Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-12-22

| siol III the short but remarkable his
tory of the Japanese navy, but the
completion of the present construc-
ton and reconstruction work will moi
make it particularly strong instru-
ment of offence, writes n New Yorl
Herald Toxic correspondent. Dcfcn-
sively II Is now powerful and aided
by isolation and other elements II,
Tie calculation of war. seems To In.
| sure complete protection from act,,a
invasion TO the nation which IL
guards.
There are built. building or repair
ing thirteen battleships. thirteen ar
inored cruisers, about sixty DESTROY
ers, nine second clatN cruisers. n zoo,
sized squadron of coast defenders. a
| large ilotilla or torpedo craft. ana II
great ilect of despatch. supply, trans
port and auxiliary vessels. all of
which could be placed in service by
the early part of 1909.
But to these figures must he an
Piled the discounts OF age ana the
strength and value of some of the re-
constructed prizes. For instance. the
lnttieship Full was laid down twelve
years ago and belongs to type that
is rapidly becoming obsolete, and four
more of the thirteen battleships count
ed IN the first line We're raised from
the waters of Port Arthur after Gen
eral Stoessei surrendered. Two of
the Russian battleshlps, the Orel.
captured in the Tsushima battle and
the Retvvisan, now the Hizen. are I'M
questionably able ships, but the Pc
resviet, Pobieda and Poltava, now the
Sagami, Stuwo and Tango, In the
order named are of somewhat doubt- :
ini value, although the Navy Depart
ment is reconstructing and restorinr
them with care and intelligence.
Some of them possessed orIeina,
faults and weaknesses and all have
neeh left behind in the progress of
haVal construction, except as TO ar
nl;lment The same conditions affect
'he armorcd cruisers. The new ships
OF Japanese construction. of which the
Isukuba, In which Admiral lain is
cruising abroad, is type. are splen
ana warships in power. protection and
effectiveness and several of the class
mat saw service against the fleets o..
RUSSIA are still of great value and Of
nclency, but age is overtaking some
OF the thirteen craft counted in THIS
class, and the captured Bayan. now
me Aso, is scarcely entitled to the
highest classification.
The most interesting activity Of the
Japanese navy and the one which has
given 1t the largest numerical in
crease has been the reco,crv and
restoration of national sentimcn. o.,
the part of n victorious people have
inspired them in the matter. and ma
val observers are of the opinion that
this sentiment has carried them TO
limits not warranted by the true
worth of the prizes. 1t has been n
hignly expensive enterprise. and, as
has been pointed out, there is grave
doubt about the value of the invest
ment.
Figures are not available at this
time. lat 1t is common knowledge at
Toxic that the earlier est mates as
to the cost of recovering and restor-
ing the Russian vessels have been
greatly eXceedd, ana lnat large sums
of money will be necessary to COM
plete the work next year. II is adj
mitted that it would have been wiser
to have rebuilt only those vessels the
efficiency OF which could be satisfac-
torily shown and TO have devoted the
balance of the money to new con-
structions, but the program has been
entered upon and it is too late 10
withdraw from il. The more import-
ant prizes taken from the Russians
were as follows: