The San Francisco call., 1899-06-12
NEWS OF FOREIGN NAv1Es.


The American practice with sub-caliber
target shooting has been adopted in the
channel squadron Of the British navy.
It is proposed to provide the sea-going
torpedo boats in the French navy with
two pole masts and leg-of-mutton sails 10
serve i'll case of breakdowns of the en-
| gines
The British torpedo-boat destroyer
Kestrel. built at Clydebank, averaged
50 4O6 knots in six runs over the measured
course, and the Leven. built at Fairfield,
averaged 50. SO knots, and POI knots dur
ing a continuous run of three hours.
old historical names are being resur-
rected in the British navy for the new
ships Four battleships are TO be known
as Russell-Of which there has been three
Duncan 49, CORVALLIS (5) and EXmouth
(2). Of the cruisers King Alfred has had
four namesakes; Clyde, two; Africa,
three; Leyiathan, three, and Drake, ten
Two steamers have been built in Eng
land for Japanese owners which in time
of peace will run as passenger and freight
boats. and in war times or in case Of
pestilence may be readily turned into nos
pitaI ships. They are of 4194 tons dis
placement and have a length of 932 feet
and 80 feet beam, and will accommodate
$50 patients.
The relative healthfulness of the nine
principal stations of the British navy in
commission shows, according TO the sur
geon general report the following num-
| Der of sick persons out of every one thou
| sand on the stations: Southeast coast OF
! South America 2675; Pacific station, 26 %;
/ Mediterranean, 3609; North America and
/ the West Indies, 1851: home station, 37.4G;
/ Australian, 59.6; East Indies, 1873; Good
! Hope and west coast of Africa, 1921;
/ China, 46.42. The total average force
afoat during 1898 was S0,540 and the death
rate was 5.23 per thousand including Sjj
deaths from disease and III from injury
the latter chiefly victims of the Benin
! campaign.
/ Five ironclads and six cruisers are to be
struck from the effective list in the
French navy and will either be sold or
utilized for harbor and other service. The
ironclads aggregate 81 S5S tons, and are
the Colbert Trident, Richelieu, Turenner
and NictOreuse. The discarded cruisers,
of Is 1876 tons total, are the Arethusa,
Dubordieu, IncOnstant Naiade, Nelly,
Primigault and Rignald de GenOielly. All
these vessels were built between 1873 and
1876 and were constructed either wholly
or partly of wood and had Outlived their
usefulness. Only one irOnclad with
wooden hull, the Bayard, remains on the
effective list in the French navy and as
she was built in 1880 will soon be reIegated
to rotten row." There are no armOred
vessels in the British navy with wooden
hulls, nor cruisers, and the few composite
vessels are allowed to remain on the list
solely, apparently, to swell the number
of ships, for they have no fighting value.
The trials of the British torpedo-boat
destroyers have been highly successful,
the boat exceeding her contract speed of
| thirty knots by nearly one knot and the
! engines developing 541 horsepower over
the guaranteed 5000. The Mermaid was
built by Hawthorn. Leslie & Co. at New
/ castle-on-Tyne, and is 210 feet by p feet,
| diSplacing 800 at a maximum draught of
nine feet. She is fitted with four Thorny
! croft water-tube boilers to carry 250
! pounds of steam, and her six runs over
the measured mile ranged from 29.90l TO
| 81 304 knots, giving an average of 3Jg2l
! knots During the three hours trial at
/ sea the boat was down to a draught of
! feet 31s inches forward and feet 59s
| inches aft The steam was 225 pounds IN
the boilers and with an air pressure of
| go inches of water in the stokehoids,
! vacuum of 22S to 22.1 the revolutions aV-
eraged 1896 and the speed SO.535 knots
The torpedo gunboats SkipJack and
! Speedweu have been overhauled at an eA-
pense of $264 ,45O and $2SS000 respectively
which EQUALS their first cost ten years
ago. These repairs have caused some ad-
verse criticism against the British Ad-
miralty. and the report of Admiral Fair
fax on tbese boats. made a few years ago
after the naval maneuvers, is resurrected
The admiral reported that the boats We're
defcieot i'm speed and coal capacity, and
eo IightI1 built and engined that they
We're utterly unreliable. Captain Long, on
the other hand, in a subsequent report
fnrr6 fll the boats useful. These contradie
torv tor.y''t expert opinions show that navy ON
Gals are as likely to differ as ministers
dontors and lawyers, and the adverse re-
.lor+ made on the Dolphin in our navy
RUir four+een years ago by two sets of naval
officers have proved to be at variance
uiitT r,iitb facts. for the Dolphin has proved
barseIf stanch, seaworthy and speedy.