The Savannah morning news., 1904-10-09

the great battleships and swift cruis-
ers launched annually from American
shipyards and embodying in engine
rooms, armor and guns every improve
ment known to modern marine archi-
tests and experts, the United States
government is building three vessels
of types long ago abandoned in naval
construction. These are sailing craft
10 be propelled solely by the force
of the winds as We're the frigates and
battleships of the first half of the last
century. That in the work of build
ing up the new American navy these
relics of a by-gone age should be of
value is an idea seemingly at variance
with modern theories and methods.
II is needless to say that these new
vessels, the Cumberland, the Intrepid
and the Boxer, are not intended for
use as fighting ships. They are de-
signed to furnish to the youths of
the country the training which once
made the American sailor the best in
the world. carried the American flag
10 every quarter of the globe and
won many a sea-fight in the early
days of the republic.
Need for Training ships.
AS the number of men-of-war in
commission has increased year by
year, the problem of manning them
has become more serious, and the
government has been forced to take
active measures to secure crews
worthy of the new ships. The mer-
chant marine, the nations resource in
past times of peril, has practically
i ceased to exist and the famous race
of American seamen, accustomed from
infancy to follow the sea, as much
at home on the deck of a ship as
in their cottages ashore, is threaten
ed with extinction. In the old days,
4 s-hen American clipper ships car
Red the flag to every quarter of the
globe, the sailor was in truth Jack
4 of-aH trades" Accustomed to make
n the ocean his home for months at a
q stretch, hardened to every kind of
q weather. self-reliant, courageous and
u sturdy, he was material ready shaped
q for the navy and d few months on
& a United States vessel made him a
& veteran n-of-war's man.
Russia an Example.
How essential is a f1ourishing mer-
q chant marine to naval supremacy is
q shown by recent conflicts with which
Il the world is familiar. Russia, prac-
q ucally destitute of ocean going YES
q sells, fills her men-of-war with crews
largely composed of landsmen i'm
pressed into the service. Japan, a
4 country which has fostered its mari
n time interest, has a hardy race of
sailors from which to recruit the crews
s. }of her fighting ships. When the
a present war began, the Russian fleet
in Eastern waters was theoretically
stronger than the Japanese. The
Russian vessels outclassed their an
ia gonists in tonnage, protection and
ornament; but the seaInanship and
training of the Japanese turned the
scale and the Cars navy has been
practically eliminated from the situa-
ton as fighting force.
Historic Craft.
The United States authorities. in
4their endeavors to make the crews of
american naval vessels as efficient as
were the men of the old navy, have
been forced to provide ships in which
10 train seamen. Such vessels of the
pd types as are in suitable condition
pre- used as training ships. These.
while they possess steam power, are
lsO of sailing rig. as were the fam
BUS fighters of Civil War days. 1t
Is to enlarge this fleet of school ships
that the Cumberland Intrepid and
Boxer are now under construction at
the Charlestown, Mare Island and
Portsmouth navy yards respectively.
Finishing touches are now being given
the Cumberland and she will be ready
b go into commission at about the
beginning Of the new year. The same
Framing in seamanship that future
Jsckies will receive on these sailing
rraft is provided for the cadets at
Annapolis for whose especial use the
sailing ship Chesapeake was built sew
eral years ago.
The Cumberland and the Intrepid
re sister ships, each being a bark
figged, steel vessel of 1880 tons. Their
length is IT'S feet with an extreme
breadth of forty-five feet and a mean
pratt of sixteen feet three inches.
#rheir armament consists Of six four
nch guns, four six-pounders, two one
FOUNDER rapid fire guns and two Colt
utomatic rapid fire guns. There is
ccommodation on board each vessel
For 100 seamen and 300 apprentices.
he third of the training ships, the
Boxer, is brigantine of only S45 tons,
small burden in these days of enor-
nous steamers, but larger than many
pr the vessels in which American sea-
men have been raised. The Boxer
a wooden vessel and no provision
FOR armament is included in the plans.
Bear HOnoPed Names.
These ships bear the names OF three
Vessels famous in the early history OF
Ihe American navy. The disastrous
ate of the Intrepid, which was blown
2 with it's crew of twelve in the har-
Nbor of Tripoli, has attached a peculiar
interest to it, in spite of the ships
hort career in the navy. Originally a
ripolitan ketch. she was picked up IN