Arizona republican., 1905-08-22
Naval Results of the War.

Reports of the number of Russian warships which the Japanese have been able to raise and repair for their own use make it possible now to sum marize with substantial accuracy the results of the war upon the naval forces of the belIigerent powers. Ex- cluding torpedo boats and other small fry, and reckoning only battleships, cruisers and gunbOats, Russia took into the war S3 vessels, of O,224 tons, and Japan 76. of 274.1S6 tons Should the war end now and the interned ships be allotted to Japan, Russia would have come out of it with only 10 ships. of 63,636 tons. while Japan would have 7S, of 342,OOO tons. In other words. Russia would have lost B vessels, of 346, 5SS tons. while Japan would have made a net gain of and of 6S,323 tons. How this amazing and unique result has been attained is worthy of a moments notice.
 The vessels sunk in the war. in bat tie. by mines. by collision or otherwise, were: Russian, 57. of 245.292 tons; Japanese. 12. of 46.O25 tons. Vessels captured by the enemy were: Rus sian. :. of 44,4S6 tons; Japanese, none. Vessels informed in neutral ports. per haps to be surrendered to the victor at the end of the war: Russian, 19. of 56.S1O tons; Japanese. none. There were thus remaining of the original fleets: Russian. 10. of 63,636 tons; Japanese, 64, of 22S,159 tons. But there were also these items in the account: Vessels gained by capture-By the Russians, none; by Japanese, '. of 69,- S64 tons. Thus, while at the beginning of the war the Russian fleet was near ly 10 per cent stronger than the Jap anese in numbers and nearly 50 per cent stronger in tonnage, the Japanese fleet is now 6SO per cent stronger in numbers and 442 per cent the stronger in tonnage. The Russian fleet has lost SS per cent of it's numbers and 84 per cent of it's tonnage, while the Japanese :. fleet has made a net gain of nearly 3 per cent in numbers and of nearly 25 per cent in tonnage.
 As an addendum to this astounding record we may recall that the Japan ese also captured and condemned as prizes 45 merchant vessels, of 1O7929 tons, all but two being steamers; Of which 15 were Russian. 15 British, German, French. Austrian, ? American, l Dutch, l Swedish and l Norwegian; all of which have been added to her merchant marine, unless purchased by their former owners. In all the war she has not sunk or de- stroyed a single -cOmbatant yes sel. Russia, on the other hand, cap tured only a few, but destroyed most of the neutral and non combatant ves- seIs which she overhauIed as contra band, so that there has been no gain but a considerable net loss to her mer- Cantile as well as to her military ma rine. We do not know that Japan is bound to take these things into con- sideration in settling the accounts of the war, but if she should the value of the warships she has taken from Russia would be an appreciable item toward reimbursement" Reckoning captured and raised and repaired ships at only half their original cost, the fourteen large vessels mentioned above would be valued at nearly s25,- 9OO,O0O, not to mention the forty or fifty smaller craft. In any case, in losses to the vanquished and in gains to the victor, this conflict stands unique in the history of naval wars