The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1907-10-15
BATTLEsH|P MAY
BE NAMED HAWAII
cNian Special to the Advertiser,


lem in the United States navy. Their.
is law on the statute books. which
requires oattleships and monitors Il
be named after states. The names Of
the less populous and less Influential
States are now being applied to the
most powerful engines of war that fly
the Stars and Stripes. The names OF
| the older and richer States are general
ly carried by second rate, battleships
But, above all. there is only one more
State TO name battleship after
Some new legislation will soon be
1 necessary. Perhaps, before long. a
battleship may be named the Hawaii
Utah is now the only State in the
/ Union for which a war vessel has not
been named. The two 10000 ton ships
authorized at the last session of Con-
gress, will be called the Delaware and
the North Dakota. They used two OF
the remaining names of States. Della
ware applied early for the distinction
of having her name given the first
Of these Dreadnaughts. Secretary
Metcalf wanted to change the name of
the cruiser New York, which was Adj
miral SIMPSONS flagship in the San
tiago campaign, changed to the Sara
| toga, so that the name of the other
Dreadnaught could be New York. The
President, however, did not like that
idea and 1t was due to him and to an
appeal from Senator McCumber that
decision was reached to name the
ship the North Dakota.
1t Is not likely that the next session
GnnOraSS will arthnr:<a hn
struction of more than two new bat
tleships and therefore the names will
really last for another year. For Okla
homa will be coming into the Union
within a few days and it would make a
splendid name for battleship.
When the law to build a new navy
was passed there followed a rush
among Senators and members, who
had great influence with the President
and the Navy Department. Indiana,
Massachusetts and Iowa were among
the States recognized early and in the
order named. Maine, a State that had
influential members on the naval COM
mittees of both Senate and House, was
the first State to give her name to
battleship in the new navy. Texas,
oASO, was ACNO5hlECo III dC
tons for the two second-ciass battle
ships of 1856. But the first battleship
Maine was destroyed in Havana har-
Dor and a new Maine of 1890 tons dis
placement was voted in the naval act
of 1898.
The Indiana and Massachusetts,
authorized in 1890, and the Iowa, au-
thorized the following year, are now
said by ambitious navy officers to be
good for little else than the junk pile.
During the Cleveland administration
States that had voted the Democratic
ticket were given recognition in bat
tleship naming, including Kentucky
and Alabama. BY special provision of
law one of the ships authorized in 1895
was named the Kearsarge because of
the splendid record that the old frigate
of that name, which went down finally
on Roncador reef, might be perpetu-
ated
For a while there was something of
a rivalry among the States for nam
ing monitors, which, at one time, were
expected to be great factors in the
naval warfare of the future. Several
of these monitors, now classed by the
Bureau of Navigation as third-rate
vessels, were built but only four of
them We're named after States. These
were the Arkansas. the Florida, the
Nevada and the Wyoming. All four
were authorized in 1898 which year
Congress provided. that hereafter all
frst-class battleships and monitors
owned by the United States shall be
named for the States and shall not
be named for any city. place or person
until the names of the States shall |
have been exhausted"
The following year Congress began |
TO authorize ''armored cruisers which |
under the rating of the Navy Depart |
nent are the same as battleships. The |
California, the Pennsylvania and the
West Virginia were started in 1899 as
the first of the big armored cruisers
IN the same law with the battleships
Georgia, Nebraska and Virginia. The |
names OF other States that have been
applied since to armored cruisers are:
Colorado, North Carolina, Maryland,
Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee,
Ind Washington. The most powerful
If these are the Montana, Tennessee
Ind Washington, each of which has a
Of 1850 tons. The New
York, authorized by Congress in 1888,
vas rated as an armOred cruiser, al
hough much smaller and less formid-
bile than the armored cruisers of more
modern days.
While the President and the Navy
Department would be empowered, un-
Ter the present law, to name battle
hips, after next year, ''for any city,
lace or person." it is almost certain
hat Congress will interpose with some
urther legislation on the subject. The
ames of available cities for large war
hips have already been preempted.
he first cruisers of the new navy were ;
AIMED after cities and every munich ;
atty of first rank in the land is now
epresented.
Congress viii be very chary about
aiming battleships after persons.
ome of the presidents might be so
onored. The names of the Territories.
Arizona, New Mexico. Alas
a and Hawaii might be used. as might !
ne names of certain lakes. rivers and '
fountains. A lively controversy and, {
much public comment is ex-
ected at the department before the '
olicy Of nomenclature isi finally dis i
osed Of
ERNEST G. WALKER. c