The San Francisco call., 1904-04-25
MEN analMAa1EERS IN
THE F0RS1 lie WORLD
MONIES

Of its members. In order to prevent a
life tenure Of any members OF the staff
none are TO remain longer than three
or four years on such duty, and are not
to be eligible for reappointment until
after the lapse of another four years.
The scheme looks practical and in the
interest Of the welfare Of the navy; the
board viii exercise no authority, and
as it VIII assume the duties Of the Bu
reau of Navigation in so far as relates
TO the assignment of officers the plan
viii probably be more acceptable than
the present system. Senator Hale is
said to be opposed to the naval staff
scheme and il il does become a law II
will be IN such a form as to deprive it
Of any insidious attempt to usurp the
functions of the Secretary Of the Navy.
The five torpedo boat destroyers, De-
catur. Bainbridge. Barry. Chauncey
and Dale, which left Hampton Roads
December 13 last year for the Philip
pines, arrived at Cavite April Is, thus
completing the trip of $4,000 miles in 123
days. 1t was estimated that the voy
age Of Is. 900 miles would take Isl days,
but weather and sea favored the flo
tilla and no stops were made except to
take in coal and other supplies. The
boats proved seaworthy, no accidents
happened to their machinery and the
vessels from all accounts will need but
slight oVerhauling and docking to fit
them for duty. The average speed, de-
Quoting the time in port, has been
about ten knots. The longest run was
from San Juan to the Canary Islands,
distance of 2S73 miles, which was
made in twelve days on an average
daily coal consumption Of eighteen
tons. The successful termination of
this long voyage well within the esti-
mated time is creditable TO the design
ers, builders and navigators, for while
they are not baby vessels-having
full load displacement of 625 tons with
23O tons Of coal aboard-their frail con-
struction as compared with ordinary
vessels of the same size has been COM
mented upon as verging upon the linn
its OF safety. That they have deveI-
Oped no weakness goes to prove that
the science Of modern construction is
all that is claimed for it and that good
material properly put together will give
constructions of twenty years ago.
Fifteen. obsolete vessels are to be sold
out Of the British navy, as no longer
serviceable for any purpose. The most
noteworthy Of this lot is the Duke of
Wellington, a 1S1-gun screw line-of
battleship built at Portsmouth in 1852.
She is the sole remainder of the six
three deckers of that period. and of the
thirty two-deckers, only one-the Vic
tor Emmanuel-still exists, serving as
guardship at Hongkong. The Duke of
Wellington had auxiliary screw engines
of $50 horsepower, giving the ship a
speed of 10.15 knots under favorable
conditions, and her complete cost, ex-
elusive of armament. was $S5S,675. 1t
required the oak timber of twenty-six
acres and the labor Of 334 shipwrights
for one year to build this ship. Her
complement was about HOO men and
her annual expense of maintenance was
estimated at S176,000 The enormous
draught of these three -deckers-35 to
Sc feet-made them unsuited for general
work. and the only service rendered
by the Duke of Wellington was as flag
dition against Bomarsund in 1854, in the
destruction Of which. however, the flag
ship took no part. After its return to
England the use of the Duke of We'll
lington has been limited to that of
guardship at Portsmouth, accommo-
dating officers for the fleet and dock
yard reserves and other miscellaneous
purposes.
The old Belleisle. a coast-defense
ship Of 1870 tons, purchased from Tur-
key in 1873, is another vessel to be sold.
The only service rendered by the
Belleisle has been that of a target foI
gunnery and torpedo practice during
the 9ast three years, and the hull is
now so thoroughly battered as to be of
no further use except to go on the iron
scrap pile. The two-decked screw ships
Of the line, Edgar and Hannibal, of 81
guns, built in 1858 and 1854, are relics
Of the past and have been utilized for
forty years as depot ships and hulks..
The sloops Daphne, Icarus and Swal-
low, built in 1865, have likewise out
lived their usefulness, and eight gun
boats, including Plassy and Assaye,
twin-screw torpedo gunboats, completes
the list Of vessels to be sold.
The British cruiser Flora, which ran
on the rocks in British Columbia wat
ers last December and was saved with
some difficulty, has been repaired and
left Esquimalt April ready for future
service. The dockyard authorities con-
cede that but for the fact that the
cruisers bottom was wood sheathed,
the vessel would have become a total
loss.
The French protected cruiser Cas-
sard, while on her twenty-four hours
trial trip off Toulon last month ran on
the rocks, damaging her bottom, carry
ing away bilge keels and twisting two
Of her propeller blades. The vessel got
off. however, without assistance and
steamed TO the dockyard, where the
requisite repairs will detain her at least
two months.
In the German navy the retired pay
Of officers is graded according to the
Of covxyiro % fl,o