The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-05-22
PRAISE FOR THE NAVY.
From the Naval Attache of the
German Embassy.
TENDENCY TO EXPERIMENT
The United States Has Taught the Old
World Many New Ideas-The
Ammunition Hoist Is an
Instance.

the German embassy talked interest
ingly to-day with a representative of
the associated press as to his ohSe"va-
lions of the American navy, covering
not only the war period, but an insptc"
ton of our ships, navy yards AMI naval
methods in the period since the war
This officer gives such favorable 70
port to the German admiralty concern
ing the consideration shown him by
American naval circles that 1t brought
a strong letter of thanks from the III n
lister of marine of Germany to Secretary
Long and to some extent offset the ten
sion arising over alleged differences &C.
tween the American and German naval
officers in the Philippines.
Speaking of the technical consErdc-
ton of American ships captain Won
Reuber PashroWitz said:
TT is quite noticeable that your
American naval constructors and Sllp-
builders SHOW the characteristic energy
of Americans in wishing to ma some
thing new. While the American SHIPS
are built on the same general lines as
the German and English ships, yet they
show tendency to try new IDEAS, to
experiment on details.
For instance, the disposition of am
munition and the ammunition hoists are
admirable contrivances. The ammunl-
tion is served through one central
chamber and is delivered Immediately
back of the gun, ready to be placed in
the breech and fired. This is so OBJ
viously the right thing and so practical
in the rush and confusion of action that
all navies followed the lead of your
American constructors when they first
adopted this method of getting the am
munition to the gun. There are many
of the small points which appear to the
naval observer but cannot to those un-
familiar with naval architecture and
altogether they are developing and per-
fecting the idea. In the placing of guns
and armor the American and German
ships are much alike. except we have
not resorted to your device of the dou-
ble-deeked turret, which is probably not
beyond the experimental stage.
THE large coal capacity of American
ships is capital feature which will
prove specially serviceable if you are
to have outlying territory such as Ha-
wall and the Philippines
How does the personnel of our navy
the officers and men-compare with
that of other navies?" he was asked.
THE American naval officers have
much technical knowledge. perhaps
more than German officers, but it is a
question whether technical knowledge
cannot be carried too far, to the ex-
clusion of those larger subjects of STRAIT
egg, torpedo maneuvering, etc. You
have just united the engineer branch
with the line of the navy so that here
after all your naval officers will also
have to be steam engineers. That is
carrying the technical knowledge very
far and will put such great require
ments on your officers that the result
will be awaited with much interest by
students of naval affairs. When Off
GERS are compelled to master such a
mass of detail they have scant time for
considering the larger questions of at
tack and defense and the real science of
warfare. They become too technical.
The great commanders are not merely
engineers, but men of intellectual at
tainments, thought and craftsmanship
as well as technical knowledge of ropes
and irons.
When your torpedo boat service is
fully developed it will be found that
your officers have large field of use
fulness. As yet the American torpedo
boat is not organized as ours. We have
the craft formed in divisions with spe.
cial maneuvers. But there is little il
that line here as far as l have observed
and the uses of the torpedo boats are
yet to be realized. AS I have seen then
they are much occupied as despatch
boats, carrying messages, ETC., rather
than as a we'll organized adjunct of at,
tack or defense.
Physically. the American sailor is q
splendid specimen. The American
method of recruiting is calculated tt
get a good class of men, drawn from
wide stretch of country and with fire.
quent infusions of new blood. while
with Us sailoring is almost a life bust
ness. Probably as a whole the Ameri
can system has a better class of mer
than abroad. 1t certainly tends to give
the men greater self-reliance, and tina
in he the they
such good fighters.
They certainly know how to keel
your ships in shp-shape and the dis
cipline and general conditions observed
on board an American ship are prob
ably equal to those of any naval servic,
in the world
How does the rate Of America,
naval shipbuilding compare with tina
of Germany
TT is proceeding at about the sam,
rate. and it seems as though the Amer
lean navy and the German navy woulc
develop on about parallel lines for SOM
years to come. There is nothing un
usual or significant from a presen
standpoint in this era of naval con
struction on both sides of the water
1t is simply the adapting of new idea
to new conditions; the bringing q
naval ornaments up to the standard
established by modern naval scienc,
opment has been provided. GOVERN
the period up to 1904. In that time al
authorized 10 battleships. eight coast dc
Tense ships, II cruisers and 30 sma
cruisers are already under way. Til
may seem an unusually large numbe
of warships, but it is to be remembers
that it covers six years. running som
time into the future, and on the who
is about the same as the development
contemplated and now in process in tn
United States. Our facilities for navt
shipbuilding are probably greater tina
yours, as we have a system of lars
shipbuilding plants, beginning wit
DantZig, Schiebau on the east. The
there are the Vulcan works a Stetti,
which is a private institution, capab
of doing large government contract
and those at Hamburg and at Bremen
There are government yards at Dan
zig, Kiel and Wilhelmstraus, and til