The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1907-05-09

Second in Battleships.
Uncle SANS Fleet of Baitleships
Will Soon be Second to that Of
England.

England.
When the hattleship Kansas goes
into commission ut the League Is
| land navy yard, the United States
will outrank all other nations except
| Great Britain in the number of first
| class battleshis iii commission.
France, whose sea strength on paper
| exceeds that OF the United States, has
four less battleships in commission
at the present time than the United
States. Germany. which is Il close
competitor Of the United States in
the relative strength of its navy, has
sixteen battleships of 10000 tons or
| more now in active service, but the
| United States, when the Kansas is in
| commission, will have seventeen i'll
commissions, and therefore exceed the
battleship strength of Germany.
Great Britain, with a total sea
strength of flfty-siX battleships, has
at the present time thirty-tlree bat
tleships is active service. and fifteen
in reserve squadrOns, making total
OF forty-eight ready for instant duty.
At no time has the actnal fighting
strength of the United States navy
been as great as at present. This is
| in part accounted for by the fact that
the Atlantic fleet has been kept up
| to it's full strength for the exercises
just concluded at Guantanamo, and
the feet is to be kept intact for
the naval exercises at Jamestown
In armOred cruisers the sea strength
OF the United States is high at the
| present time, although in that re-
spect France leads. Japan at the
| present time is maintaining a great
number of battleship in commission,
and is next to France.
Naval officers and diplomats were
! deeply interested in a recent editorial
in the New York Herald stating that
the time had come for the shifting of
the heavy fighting force of the navy
| from the Atlantic to the Pacific as
the waters were the vital interest of
| the American government most re-
quire protection. The Navy Depart
ment has just merged the old Asiatic
and Pacific fleets into Il single COM
mand called the Pacific fleet.
This command is on the cruiser
basis, all the battleships having been
gradually withdrawn from Asiatic
waters since the Russo-Japanese war,
and their places taken, SO far as it is
possibly to be taken by such types,
by the armOred cruisers the Mary
land, the West Virginia, the Penn
| sylvania and the Colorado. Plans
have been matured for additions to
this feet in the shape of protected
cruisers, and those officers who have
the upper hand in the naval councils
have stood fast in favor of concen-
tration Of the heavy fighting force on
the home coast of the Atlantic for the
present, possible even until the Pana-
ma canal is built, when the battle
ships will be divided between the two
oceans and still be able to quickly
unite in the moment of war.
| There is a strong naval sentiment
in favor of placing battleships in the
Pacific. For long time before the
battleships formerly in Asiatic waters
were withdrawn the matter was care
fully cQnsidersd. President Roose
welt himself at one time INCLINED to
the belief that they should be kept in
the far East for the reason that their
powerful appearance added to Amer
lean prestige. To this the answer
was made, and the argument was
apparently successfully pressed, that
the new armored cruisers of the West
Virginia class were equally formida-
BILE looking. The fact that the Rus
sian navy was ineffective against
Japan because it was divided be-
tween home and the East was cited
as u reason for concentrating the
heavy fighting forge Of the American
navy at home.
The Pacific is by no means hereft
OF battleships, however, eaen though
none are attached now to the feet.
The Nebraska is nearing completion
at Seattle, while the Wisconsin and
the Oregon are out of commission
undergoing repairs at the Puget
Sound navy yard.
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