The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1905-11-09

the development promised for the future
American experts-not merely the men
who plan and superintend the eonstruc-
tion Of warships. but also those who at
tend to the building of merchant ships
in general-are assured of a prominent
part.
Does it pay to spend 100000 on
battleship? The answer of the leading
teachers of naval architecture is that
you can get a greater return in offensive
and defensive power and in speed from
money put into big ships than from
money put into small ships or ships Of
moderate size.
"TRere can be no doubt, said one ex-
pert, that the tendency to employ only
12-inch guns and to have swift ships Of
5000 to 10000 tons displacement will
give the best results. Take the case of
the battleship Mississippi, launched not
long ago and not yet in commission. She
was antiquated even before she left the
ways, for she has neither the speed nor
| the power required to give her place
in a fleet of modern battleships She
promise based on alleged economical ne
cessity, comparatively small sum hav-
| ing been appropriated for her construc-
ton. 1t is practically the same with the
| Connecticut, the biggest battleship in the
| United States Navy. She was out of
/ date in many respects before she left the
ways in the Brooklyn yard. It is an
axiom in naval strategy that a feet is
no faster than its slowest ship. Other
things being equal, the fastest fleet will
| be victorious, for its speed will enable it
| to vancouver so as to concentrate its fire
upon the head of the opposing column.
4 That is what Togo did in the battle of
Tsushima. True. the Russians found
him in that advantageous position for
though they did not know his wherea-
bouts he seems to have known theirs;
/ but. this advantage aside, the speed of
his fleet would have enabled him event
uaily to concentrate his attack on the
head of the Russian column just the
| same. So now the question arises
/ whether it would be advantageous to go
/ above 10000 TONS" continued this au-
thority. Probably not, for ship built
to carry dozen 12-inch guns would be
about as big as seems practicable. Com
bine with this tremendous fighting power
| a speed of eighteen and a half knots and
ent conditions seems to be amply quali-
fed to crown the sea power of the might
lest nation. The lesson of the big 20
| 0O0-ton 'battleship is this: The cost
considerably more than $6,O0o,00
would be prohibitive so far as the small
1 er nations are concerned Only first
/ class powers can afford such ships, and
these powers do not really want to
fight
The landlubber may wonder why with
! the great increase in the size of warships
ltheree has not been corresponding in
crease in the size of the guns. The
coming battleship-the South Carolina.
for examst5 With its great battery of
| big guns on either side-recalls the dis
i play of big guns made by the old
i frigates; but while the latest battleship
IAis many times heavier than the famous
fighters of the early part of the nine
i teenth century, the size of the biggest
gun has increased only one inch. The
reason for this is that the size of the gun
is controlled by the depth to which oil
temper will penetrate with full effciep-
! cy, which is only two and one-half inch
es. Thus only a tube FIVE inches thick
can be thoroughly tempered; and this is
i the thickness of the tube of the twelve
inch guns. There are seven-inch tubes,
but they are not fully tempered.
| Another interesting question is wheths
/ er the recent war taught anything new
about torpedo boats. In the opinion Of
naval architects torpedo boats have not
i proved as effective as was expected.
Though they must always be a source of
possible danger, no ship under favorable
conditions and with men on the alert has
ever been destroyed by them. The
greatest danger in the war between
Japan and Russia lay in floating mines.
] Ships are not necessarily destroyed by
gunfire Not ship was destroyed by
| the japanese up TO the final naval en-
gsgsIx.- of the war, except by mines
or by Wrtical fire from howitzers. This
brings up the point whether floating
mines are to be reckoned with in the fu-
i ture That the Japanese and Russians
used them does not mean that other ma