The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-07
OUR FIGHTING NAVY.
ITS WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENTS
PAST AND PRESENT.

Its Real Greatness Began With the
ships of the Constitution Class.
which Were RidicuIed by the
British, but outfought Them on the
Seas--Sturdy ships That Lasted for
100 Yenrs-The stump in Naval
Power After the Civil War-ChiIi
Could Have Whipped Is on the
sea i'm ISS1-RebuiIdinE of the
Navy-Changes in Armament From
Many Guns TO Few-What Our
ships Have Done an War and
Peace.
Copyright, 1901. by r. Stevens)
Washington. Jan. 4-One hundred years
ago the American navy consisted Of ff-
teen warships differed by nine captains.
thirty-six lieutenants and one hundred
ami fifty midshipmen. The ships were
constructed on. entirely new principles,
manned by crews that with few excep-
tons, had seen no previous service on
memo war, and carried experimental
batteries, which The English sneered at
IS 'monstrous ana preposterous." So
lightly wes the navy regarded at home,
and so little was it regarded abroad, that
on two occasions the English took men
by force from our national ships. while
the East Indian pirates preyed upon
American commerce with small fear Of
retaliation, and the Barbary corsairs
made a systematic demand for annual
tribute. This last was actually paid for
years, until the cry of millions for de-
Tense, but not one cent for tribute"
aroused the nation to a sense Of its igno-
minous position and the need of a power
full national marine. To-day the tonnage
o. the American navy is the fourth great
est in the world, and the efficiency of its
ships and personnel is such as to entitle
the United States &c the third place
among the great naval powers Since the
year le00 the American navy has humi-
lated France on the ocean suppressed
the Barbary Corsalrs, met England, the
Mistress of the Seas" on her own do,
main and defeated her in thirteen out of
fifteen single ship actions. DESTROYED nj
racy in the West Indies, opened the
Orient to our commerce. beaten China
Japan, and Corea in various fights aided
In the suppression of the slave trade
battered the Notifications of Mexico
ocean, made remarkable surveys and ex-
plorations, carried the flag far toward the
pole protected the tremendous growth
of American maritime commerce and an
INITIATED the fleets of Spain; a list Of ex-
ploits to take ones breath.
The Nations New Navy of 1907.
The ships of the Constitution class may
be said to have been the hrst pure type
OF American national vessels. The United
States, launched at Philadelphia July
10, 1877 was the first of these new
cruisers, and a description of her will
apply to the other H-gun American ships
OF the period. She was built of the finest
material for ship construction, with extra
heavy timber and lofty masts She was
armed with 2i-pounders in her main deck
r hattery-a kind of gun freely criticized
by the English, who used only 1s-pounders
on the main deck-and carried a crew
of about $50, where English vessels OF
the same class Were manned by "a crew
of about $50. In short she was an ex-
pertinent. sneered at by the British as
being top heavy. overarmed and over.
manned; but she was built under the
supervision of fhe commodore who was
to command her Not a long bolt was
driven or a PLANK shifted except under
the critical eye of her future master, ant
she proved in the wars with France, Tri-
pom ana England what Her designers nae
claimed for her-that separately she
would be superb r TO any European frigate
of the usual dimensions, would il assail-
cd by numbers be able to lead ahead
could go into action on her own terms
ana, finally. in heavy weather, would be
able to fight a doubled decked ship or
equal terms.
Vessels of the line of battleship class
IKE 1.-The swift-sailing Independence
and of the gunboat type, like the Wasp
Hornet and Pelican, Joined the United
States and Constellation types in form
ing the nucleus for the American navy
, and so stout was the construction of these
old-fashioned wooden sailing ships and
so admirably were they cared for tina
many of them took a formidable par
years later, not only in the war of 1874
with Mexico but, actually, as late a:
1851, in the war OF secession. Indeed, the
hundred-year-o Constitution may still
be seen in her berth at the Portsmouth
Navy Yard, and the Constellation of tbs
same age, was. until quite recently
actively employed as a practice vesse
for the naval cadets.
Beginnings of steam in the Navy.
Steam was first applied to American
naval uses in 1871. when the paddle whee
vessels Mississippi and Missouri were con
sldered the finest men-of-war afioat am
the first American warship to use thu
screw propeller was the Princeton 4
1874. AS sails gave way TO steam for tn
motive power of lighting ships, other i'm
provements followed, both in construc
ton and movement. AS guns becam
heavier their number on shipboard de
creased, and we go from the 74-gun In
dependence of 1918 to the 2-gun Monito
of 1862. The latter vessel. with her heav
guns and armored thrret, could easil
have blown the former out of the water
and was probably the most formidabl
fighting craft afioat at the time of he
encounter with the Merrimac. During tn
later years Of the Civil War the Monito
played the part of a batteship and Dor
the real brunt of attacks on such forti
fled positions as the approaches to Ne'
Orleans, Mobile and Charleston, abb
seconded by steam frigates like the Wa
bash. Brooklyn, and Hartford, and cor
vettes of the class Of the famous Kear
sarge After the close of the Civil Wa
the navy was neglected and permitte
TO fall into such state Of inefhcienc
that the two Chilian battdeships. Blanc
Encalada and Almirante Cochranc, ha
war been declared at the time of tn
GILLIAN embroglio in 1881, could have dc
stroyed the whole American naval fore
and placed our seaboard cities under TN
alternative of tribute or destruction. Ha
war been declared against Spain at th
time the American navy would have bee
as completely overwhelmed as was tina