Arizona republican., 1899-03-19
WATCH US CLOSELY
Foreign Nations Interested
 in Our Naval Progress.
For inc First Time inc French Em- baSSy Will Have Naval AffaChe at Washington = German Em- baSSY 10 Follow France.

gently arrived here in company with the French ambassador, M. Cambon
 to become naval attache of the French : embassy. Lieutenant de Faramond
 has had wide experience as a naval
 observer, following the Japanese and
 Chinese vessels through the China
 Japan war. and now coming here to
 study American naval methods. Speak
 ing of the American navy Lieutenant
 de Faramond said:
 "The American navy has attracted
 worldwide attention within the last
 year and this is leading European
 countries to send naval attaches to
 Washington. This will be the first
 time that the French government has
 had naval attache with the embassy ! A German naval officer is coming to the German embassy. and other coun-
 tries will doubtless follow in the same
 line. Since the Spanish-American war this country affords splendid facilities
 for naval study. It was the first real
 test of modern fighting vessels, and
 naval science must draw it's conclu- sions largely from what the American
 navy accomplished during the war
 with Spain.
 Il think it is universally conceded in Europe that the American navy
 made splendid record, not only in a general way, but in technical matters
 of naval detail. It demonstrated the effectiveness of the rapid-fire. gun of
 medium caliber rather than the larger guns. It also seemed to show that the power of a navy is more in it's weapons of attack and offense. it's capability of giving blows, rather than in it's heavy armor and capability of resisting blows.
 We in France were quite aware of the growing power of the American navy even before the recent war. Our chief naval constructor, M Bertin, came to this country prior to the war and made tour of your dock yards, arsenais. etc. On his return he made an official report showing the great inn provement the American naval con structors had brought about, particu- larly in the arrangement of bulk-heads and in the distribution of armor so as to protect vital points. We also know your American armor and are using the Harveyized American process. which has been found entirely satis factory thus far
 Lieutenant de Faramond says for elgn naval observers are not only in- tpd in are also observing the large amount of naval construction now in progress in the United States, and the naval inn provement it involves From Italian naval statistics he shows that the United States is today rec4oned second among the great powers in point of war ships under construction. This tonnage by countries is as follows: Great Britain, 153,132 tons; United States, 56,425; Japan. 47,52O Russia, 29,040; France. 25, ,66S; Germany, 16,- 545; Italy. 2,972. i
 An interesting line of inquiry," | said Lieutenant de Faramond, ''is as to | why you are building so many heavy ships, iron-clads, as we call them, as against the lighter, swifter cruisers. The iron-clad is essentially a home ship, and is not fitted, owing to her bulk and lack of coal capacity, for crossing the ocean or for long cruises. The French navy has in commission fifteen ir0n-clads on the Mediterranean and eight in the northern squadron But these are purely defense vessels and never leave the home ports.
 'The performance of your battle ship Oregon, in running 13,OO0 miles around South America, was remark able for that reason, and her present trip across the Pacific is equally re- markable. 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, ard at the same time the sufficient armor to make her de- fensive powers almost equal to those of the iron-clad.'
 The lieutenant says that France has gone further in adopting the torpedo boat as an effective naval weapon than any other country. She has in all some 25O torpedo boats, some of them very i swift
 Lieutenant de Faramond says he thinks the adoption of the water tube boilers in American warships will be a ( further improvement, and will make i them much more effective for long ] This class of boilers, he says, has been adopted by the British admiralty for the Powerful, Terrible and ships of that class. and quite gen orally by the naval authorities of { France, Russia. Japan, Chile. Argen- tine and Italy. N. Viaud, a naval con structor of the French navy, is at r present in Washington on an unofficial {