Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-03-13
Has Attracted Much Attention
in Europe.
FRENCH NAVAL LIEUTENANT
Has Come to This Country 10 Study
Our Methods What the
War Has Demonstrated

Washington, March 12.-Lieut. De Far
almond of the French navy, recently ar
rived here in company with the French
ambassador. Lieut.. De Faramond has
had experience as a naval observer, fol-
lowing the japanese and Chinese vessels
throughout the China-Japan war and
now coming here to study American ma
val methods. Speaking of the American
navy today, Lieut.. De Faramond said:
THE American navy has attracted
Worldwide attention within the last year
and this is leading European countries to
! send European attaches to Washington.
, This will be the first time that the French
government has had a naval attache at
the embassy. y German naval officer IS
coming to the German embassy and other
countries doubtless will follow in the
same line. Since the Spanish-American
war this country affords splendid ia
| ~cilities for naval study. 1t was the first
real test Of modern fighting vessels and
naval science must draw its conclusion
largely from what the American navy
accomplished during the war with Spain.
l think it is universally conceded IN Eu-
rope that the American navy made a
splendid record. not only in a general
way but in technical matters of naval de-
tails. 1t demonstrated the effectiveness
of the rapid fire gun of medium callber,
rather than the larger guns. 1t seemed
also to show that the power of the navy
is more in its weapons of attack and Of
Tense, It's capacity of giving blows, ra-
Their than in its heavy armor and capa-
bility Of resisting blows.
I'VE in France We're quite aware of the
| power of the American navy even before
the recent war. Our chief naval con-
%structor. NJ. Berlin, came to this country
prior to the war and made u tour of
your dOckyards, arsenals, etc. On his re-
turn he made an official report showing
the great improvements, the American
naval constructor had brought about,
particularly in the arrangement of bulk
heads, and in the distribution of armor
so as to protect vital points. We also
know your American navy by the H2r-
VeylZed process, which has been found to
be satisfactory SO far"
Lieut.. De Faramond says foreign naval
observers are not only interested in the
results of the war, but are also observ-
ing the large amount of naval construc-
ton now in progress in the United States
and the laval Improvement it involves.
From the Italian laval statistics he
shows that the United States is today
reckoned the second among the great
powers in poirt of warships under con-
struction. This tonnage by countries is
as follows: Great Britain 1913, 1872 tons;
United States sc, +25 tons; Japan, 1880
tons; Russia. 29,GI0 tons; France, % SOS
tons; Germany, 1856 tons; Italy, 2.912
tons. An interesting line of inquiry, said
Lieut.. De ~Faramond, rs as to Why YOU
are building so many heavy ships, IRON
clads, as We call them, as against the
lighter, swifter cruisers. The ironclad is
essentially a home ship and not fitted,
owing to her bulk and lack of coal capac-
ity, for crossing the ocean or for long
cruises. The French navy has in COM
mission 10 ironclads in the Mediterranean
and eight in the northern squadron. But
they are purely defense vessels and new
er leave the home ports. The PERFORM
ance of your battleship Oregon in run
ming $4,000 miles around South America
was remarkable for that reason and her
present trip across the Pacific is equally
remarkable. But. judged by the usual
naval standards. an armOred cruiser
would have been much better equipped
for these long voyages. She has the
speed, the coal, and at the same time suf-
ficient armOr to make her defensive pow
ers almost equal to those OF the from
clad"
The lieutenant says France has gone
further in adopting the torpedo boat as
an effective naval weapon than any other
country. She has in all some "a torpedo
boats. some of them very swift. Lieut..
De Faramond says that he thinks that
the adoption of the water tube boilers in
American ships will be an Improvement
and WIN make hem much more efficient
for long cruising. This class of boilers,
he says, has been adopted by the British
admiralty for the Powerful, Terrible and
ships of hat class, and quite generally
by the naval authorities of France. Asia,
Japan, Chile, Argentine and italy. NJ.
Viaud. a naval constructor of the French
navy. is at present in Washington on an
unofficial mission and viii confer with
our naval constructors on this new
method of boiler construction. Admiral
Dewey is generally recognized abroad as
entitled to rank as one of the great naval
commanders. said Lieut.. De Faramond.
"Such a man does honor to the naval fra
ternity the world over