The San Francisco call., 1904-06-13
SUBMARINES
CANNOT COMBAT
DESTROYERS

some novel tests OF the submarine
and destroyer fiotillas Of the Ports
mouth division took place last month
near the Isle OF Wight. The object was
10 ascertain the most advantageous
methods 10 be adopted by the subma-
rines in repelling a sudden attack on
Portsmouth barbor b. q feet OF de-
stroyers. and the first operations We're
70 discover the prospects Of the subma-
rtnes escaping from the fire Of the de-
strOyers' guns. Two substantial can
Tass targets. representing in shape and
size submarine craft. showing only the
coming tower and periscope above
water. were rOwed by g torpedO-boat
at speed OF nine knots past the de-
strOyers, which opened IRE with twelve
pounCer QUick-1rers- Difficult as was
the target. some good practice was
made, and the canvas screen was pene-
trared half q dozen times In hight
with desrroyers. especially at daylight,
the submarines are al q decided dis
advantage. inasmuch as they have TO
come 10 the surface 70 make attacks
on the destrOyers, while IN operations
against heavier vessels. drawing from
twenty 10 twenty-eight feet Of water,
no part OF the submarine is exposed
above water when in the act OF launch
ing her torpedo against the bottom OF
the enemy's ships.
The entire feet OF fifteen improved
torpedo-boats ordered IN 1903 has been
delivered BY the contractors and ac-
cepIed BY the British Admiralty They
are al 225 feet in length, 251z feet beam
and 10 feet draughL but their oisplace-
ment varies from $50 tons 10 534 tons
Yarrow built four. Laird three, Palmer
I'VE, ThOrnycroft two and Hawthorhe
one Of these boats. the guaranteed
speed OF > knots being exceeded IN al
from one 10 one-half a knot They are
more substantially built than the type
Of destrOyers which they displace, and
the fictitious speed Of 50 knots has been
reduced 70 = knots, with better guar
antee against breakdOwns- Fourteen
boats Of this type are on the naval pro-
Eramme for 1s94-05-
on May 3 there were eighty-three
British war vessels assembled at Pal
ma. 1fa5O-cs. preparatory for maneu-
vers This feet was composed Of all
classes. from bartleshios OF 1900 tons
70 Eesrroyers Of 500 tons, and carried
a total of over $4,000 officers and men.
LAUNCHING OF WARSHIPS.
The month Of April was prolific in
launching Of war vessels. no less than
seven ships taking 70 the water. The
United States led with the battleship
Virginia and the armOred cruisers
Colorado ana California. on April 80
The French battleship Democratic. the
british armored cruiser DevOnshire and
-le German cruiser Munchen were
launched and a turbine tOrpedo-bOat
vas f0ated al Schiechau on April o.
An arm0red cruiser OF 1884 tons is 10
be built Al Brest. She viii be the long
est war vessel built for any navy, be
ing SIS feet exceeding the British type
OF Drake by i feet and that Of the
california class IN the United States
navy By Is feet The new French ar
mored cruiser is 10 have triple screws
" 5000 horsepower. giving a speed
~ - knots. q bunker capacity Of 2300
rC-s and an armament Of four g-6-inch.
twelve 6.4-inch. twenty-five 3-pOunders,
two 2-p0unders and FIVE torpedo tubes,
ruo 0f which are under water. The
estimated cost Is S5.5S0.G5o. against that
Of The Ernest Renan. now building and
" the same type Of S6,5S0,o00.
4 British ship Of war recently ar
rived al Puerto Arenitas and saluted
the rag OF Costa Rica with rwenty-One
guns. II took the gunners OF Costa
Rica TWO hours 70 answer the salute.
Tie ordnance consisted Of one old muz-
zie-loader. which had 10 De allowed TO
cool after each discharge. but the gun
uers- persisted and the salute was got
through in the course Of the day
new EDa-A 4-4-LAee -V-Z-4AALA = ALA
was recently tried at CherbOurg, with
startling results The conclusion Of the
discharge nearly shook the fort TO
pieces Dummies had been substituted
for live gunners. without which precau-
tion there would have been great loss
~ life as the dummies were shattered
into fragments The guns were fired
under service conditions and stood the
test remarkably we'll
i France should become involved in
a naval war IL is feared that il would
result IN expose not less startling than
the ineffciency Of the army in 1879.
Numerically the navy is strong in bat
rleships but when old and inefficient
ships are deducted the number is de-
creased from twenty-eight 70 only
eleven frst-clsss ships.
NEW INSPECTION SYSTEM.
Paymaster General Harris OF the
United states Navy has obtained au-
lh1rlty from Secretary Moody for a
new system OF inspection OF naval
supplies. Il has been the complaint
Cf contractors for the past forty years
that there was an unnecessary quanti
~ of red tape" and a great loss Of
tine in the inspection. acceptance and
payments OF articles delivered at navy
yards. and many large firms have,
for these reasons, declined 10 make
bids for supplies. The new regulations
provide that inspections shall begin at
least b. 1890 a. n. on the second day
following the delivery OF supplies and
be completed as rapidly as is consist
ent with the proper examination All
causes Of delav must be made the sub
5ect OF daily memoranda from the in
Gpection boards The psymaster gen.
era proposes 10 establish the method
Ct inspection on businesslize grounds,
as nearly aS possible resembling COM
uercial practices.
The Navv League OF the United
States was incorporated January 2.
1903. and numbers al the present time
z bout 800 lnembsrs. 4 has fortv-one