The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-31
STRENGTH OF
! ARMED. CHINA
Navy is Small But Not
| .Despicable.
CAN Do LOTS OF DAMAGE
A Large Army Of Disciplined and
| WeII-Equipped Fighting
Men.

WASHINGTON. July 1s.-In these
days of doubt and difficulty, we. are
complacently assured in some direc-
tions that the powers need not consider
the Chinese navy; that. instead, all at
tention should be sentered upon the
Chinese army and the hordes of antag-
onizing natives, armed with the crud
est of fighting implements. This as
surance. is based merely upon the very
uncertain status of affairs and the as
sumption that the allied forces are
dealing only with an insurrectionary
body too big for suppression by the
domestic troops. Let matters develop
into governmental hostility, and the
attitude of the Chinese navy becomes
another thing.
The imperial navy is more imbued
with spirit of progress and European
federation than the Chinese army. and,
SO far as that breeds kinder regard
for the kindred arms of other nations,
it is reasonable to count upon a fairer
view of the present purpose Of the allied
forces in shielding their subjects resi- =
dent there; but the moment the Boxers
become the exponents OF the throne the
navy must become involved In the sup:
port of the kingdom and at once be
reckoned with as an effective unit OF
! Chinese might
| Flippantfy, the Chinese navy has
| been described-as of no moment; but
| the allied forces will do well not to
consider her few effective ships in that
| Indifferent light, for there are soldiers
of fortune in plenty only too glad. to
lead those vessels against very desper-
ate odds or 10 use them in some form
of nautical guerrilla warfare possible
of infinite damage.
f. THE CHINESE NAVY. SC.
The Chinese navy has never recover--
ed from it's conflict with Japan and
today cannot boast of a single ayzHur-
ed craft-in the .whele OF the deets or.
two fieets-for SO the servicesfS diyidads-
This is at once narrows it's service, but
it does not preclude the commission of
some pretty serious damage to the
: fleets or transports of the allied powers.
The imperial service has eight pro-
tected cruisers of modern design, the
, oldest being but ten years old. OF these
: ships, two of them have 145 and 16-
knot speeds, while the six remaining
5 can do from 20 to "a knots and are evo-
r lutions of the Armstrong cruiser OF
5 fine rapid-fir gun power. Our New
0 Orleans and Albany are smaller ver-
sions of the class There are six other
t cruisers of older date-14 and 15-knot
n craft-armed with pretty heavy Krupp
d guns of effective pattern. The Hai-Chi
h and the Hai-Tien, built in 1897 and
: 1898, are of 4,3o0 tons displacement.
They each have a main battery of two
: powerful 3-inch and ten 47-inch quick
u firing rifles, with supplemental force
o of sixteen 3-pounders, six 1.1-pounders
e and a number of smaller squick-firin
IS pieces. They carry five torpedo tubes,
, and have compliments of nearly four
h hundred persons. With forceo
lie draught speed of twentyfour knots,
h these ships would be a serious menace
lie to transports not heavily conveyed, and
rs to unguarded merchantmen they might
lie prove even more costly danger. The
,dI Hai-Shen, Hai-Shew and Hai-Yung
m built In Germany in 1897 and 1898; are
t. vessels of $500 tons displacement, ano
n can do their 20.7 knots under forced
is draught Each of them carries three
s. 5.9-inch and eight 4-inch quick-hrine
Krupp rifles. together with an auxiliar,
30 force of dozen small rapid-fire pieces
y They have three torpedo tubes, o.
which one is of the latest under-wate
type. Their compliments are 250 per
sons. Their logical application, unde
present conditions, would be to attaci
the commerce of the allied powers o
to pick off the wandering gunboats
the enemy.
TORPEDO CRUISERS AND DE-
STROYERS.
OF gunboats or torpedo cruisers as tn
official list is pleased to call them, ther
are nine-one of "a knots. one of 2
knots, three of 16 knots and four OF
knots-the last four could hardly d
much against the modern speedy tor
pedo boat. OF gunboatS and torped
gunboats of older design the navy ha
eleven, but they are of more defensiv
than offensive value.
OF torpedo boat destroyers there ar
four new German-built vessels thirty
five knot speed-boats that are equal
anything of the kind possessed by an
other naval power. OF Chinas torped
boat flotilla there remain OF the flee
she had before war with Japan thirt
first-class torpedo boats, to whic
should be added two fine German boat
of recent date. These vessels can max
from eighteen to twenty-fOur knots
and are to be counted pretty formid
able force. There are eleven smalle
boats of a nineteen-knot type, also sur
vivors of the war with Japan. Man
y of these torpedo boats have been ker
in constant use in the customs revenu
service, and their crews are perfectl
familiar with the mechanical handlin
of the craft, which, before everythin
else, is the prime consideration in tn
successful management and enduranc
of this type of fighting vessel.
AN ACTIVE FORCE.