The San Francisco call., 1907-01-18
MAKES PLEA FOR
GREAT WAR
VESSELS
President Roosevelt Says
Country Must Build Them
or Recede From Position
WOULD CONSTRUCT
FEWER SMALL SHIPS
Concentrated Power of the
Big Craft Is Greater in
Proportion, He Declares


WASHINGTON, Jan. ia letter
written by the President in advocacy
of the plan for two battleships of the
Dreadnought class became public to-
day. 1t is dated January IL and is
addressed to Chairman Foss of the
House committee on naval affairs.
The letter says in part:
Il feel so strongly that there should
be two hrst-class battlsships of the
maximum size and speed and with
their primary battery of twelve-inch
guns added to the navy this session
that desire to lay the matter before
your committee through this letter.
( These two big ships should include
the one provided for last year and the
one provided for this year. 1t must
be remembered that l am not asking
for any increase in the navy, because,
unless we can provide at the rate OF
battleship per year, our navy will
go backward. Moreover, ! am ad-
vising that our money be spent eco
nomically 1t has been waste of
time and money to provide such ships
as the single-turret monitors; and
while the cruisers, especially the great
armored cruisers, serve some useful
purposes, it would nevertheless have
been infinitely better to have spent
the money which was actually spent
on them in the construction of first
class battleships. Our great armored
cruisers are practically as expensive
to build and maintain as battleships,
and yet, taking the battleship all
around for the purposes for which
navy is really needed, its superiority
to the armored cruiser is enormous.
Il thoroughly believe in developing
and building an adequate number of
submarines; believe in building tor
pedo boat destroyers: there must be a
few fast scouts. and of course various
auxiliary vessels of different kinds.
But the strength Of the navy rests
primarily on its battleships. and in
building these battIeships it is i'm
perativelv necessary. from the stand
point alike of efficiency and economy
that they should be the very best OF
their kind.
I'm my judgment we are not excused
if we build any battIeships inferior to
those now being built by other nations.
/ should be glad if a limitation could
be agreed upon as to the size OF bat
tleships hereafter to be built. have
found. however that it will undoubted-
ly be impracticabis to reach any such
agreement in the near future. In the
first-class navies generally these big
battleships have already been built or
are now building. we cannot afford to
fall behind. and We shall fall behind
If we fail TO build a frst-class battle
ship ourselves. Unless we intend to
go on building up the fleet we should
abandon every effort to keep the po-
sition which we now hold. Our justi-
fication for upholding the Monroe doc
trine and for digging the Panama
canal must rest primarily on our will
ingness to build and maintain a first
class fighting feet. Be it remembered.
moreover. that such fleet Is by far the
most potent guarantee of peace which
this nation has or can have.
Now that high degree of skill has
been developed in naval marksman-
ship. especially with heavy guns. fu-
ture battle range will be so great
(three or four miles, that small guns
(six inch, etc.) viii be practically tn
effective. especially against large ves-
sells having all of their guns and gun
crews In twelve-inch turrets. behind
heavy armor.
Therefore. the effective power Of
battleship may now be measured by tho
number of heavy guns she can fire on
either broadside. For the ordinary bat
tleship the most effective broadside
fire consists OF four twelve-inch guns.
II follows as a matter OF course that a
large ship having a broadside fre OF
ten tweive-inch guns could promptly
destroy a battleship Of the usual type
having four twelve-inch guns. and with
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