The San Francisco call., 1901-11-25
BRITISH NAVAL y
CONSTRUCTOR
TO BE RETIRED

4
reason assigned is that OF i'll
health, which, no doubt. is the result Of
worry over the fiasco in the design OF
| the new royal yacht Sir William is 56
| years of age, and has had a phenomenaly
/ distinguished career as the foremost
warship designer in the world. He en-
/ tered the Devonport dockyard in 1893 as
an apprentice, and was appointed eight
| years later on the admiralty staff under
/ Sir Edward Reed. In 1881 he. was ad-
| vanced to chief constructor, and resigned
In 1883 to accept the position OF naval
/ constructor to the Armstrong firm at
| Elswick. Two years later the admiralty
invited him to accept the Office Of di-
| rector Of naval construction, offering a
salary of S12,5O0 a year, and Sir. William
returned to the admiralty. During this
service of sixteen years he has desig%
IVA vessels, aggregating S61 900 tons, rep
resenting an expenditure of $3.50, ,O00, 900, be-
| sides couple Of hundred smaller ves-
sells, such as destroyers and torpedo
boats. The unfortunate climax to such
a hitherto successful career in the build
ing of the royal yacht was the blunder
in calculations by a subordinate for
which Sir william has accepted the
blame, and the British navy loses an Of
| fetal which it will be difficult to find
an equally competent successor.
Another one of the frequent changes in
| French naval policy has been announced.
! The special committee appointed to ex-
anime the naval estimates has refused to
allow the appropriation for building more
| heavy battleShips. 1t also recommends
! that all old sailing vessels and steamers,
| whether armOred or not, which are un-
able to take their place in the fighting
| line, should be either sold or destroyed.
! The opposition to battIeships is a de-
batable question, but the recommenda-
ton to remove vessels that have become
obsolete from the navy list is in the line
of economy and efficiency. Most of the
naval powers expend vast amounts upon
vessels Of doubtful utility, which money
could be expended with better results on
new construction.
| Some amusing incidents are reported
| from Toulon, indicating how difficult ~
| is to obtain in practice the results aimeld
| at by a theoretically perfect organiza-
| ton.
At L'Orient those in charge of the tor
| pedo-boats forgot to embark their am
munition. The mechanics taken on
| board were unfamiliar with their work.
and several accidents were caused from
! this. At Toulon tOrpedo-bOat 81 was sent
to sea in a leal<y condition, and its crew,
/ unaccustomed to the erratic behavior Of
| the boat became seasick-
The French submarine boat Triton had
an experience while being tried of Cher
bourg last month which it's crew will
never forget. When in about seven faith
| oms of water a new plunging apparatus
was tried, which acted so promptly that
\ the boat struck bottom and sustained
J considerable damage. Water began to
/ flow in, but the engineer, with rare pres
ence Of mind, had the detachable weights
| cast adrift. and the boat rose to the sur
face, where the pumps were set to work,
and a tug towed the boat into Cher
bourg.
The Bousasque. a new French sea-go-
ing torpedo-boat just completed at Nor
mand's yard. Havre, made an excellent
run October 26. She left Havre at 10:45
a. m. and arrived at Cherbourg at LIS
p. M, making the trip at an average
speed of % knots The Bousasque is of
/ 160 tons displacement and 400 horsepower,
I 147.7 feet length, 1877 feet beam and 8 feet
| draught.
/ Henri ", second-class battleship in
course of construction for the French
! navy, is still far from completion, al
1 though the ship was intended to be ready
/ for sea in 1900. The delay is owing to
| non-delivery Of machinery and guns. The
keel was laid at Cherbourg July IS, 1887,
and the launch took place August %. 1S99-
Her general design has been severely crit
/ opinion being that the ship would be a
I failure. and it is possible that a realiza-
tion of this possibility may account for
| the delay in completion.
I Navy building in Germany Is progress-
| ing at a rate highly creditable to the Of
l hcials and contractors With the launch
J of the MeckIenburg. November g.. there
} are now 20 battIeships afoat and 10 are
l fHo 80. D
battleships a1oat, including the Maine
and Ohio. which are not to be completed
within eighteen months, and are build
! ing. It is quite certain that the 10 Ger
man battleships viii be completed within
three years from date, and also most
likely, judging from past experiences,
| that our ships will not be ready Within
contract time. and that. therefore. thSl
| German navy viii have 80 battleships
ready for service by January. 1906 against
I 18 in our navy under the most favorable
circumstances. The strength of a navy
exists in it's actual available number OF
battleships rather than IN the number on
paper, and the United States navy IS
therefore not entitled at the present time
to take fourth place in the rank of naval
powers.
Russia is evidently not satisfied with
homemade guns of large caliber, as the
Minister Of Marine has ordered batteries
of 12-inch guns from France of the Canet
type.
A torpedo-boat was launched last Au-
gust from the Neva shipyard at Port
Arthur, being the first of a number to-
follow. The vessel is 216.5 feet in length.
21.25 feet beam and displaces $50 tons on
a draught of feet The engines are Of
5000 horsepower, to give a speed of 81
knots, and the armament consists Of
one 2s5-ineh and three 1S5-inch rapid
| 1rers.
A mammoth shipyard for the construc-
/ tion of vessels of war and other purposes
has been completed at Palermo. 1t has
I five slips, ranging in length from 328
! feet to 500 feet, the latter length being
capable of a further increase to 665 feet
! The buildings. labor-saving appliances
I and machine tools are all up to- the latesS
modern standard.
The British battIeship Formidable made
her commission trial Of three hours Octo-
Der 2, and averaged nearly II knots.