The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-22
OUR NEW NAVY.
Some of Its Problems Of MatrimOny, Sea-Train
Ing and Discipline.
NJ. c. OF he House
Conn

seaman can learn the duties of his
trying and arduous profession. The
tendency to diminish the sea-training
of officers and men may prove very
prejudicial to the efficiency of the
navy"
There has been disposition on the
part of the Navy Department to build
up shore stations, and Congress from
time to time has expressed its dissent
at the further extension of my policy
of this kind. The student of naval af-
fairs must see that there must neces-
sarily be a land establishment of some
proportions to maintain the navy. We
must have yards and docks. We must
have naval academies to educate our
officers and training schools for our
boys who are too young to go to sea
until they have had some military dis
cipline. The training of officers and
men to-day is necessarily different from
what it used to be. The machinery
which they handle is different from that
of a hundred years ago. When the
naval bill was under consideration in
the House of Representatives l took
occasion to call attention to the Won
derful changes which have occurred.
Jack Tars Disappearance.
The evolution of the modern battle
ship brought about a wonderful change.
The Jack Tar" who was the inspira-
ton of Cooper's tales has become a
tradition. Old Jack, with his rough
exterior, with language largely of pro-
family sitting and smoking his pipe
perchance squirting tobacco juice with
greater accuracy than the trained gun
ner of to-day can hit his mark with
shot or shell-has become a tradition.
Jack" went off the ship when the
af1u Aep ..
went off. He went off in the evolution
Of the modern battleship. And in his
place has come the trained machinist,
the trained gunner, the trained sea-
man; and ii requires education to
train these men to man the ship and
TO perform the different duties in con-
nection with the careful manning and
offering of the ship, in view of the
great complexity of machinery and
mechanism which obtain in our battle
ships. And so this in some measure is
a reason why it has become necessary
to train apprentices and to train Off
GERS on shore.
While we must understand that the
sea is the proper place to educate a
man in seamanship, yet seamanship is
not all that we require of the naval Of
ticer of to-day. He must understand
history and International law and at
the same time he must be a diplomat,
for oftentimes he is the only represent
tative of his country in foreign port
lie must be courteous and tactful and
at all times man, realizing the great
responsibility which rests upon him as
an officer in the naval service of the
United States.
Above all he must be an American,
learned in his countrys history and
true to its glorious traditions and i'm
bued with an overpowering sentiment
of love for country, home, and flag
But, as above stated he must not only
be seaman, and get his seamanship
upon the sea, but the naval officer must
be military man, fighting man, and
large part of his military education
along this line must necessarily be ac-
CURED on shore. He does not have the
opportunity to do it on the sea- There
his mind and attention is taken UP
completely with his ship. But to study
naval maneuvers, TO outline the future
Manilas and Santiagos. to study the
depth of harbors, to plan future cam
paigns with all their naval Tactics
ana strategy, requires habitation and
home upon the shore.
Planning Future Campaigns.
1t may be said in this connection
that we have established a naval war
college al Newport where special
courses of instruction are given to Of
tlcers on various subjects connected
with the navy. Here plans for future
campaigns are discussed. Here are COL
Iected all of the historical data bear
ing upon such campaigns and here the
mighty battles of the future are won
and lost. Does any one mean to say
that this sort CT study and research
and work and planning is not import
ant to the naval officer? One has only
TO visit the naval war college at New
port to be impressed with the splendid
work which it has been doing. Since
we have established one in this coun-
try England has taken up the idea and
has modelled one after it,
Too much praise cannot be given to
the way in which our officers and men
discharged their duties during the last
war. To man they love their pro-
fession and are loyal to the highest
and best interest of the service. We
can reach the highest standard of ma
val training in our personnel only as
we frequently turn the eye of intro
spection upon ourselves and see where
in our faults lie and how we can bet
ter improve the service. May we never
reach that point where we feel that we
have nothing to improve, nothing to
bCltAs anu lllEItlOIc are content ana
self-satis6ed.
In presenting the naval appropriation
bill opportunity was afforded to call
attention to the fact that we had COM
paratively few fighting ships in the
navy at the present time. This was not
for the purpose of disparaging the
navy, but that the people might under
stand its actual condition. There seem
ed to be an impression throughout the
land that every ship we had in the
navy was a lighting ship, whereas we
have comparatively few of them.
While we have been building up the
navy with some degree of rapidity, yet
we have spent comparatively little
money upon the construction of new
ships. We have spent In all up "a
date only a little over $3.50, 900 900 on
the building of NV ships-a little more
than the pension bill every year, and
10 complete those already In process
OF construction VIII require only about
f75, 900. The people Of this country
cannot expect 10 build a great navy
with $225 5000 IL costs more than
that While we have made good prog
ress In the past yet we must push The
work and build q navy that VIII be
commemorate with the needs Of "a
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