The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-03
Our Modern Navy.

Inc naval review in the waters OF Long
Island Sound suggests the thought that
the United States il a great world Power
to-day not because Spain was over
whelmed in the war Of 1898 and Porto
Rico and the Philippines became Ameri-
a possessions, but because the policy
OF naval expansion, inaugurated less
than twenty-five years ago, has been
pursued steadily until we can assemble
o. a pageant a feet Of twelve powerful
battleships, four armored cruisers Of the
hrst class, four coast defence monitors,
four protected cruisers, six destroyers,
ok torpedo boats, four submarines, and
i've auxiliary vessels, carrying LIS guns
and a complement Of 1901 officers and
men, and still have in reserve and build
ing more than twice "a many battleships,
cruisers and other effective fighting
vessels.
from insignificant beginnings; indeed,
from nothing. In his report in 1881
Secretary Of the Navy WILLIAM H.
HUNT warned Congress that the United
States had no navy worthy the name.
with not one modern high powered
oannon In the navy, he said, and with
only eighty-seven guns worth retaining,
the Importance Of action for the pro-
curement of naval ordnance seems APP
parent II the navy is longer to survive. I"
It 10 true there were thirty-seven ships
on the naval list capable of cruising and
Of giving q sea training to the graduates
Of Annapolis, but only four Of them had
IRON bulls. The others were wooden
ships, and the only first rate vessel, the
Tennessee, boosted but 4,4SO ton dis
placement. The armament Of that day
was made up chiefly of smooth bore
muzsle leaders.
The foundation OF a modern navy wa
laid In 1882, when an advisory board
recommended that seventy steel hulled
vessels be built at the rate OF seven a
year. The small cruisers Atlanta, Bos-
ton and Chicago were the first achieve
ments in this line. Their 8 inch and 10
inch guns were constructed OF forgings
bought in England and assembled at
home foundries. 1t was later that the
naval gun factory was established at the
Washington navy yard and the army
gun factory at the Watervliet arsenal.
Until 1887 no rapid fire guns or revolv-
ing cannon were made in this country,
and we did not make our wi armor for
ships until Secretary WHITNEY in 1885
secured an appropriation for the purpose
and invited contracts from American
Arms.
When the war with Spain was declared
we had acquired a few battleships that
were first class for that day, but our
rank as a naval power was still COMPARE
lively low. The Oregon, Iowa and In
diana were our particular ~pride-the
Kentucky and Kearsarge had not been
completed; to-day the ships Of the
Oregon type have been eclipsed by
those powerful l%eviathans the Louisiana,
Rhode Island, New Jersey and Virginia.
There will be only the Iowa and In
diana Of the Spanish war period in the
battleship line to-day, and the four
armored cruisers taking part in the
review are much superior in fighting
strength to the New York and Brooklyn,
which gave such agood account OF them
selves at Santiago. In the eight years
since the war naval expansion has vir-
tually created a new navy; already
some Of our renowned ships which fought
in Manila Bay and the Caribbean are
drifting toward the obsolete list.
In commission and under construction
we now have twenty-six battleships
and thirteen armored cruisers, eleven
coast defence ironclads, a large feet
of unarmOred steel vessels, upward Of
forty gunboats and nearly sixty torpedo
boats and submarines. or ships Of all
classes we had 327 at the end OF 1905;
and the complement had risen to more
than $4,000 officers and men, exclusive
Of q marine corps Of more than 5000, a
force considerably larger than the regu-
lar army before the Spanish war.