The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-09-15
1T EVEN EXCEEDS
EVANS SQUADRON
-Four Powerful Armored Cruisers
and Seven Battleships, Now
Being Built, Will Mount
Heavier Armament Than
Fleet to Be Sent
to Pacific.
Times Dispatch Bureau.
Munsey Building.

1t may surprise the average reader
to learn that the destructive power OF
the Atlantic fleet. which will be sent
to the Pacific in December, great as II
IS. is little, IL any, greater than the
one under Construction. The equality
Is not in point of tonnage, but in the
power of the armament.
In tonnage. the fleet of Admiral
Evans considerably surpasses the ton
mage of the flee. building. The At
lantic fleet, which will be sent to the
Pacific, Is, in round numbers, $4,000
tons. while that of the fleet now being
built is 1S0.360 tons. The percentage OF
big guns per ton of displacement Will
be very much greater in the new fleet
than that OF the Atlantic fleet.
The tonnage of the vessels now un.
der construction is three times that
OF all the armored vessels in the Ameri-
can navy at the outbreak of the war
with Spain. cannot think of any way
OF stating more forc!bly the facts than
that.
The feet we will send to the Pacific
will be the largest and most powerful
ever assembled. probably. and yet the
one lett behind. In process OF building.
Is more powerful than the entire navy
of the country less than ten years ago
II Is hard to realize that this country
las been carrying out such liberal
naval program during the past decade
Nine years ago the advocates OF a
big navy, the most enthusiastic OF
them. thought that when the country
got twenty-five battieshtps y would
not need to build any more. There are
twenty-four battlesiiips in the navy
now and six arTnorcd cruisers There
is not one OF the arynored cruisers that
is not more powerful lighting ma :
chine than any of the battleshiDs OF
1898.
But there is no talk no% of limiting
the number of battleships or armored
ing their sise. The nation is already
building a 20,d0e-ton battieship. and
constructors are figuring on vessels Of
5000 tons displacement. The 10000
ION battleshiD VIII be completed IN
/. So far from limiting the size Of
battieships. 1t Is believed the construc-
lion department. of the navy is willing
vided Congress will give the money
10 dredge out harbors. so as to accom-
modate the giant warshps.
The Lusitania. the Cunarder. whose
maiden trip across the Atlantic has Just
attracted international attention. al
ready requires forty feet OF water
ihongh there are few harbors In whlch
she can anchor. Tho cost OF dredging
apnears to he about all that will limit
4 thf size OF warships OF the future, so
Tar as America Is concerned. at any
sate-
Is building Will carry not less than
rixty-two 12-incf, guns. There is doubt
rs to the exact number. owing TO .ne
secrecy preserved concerning the arm
sme,,t of the vessel OF the Dreadnought
ADMIRAL Evans's fleet. which he VIII
lake to the Pacific. carries saventy-tWc
i2-ipch rifles and sixteen l3.lnch.
The latter are obsolete. and some OF
tha fyre1ye-inch guns are not muCr
better. The feet will hardly carry
more than seventy guns OF the tweISe tSe
Z and thirtcen-fnch class. so that IN.
abatement made In the opening anov.
&c readily seen to be borne out by tht
The fleet now building represents tn
finest work ever undertaken by lI'
construction corps Of the navy. Non, n
OF the battleships Is of less than ~ 60l
tons displacement, and but two of then J.
as small as that. Four armored crnls
ers and seven battleships are IN 4thi
new fleet which is building.
The largest vesse! the nation ha'
for service in the war against spar
was the Iowa. which is Of something ~
tleship of that class is now built O.
any nation making pretens1ons 10 ma
We would have larger vessels eve
than,those we have built and are build
ing. but Senator Hale, of Maine, chair
man of the Committee on Naval /. Al a.
fairs. has always opposed large 1 SNIP NJ ?.
and 1T Is due to his pollcy that we nav
not larger vessels.
In three years the United States WI
Sunquestionably occupy a place NEXT !
that of Great Britain among the naVa
powers Of the world. In fact. It Is nc
Improbable that in actual fighting ca
city we are now next to the mrs
8 yal nation. j t is already absotEtel
5ured that Great Britain and Amer
ak combined can compel peace in an
tter ofKthe globe