50
tons. Bidders are left the widest liberty in
the matter Of original designs, but no bid
will be considered which fails to guarantee
a speed of at least twenty-eight knots for
destroyers and twenty-six knots for torpedo
boats. No more than eighteen and twelve
months, respectively will be allowed to
complete these boats and shortness of time
of construction will be an important element
in determining the awards.