The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1906-04-18
OPEN TO AMERICANS.
'WARsHIP PLANS INVITED By
\ NAVY DEPARTMENT..
Aim Is to Build a Ship That Will
Equal or Excel England's
Monster dread
naught."


{ Washington. Perhaps the most rad
ical and important departure from es-
tablished practices IN construction of
the American navy since the introduc-
ton of the modern armored vessel was
taken the other day when the house
committee on naval affairs voted that
plans for the proposed new battleship,
which 1t Is contemplated shall exceed
anything afoat. may be drawn by per-
sons outside of the navy department
and that the department shall consider
such plans in deciding by whom and
how the new ship shall be built.
For some time the department has
permitted prospective bidders to offer
alternate plans when bidding upon the
departments plans. In this case the
department may draw plans II 1t
wishes, but 1t must notify outsiders
that their plans will be considered be-
fore the type Of ship is decided upon
and the contract let
II congress sustains the view OF the
house naval committee 1t will mean
the infusion of new thought and young
blood into the red tape and conserya-
tive methods of the navy department.
No better illustration OF these charac-
teristics can be suggested than the ad-
mission by Admiral Capps. chief con-
structor of the navy. before the COM
mittee that 1t will be two years before
the department can begin preparing
plans for battleship to equal or excel
the British leyiathan Dreadnaught.
This statement indicates better than
anything else could the absolute de-
pendence OF the navy department upon
foreign warship builders for ideas. The
theory OF the naval committee was
that this attitude was unreasonable.
I'VE believed" said one member OF
the committee. that Americans can
design just as powerful II not more
powerful warships than any foreigner.
The history OF the American navy up
to the close OF the civil war period
proved this. Then the United States
led the world In naval construction.
Every new and important improvement
In naval architecture was the product
of American ingenuity and inventive
faculty. Foreigners eyed those inn
proyements at first with suspicion.
They predicted that they would cause
the ships concerned to turn turtle and
do other unexpected things. But
events proved otherwise.
Since the civil war things have
been reversed. We are now following
the procession in which every other
nation Of the world leads. Department
bureau chiefs say. fcrsooth. that they
cannot build ship to equal the Dread
nauRht. for instance. until they find
out how England built 1t.
Indeed, Admiral Capps even went
so far as to say that 1t would be i'm
possible for vessel Of her tonnage,
$4,000 tons, to carry the armor and
armament attributed to her They in
sinuate that Great Britain Is deceiving
the world; that the Dreadnaught in
reality is of 10000 or 10000 tons.
Il predict that one of the outsiders
will capture the prize in having his
plans chosen ever the departments. T.
believe the committee has acted wisely
in determining upon this course and
that congress and the country will in
dorse its action.
III logically followed out, this plan
will surely lead to return OF Anieri-
can laurels to their own and 1t will not
be long before the rest of the world Is
waiting for our naval ideas to develop
before copying them, instead OF our
navy department depending upon the
foreigners for new ideas in warship
construction"
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