The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-03-03
THE PAST CENTURY.
Its Progress in Great Sub
jects.
ASSET OF REMARKABLE ARTICLES
Eleventh Paper of the Series, by
Captain Mahan.
NAVAL SHIPS
COPY, A. le,'. bv The Sun Prnt'ng and Puh-
Gshiag Association

III tllt ''libl'l''A" VI h''''
century now closing has seen a revolution
UNPARALLELED in ;hc rapidly Of the tran
si ion and cqua,lcd in degree only by the
changes which followed he general miro
diction OF cannon and the ablnd ninent
oG oars in favor Of sails for tho propulsion
Of ships Of war. The latter step was con-
segment. ultimately. upon the discovery OF
the New World and OF the sea passage 10
India by the Cape Of Good Hope The
voyage 70 those distant regions wa 100
long and the remoteneaI from ports or REL
uge too great for rowing gall Va, a class
Of vessels whose construC: on unified them
for dcvel3uing great size and for contend
ing with heavy weather The c. angc OF
moti,a power made possible and eotailed
q different disposition Of the fighting power.
the main battery weight OF ships being
transferred from 'he bows and sierns-
crd-on nro--to the hroadrdes. The COM
hllltiOu Of these two new tac.ors caused
shins and fleets necessarily T. he fought
In a different manner from formerly; en-
tailed 20 Use the technical word, new tao
tics.
The innovations thus briefly mentioned.
trio Igh equally radical. were much more
g'GdIa. in their progress than those vii
rcs.od bv our generation The latter haV"
occurred not merely within the l'"tlme,
but within the memory of nan who ar"
s'ill among ~. 1hev arc embraced asilv
aui entirely. within the reign ~ Queen
N,'orir. Il has been said. pllu~ih'y.
that if a nlva. officer who died half Il con-
,urv ago could revisit, m" earth h" would
fui hlnse I NOR" ~ home IN the ships or
Elizabeth than in those Of her present sue
ccssor. No such sudden and sharp con
tr1st troubled The soAman of the earlier
era II i true. and Interesting ~ note,
that the battle Of lepauto in 1913. although
a few vessels % hroad-id" TYP" therein
exercised q decisive influence, was f"ncnl
chiefly nv %Calloy-, while m the contest with
tho Spanish Armada in the English Channel
fifteen years later. sailing ships played III"
leading part. bur while the fact gives y
valuable assistance to precision ut memory
by fixing aN approximate da'c whom III"
on. type was definitely -upplanied by the
other. it remains that the turning point
thus indicated was reached long after can
non and sails first were used afoat. and that
another century elapsed before the galley
wls denni,oly abandoned
BrRpsEYr VIEW OF TUP TPA>srTrON
\ few dates vii illustrate the swiftne-~
~ our recent Transformations, In 1928.
when the French Navy reduced San Juan
do Ulloa, tho principal dofenc" of Vera
C-uz, and in 1870. in tie British attack upon
Acre, che ngh'ing power was wholly in
sailing ships such ~ had fought At Trafalgar
thirty-fve years before. Two small paddle
steamers towed the French fr!Catcs into
position. while the -four British vessels
# he Same type contribute only a dc--
ultory addition 10 the byoadN'de- ~ seven
sailin ships Of the line. which compelled
the surrender Of tie fortress. II g first
screw ship of the line in the British Navy
vas launched in 1852 the last Ealing ship
of that class ent out OF commission In
1880. An alike. the slips OF Vera cruz
and 81 Acre and their shorf-reIgrirg Sue
cn.sors, tho steam friga'o~ and ships Of tie
lilc, are now ~ much things Of the past,
IN sails, in engines and in guns. a are the
galleys Of Lcpanto and TIA" ships ~ to
Armada. By 1870 u had been recognized
everywhere that a tvl" Of vessel CORE
spending in oSscn' Al features with the
present armored bath ships had displaced
all competitors. The span of "a single
generation lad 'ern ~, transition from
the ship, Of Drake and Nel-"n 20 those 81
our ow dav. TIE career az larragut
was run in tho Intermediate period, lli-
Success for the most part Wa achieved
and his renown won with vessels sub-'an-
tally Of the older type, but with auxiliary
steam power.
II IL almost needless 20 remark that ,hi-
seemingly abrup' transition i bu' one
incident in the startling progress made
during the century in all the arts Of peace
a. OF war. Like the o,her-. il j. due IA
an intellectual ACTIVITY. greater probably
than hat Of our predecessors, and directed
since the peace 81 1878 less upon external
political interests than upon scientific
Investigation. and upon the application
OF the results TO tho improvom, nj Of proc
esses q every kind. he changes in
conception and in development Of The
Instruments Of naval warfare result from
the incrca.et power of dealing with rc-
F~rac'ory ma'eria which haS been acquired
by scientific anl practical men in the labor
Atory and TIE work hop Thus view ed.
though 20 rapid in realization a. Ia amount
10 a revolution, rof only /, the 81 anrc
seen to be the outcome of a long though
silent. PREPARATION. hut Il Is brought also
into its due relation 10 the general move
men' Of the UE'. aud found to share he
sp-oiai CHARACTERISTICS our ancestors of
the eighteenth "nt0ry had their own prob
LEM. noble and ri,-uriiup. but chiefly
r,1i,i..l D.. .l.ra,f.. AN, ,,. AL 81.