Arizona republican., 1905-10-01
The American Navy.

The giant battleship Mississippi was launched at the Cramp shipyards. Philadelphia, yesterday. Of course, it will be some months before it is ready for service, but it may be counted now as a formidable addition to a navy which some experts believe to be the most efficient fighting force on the seas.
 For two or three years after the Spanish American war the navy de- partment took advantage of the unus- uaIly strong sentiment in congress and throughout the country in favor of large increases to the fleet, to secure the authorization of a great many new battleships Some of these have al- ready been finished, but most of them will go into commission during the next year. The navy department an nounced a few days ago that extraor- dinary progress has been made in the last few months on thirteen of the first class battleships now under cOnstruc- tion. The Virginia Georgia, Connec- ticut, Louisiana, Rhode I sland and New Jersey will be completed in the next six months. Within a year the Vermont, Kansas, Minnesota and Ne braska will be ready to enter the ser vice, and a short time later the Idaho Mississippi and New Hampshire will be finished.
 As there are now thirteen battle ships in service the addition of this bakers dozen of new vessels will ex- actly double our battleship fleet. But mere numbers do not tell all of the story, for the new ships are strictly first class and most of them are larger and more heavily armed and armOred than those in the present feet The new ones range in size from 13,OOO to l6, 900 tons. and there is only one bat tleship in the entire navy. the Texas, which is not first class.
 In a recent interview Admiral Dew ey said tha.. the lesson the American navy should learn from the Russo Japanese war is the necessity of more big ships, more big guns and good shooting" He said that We ought to have several battleships of 1S,000 tons displacement. such as Great Britain is building, carrying 12-inch guns and with a few 3-pounders to repel torpedo boat attacks. The importance of ac- curate craftsmanship is evident to everybody who has kept abreast of the naval operations in the far east. It s-- ,,-.-L,r- .t,o west ar,tfaI thing for good ships themselves can not win victories, and in the last analysis, it is the man on the bridge and the man behind the gun that win battles.
 There is not much probability that Admiral Dewey will get the 1s,OOO-ton battIeships he wants so much, at least for several years to come, for it IS pretty will understood that congress has decided in future to authorize only one vessel of this class each year. The necessity Of retrenchment is so great that it is felt the country can not afford to continue its naval expen- ditures on the liberal scale of the re- cent past. We will soon have a fleet of twenty six first class battleships and ten armored cruisers which in weight, speed and gun power are all most as effective for offensive work as battleships. This is quite a respecta- ble force even for first rate power. though it does not measure up to anything like the nominal strength of the French navy, which is second only to that of Grea Britain. But as long as the United States possesses even this much strength on sea 1t is not likely to be attacked by any other nation, and this is the essential thing, for it is not conceivable that our navy will war.