The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-05-20
Ex-Secretary Tracy Says There Are
Defensive Navies and Of
fensiVe NaVies.
UNCLE SANS DEFENSIVE
Whereas it Should Be the Other Tf1ng-Nobody
Thought of Aggressive War When it Was Build
ing-More Armored Speed Needed

Washington, May Is.-Ex-Secretx-y %
the Navy Tracy under whose adnintStra-
ton Of the navy department. many q ehe
battleships and cruisers Of our new navy
were projected and built, was at tbs navy
Departments today. meeting his old asSo-
oiates and talking with the officials on
the status OF the present war.
General Tracy was asked II our ships
in their present active service met tbs
expectation he had Of them. when tho
new navy was Developed
ITO judge from Manila. ehsy are meet
in gevery expectation said General
Tracy. And yet believe It to be the
plain duty of congress 20 authorize imme-
dlately the construction of SIX large ar
mored cruisers of the most modern type
even larger than the cruisers New YORK
and Brooklyn. These should be ordered.
in addition to the ships authorized by the
regular naval appropriation bill Now
that we are called upon 70 carry on Of
fensive warfare, the need OF armOred
cruisers is imperative and the lack OF
them is at present serious handicap.
Our new navy was developed on the idea
of being a defensive navy. not an Often
sive one. It was thought that IL We ever
had a war il would be with one OF the
great nava powers. capable OF throwing
their vast naval ornaments against our
shores. To meet this onslaught we pro-
ceeded on the theory Of having a navy
to protect our long stretch Of coast. and
3 a..
age possible on the commerce which most
of the naval powers possess. For that
reason we built our battleships and our
armored cruisers. The batueship is es-
sentiauy for defensive purposes. as Il
lacks the speed essential 70 carry on
effective offensive warfare.
The unarmored cruisers. such as the
Minneapolis and olumbia, were designed
MANY as swift scouts, and also as COM
merce destroyers. Now. however, we find
ourselves at war with a nation which has
little commerce to be destroyed so that
the unarmored cruiser has little work 20
accomplish in the line of It's original pur-
! pose as a commerce destroyer. although a
valuable adjunct in any line. In short.
we are carrying on what was not expect
ed, an offensive instead Of a defensive
war, and as a result we ought 10 have
the ships capable OF executing offensive
warfare.
The armored cruisers New York and
Brooklyn are fine ships OF their class and
are exactly fitted for this line OF offensive
work They combine the features Of the
heavy armor and protected decks of an
Z I t,rfrh a ertH-I Z
cruiser. But what we need is more Of
them. The strength Of the Spanish squad
ron now in southern waters lies in the
fact that it has this type OF armored
cruisers. with speed and protective ar
NOR. suitable for offensive work Under
the new conditions which have arisen ID
seems plain that congress should provide
az least six Of these armOred cruisers
We are not carrying on an offensive war
fare. but we are reaching out 20 the Phil
( ipplnes. The entire theory Of a defensive
navy. on which our present navy was
formed. has been changed. and the new
/ conditions should be promptly met by con-
gress."
When General Tracy's attention wa
called TO the report t{at he might q 70
the Philippines as evil governor general.
ne laughingly dismissed the suggestion
and said there never mad been thought
Of this move except in the vivid imagi-
nation or some newspaper writer.
The ex-secretary strongly approves the
energy OF all apartments Of the govern
meut in coping with tho present war
emergency and deprecates the loose Fof-
sip and criticism which seeks 20 force
aggressive movements without regard %
mature consideration which the nomea-
I tous character Of the movements require