New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-09-08
STANCE pTRTEPSITT.

The long campaign TO secure upt0-date bat
tle-ships for the American Navy was appar-
emily successfully ended when the bids on nj
Tentative designs were recently opened ana
A. was shown that 1SknOt ships could be built
bv reputable firms. within n reasonable timc
at q reasonable expense. ard without sacrlncc
of armOr armament or sicanling radius. anu
without any such increase in displacement rs
10 unfit them for American harbOrs or docks
or 10 impair their lnanU'uvring capacity. Both
IN Washington and elsewhere It was generally
conceded that The Tribunc's undertaking had
becn crowned with complete success. and that
II would be impossible. in face OF tho demon
strotion Of the resources Of American ship
wards 10 persist In undertaking the Construc-
ton Of vessels which. aS compared with for
e!cn hat,le-shipS. would no obsolete before they
were laid down, not TO mention their rating by
tho time they were in commission. Nevcrthc-
loss ,hrrc now comes hint from Washington
that tho believers in bltle-shps planned 10
make 10 knots an hour. but required 70 make
ONLY Is knots an hour are so welded to every
detail Of their plans that they are making ef-
forts 70 have tho Secretary Of the Navy reject
tho bids for the faster vessels and give out
contracts for duplication Of the Illinois They
are irving to make n point out Of the greater
cost Of the fast ships. and object to the slight
IL increa sed length rs giving merely speed with
on adding materially TO other good qualities.
In ca doing they arc true TO their early asser-
tons that speed n trivial matter, that
inter nil 10 knots was about all a ship made
in nroctical work. and that ship ever
fought while under 1G-knot speed The per-
formance of the Oregon nj Santiago seems 10
have taught them nothing. So, too the offers
Of the shipbullders appear 10 he wasted on
them, else they would see in those offers com
pletc refutation Of all their old arguments about
time. cost. displacement and the impossblity
Of combining greater speed with fighting EN-
cheney.
Examination Of the bids shows that even
tho iSknoi ships can he built within the limit
Of cost fixed by Congress. No apprcclablc de-
lay viii he caused In securing the greater speed,
ard 81 ono Of the greatest objections made by
tho Construction Rurcau to departure from tho
Il,;rois plans Is Obvatcd. The Union Iron
Works will build n 15-knot to 1Gknot ship on
the Department design in ;hlriy,one months.
" will turn out n 1T-knot vessel in tho sans
fine ard an 1S-knot one in thr;y-thrcc months
TIC Newport News ShpbuldIng Company can
buiil thr 1i-knot 10 iG-knot ship In thir,y-on-
months. and can build either the 17-knot or the
ls-knoi shin In thirtytwo months. The Csanr
company appears TO have patterns for the
Illinois type. which enables il to make little
better time and turn out vessel on tho Gov
crnmen design in tweuty-ninc months. white il
cao complete either the l7-knot or III" 1S-kno'
ship IN thirty.two months. but rs the WORK
Ia To be distributed IN different yards this pos
able saving OF three months on one or ever
two OF the battlc-ships is Of slight Importance
Particularly is this the case now that the wal
4 over. and when we have five battle-shps al