The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-02-19
sussia and Japan have apparently not ex-

1hus1l4 ana Japan nave apparently not eX-
cited the interest in our country which
OF q worldwide CONFUSION which no
doubt has tended to hold back somewhat
the powers Immediately involved, but at
the of writing, this New Years
week, the outlook IN very gloomy. The
politics In question are beyond the prov
ince of this paper; 1t would be an Inn
propriety on the part of the writag to deal
with them. It II proposed to give merely
. summary Of existing naval conditions,
such as are patent to any one who chooses
to read tho literature Of the subject. with
out any attempt to pass Judgment upon
them.
In the event Of such q war, 1t needs no
words to accentuats the Importance VI
command Of the sea. Should this fall to
Of Russia's Asian ports and the limita-
ton Of her lines Of communication to her
newly constructed railways. It would be
opsn to Japan to invade Korea and Man
churia. The worst, however. which could
happen apparently to Russia would be
the loss Of control of Manchuria and 4
halt to her aspirations in the east. Should
Russia control the sen, there would be
more h . reversal OF u q situation,
Japanese ports would he subject to block
Ade and attack Inc the ration it:slf to
invasion. Sea power Is thus, as Il 90 often
has been. OF primary Importance. In this
paper only that ID dealt with now in the
probable theater Of action-the far east
Tho Fighting Ships.
The lighting ships (by which II meant
those which can both give and sustain
hard knocks. and which are now face to
face. are on the Russian side eleven, seven
of which are classed as battleships and
four al armored cruisers. The seven bat
tleships are from 1880 to 1910 tons;
three Of the armored cruisers are from
1929 to 1884 tons and one Of 1890. On
the Japanese side are seven battleships,
six Of which are from II, SIT to Il, 4s tons
cruisers from 9,456 to 9,e06 tons. The fight
ing force sums up 1857 tons Russian to
1872 s3 Japanese. Also there are twelve
Russian torpedo-boat destroyers and six
teen torpedo boats against Japan's nine
teen torpedo-boat destroyers. thirteen tor
pedo boats first class d2o to LEO tons),
%thirty-six second class go to 80 tons). and
twenty-seven third class (4o to e5 tons).
Japs Lead in Large Ships.
Consideration must be had. however, of
the special characters Of the ships In
volved. and for a clear understanding Of
these I insert the accompanying tables.
The table shows four of the Japanese
battleships to exceed the largest Russian
by 2,3SS to 2,743 tons. Though tonnage may
be taken generally OF a rough measure OF
power, 1t must be associated with certain
qualities Of design, particularly distribu-
ton OF armor, in order that 1t be taken
As in any degree a safe measure. Speak
ing generally, however. all-round eff
cheney, large coal supply. speed, heavy
and well-dlstributed armor n powerful
armament make large size a necessity.
All these cannot be had in a ship of what
is today reckoned moderate size. The
Japanese Chen Yuen. though Of moderate
tonnage and old design (stettin. lss4), Is
both, in protection and armament to be
ranked in the battle line. F. T. lane dn
his "All the Worlds Fighting Ships")
rates her in average value with the Rus
sian Bayan and Rossia n our own
Brooklyn and Texas. Mi armored cruis-
ers have been placed in the fighting line