New-York tribune., 1902-08-15
orR y4TT TO STAND THIRD.


The United States will have four years hence
the third navy of the world. That is the fore-
cast Of that high and impartial authority The
German Naval Year Book" for 1902 The esti-
mate is in a measure speculative, but it has on
tbe whole. q substantial basis. 1t rests upon
the reasonable supposition that existing pro
syrammes of construction are TO be fulnled
There is every reason to suppose they Will be.
They cannot he materially enlarged in that
time. for the reason that it takes several years
10 complete j battleshp. If the ships no" pe
ing built and planned are finished in l9o6' as
of course they should be- the naVles OF lhe
world will rank as follows in strength: brlt1Sh'
French. United States. Russian, German, Ital-
ian and Japanese: an order quite satisfactory
thus far, 10 this country.
To come to details: Great Britain will have
~ hattleships Of 765.650 tons, and 40 large
cruisers of 64S440 tons, an array OF hGhtln2
strength unique in the naval history OF Tue
world France will stand second, with 81 pat
tlesbips, Of $40. 720 tons, and ~ cruisers OF
o43171 tons. Passing by the United STATES
for the moment, Russia will come fourth WIN
p battleships, of 247.241 tons, and Is cruisers
of 1o0606 tons Thus it is to be seen that
Great Britain will have just as many batue
ships as France and Russia put together. But
of theirs by 16S.6S9, an amount equal to n
dozen first class battleships, giving her ire
.mendous preponderance over their united ma
vios in weight and strength. She will have ~
battIeships of more than 10000 tons each, while
France and Russia will have only f. such. and
the god of naval warfare is on the side OF the
heavier ships.
Now. let us see about our own navy. as it
will be at that time It will have 20 battle
ships of 24S. .294 tons. and 16 cruisers, OF
176155 tons. That falls far short of Great
Rritain's or Of Frances. but 1t considerably
s1lrpasses Russias strength. For while in
number Of battleships shall have only 20
TO her % of those of more than 10000 tons
we shall have 10 10 her 10. and our total ton
mage will exceed hers by more than 1000. We
shall have only 16 cruisers TO her Is, but our
IS Will outweigh her IS by 75.549 tons, and 13
of ours will be armored or protected, to only
) of hers. There can be no doubt, then, that,
despite her numerical superiority, our navy will
be considerably the stronger.
Germany will have navy closely approxi-
mating to Russia's in strength. having 10 bat
tleships 1S of more than 10000 tons eachl Of
21o 405 tons and II cruisers IS protected) Of
S1150 tons Italy will remain away down in
the sixth place with only u battleships, of
1S9 207 tons, and cruisers, all protected, of
39S13 tons. Japan will be seventh, with bat
tIeships of 95.5O1 tons. and cruisers. all pro-
tected, of 5S,776 tons-a small but powerful
navy, and one capable Of giving & good account
of itself should it be called upon to fight de-
fensively in home waters against such part of
some other navy as might be sent thousands Of
miles away from home. On the whole. then,
the naval outlook of the next few years is one
which the United States may regard with en-
tire equanimity, whether 1t considers merely
its own prospective strength or also that Of the
powers which are its closest friends and nat
uTal allies.