The Washington times., 1902-02-24
PREPARING CADETS
TO BUILD WARSHIPS

| tion of the battleshios New Jersey and
| Rhode Island. for example. is easily ap-
| parent From laying the keel to launch
| ing the hull and from drawing thousands
OF plans to installing and tuning up the
machinery, every problem can lie illus
trated in vivid and practical way. which
Will never be forgotten. The free ac
cess to the navy yard which his students
are TO have will also be extremely valu-
able in Commander Hoygaard'S opinion.
But it is promised that the work in the
drawing room and lecture hall will be
not the less severe because theory and
practice will constantly confront one an
other.
Europeans are. of course. regarding
the recent revival of American ship
building with especial interest," said
Commander Hoygaard in the Informal in
terview which he granted the correspond
ent. America has unlimited men, un-
limited resources. and unlimited energy,
and now that she has started to build
ships it is confidently expected that she
will do greater things than have ever
before been done.
American Shlpbuilding.
when | was over here last year spent
most of my time in the navy yards. So
do not know very much about your mer-
chant shipbulding. but | did see two
yards which seemed most significant. The
way the New York Shipbuilding Company
in Philadelphia has equipped itself to
turn out vessels, and the way the Fore
River Company is building warships, and
new yard at the same time, is most
astonishing to Europeans. and is an in
dication of the sort of competition which
the foreign ShipbuilderS have got to meet
In America | believe that such enter
prises will succeed, there are so many
resources al your command. But in Eu-
rope. we cannot say. for that sort OF
thing has never been done in Europe
far as | am aware.
1T is true that there are many ship
yards on the other side which are Sc
riously Handicapped, If not crippled, by
obsolete machinery and equipment. Some
OF the German builders seem to have been
the first to grasp the American idea and
throw away OLD machinery to make room
fer new, and with something of American
success. Modern equipment will undoubt-
edly be an important factor in the SIC
cess OF the new shipyards but 1t is as
hard for some European builders. and
particularly for the European workmen,
to appreciate this as it is for them to
understand how marvelously fast you
work
American Type of Bnttieships.
AS a European. Commander Hovgaard
expressed the greatest interest in the new
American type of battleships, In the
general characteristics OF their fighting
ships all civilized nations keep pretty
close together. but just now, he said, the
American b. attleships are unsurpassed In
fact, they ave uneuualed except in a very
few instances. In spite of all that has |
been said questioning the supreme value |
OF a battleshiD for the command of the |
high seas this type of vessel still holds |
its own. The tendency seems to be more |
and more toward concentrating power In |
these typical seafighters by giving them |
better armor and a more effective arma- /
ment. There is an inclination to give
them greater speed, too. by increasing
their power, and al! this can be done only
by cnlarging their displacement /
IL brief. there appears to be a move
lient toward building larger warships
rhe United States and England are lead
ng with battleships of $1,000 and IS, coo
ons displacement, and other nations are
'ollowing so closely that 10. .000-ton bat
leship like the Oregon. is now considered
small. There seems to be no reason why
should not be made even iarg-
sr. unless war or some other satisfac-