The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-02-13
WHAT CONGRESS- HAS DONE
SHIPS AND GUNS

Sioh III NObsieSS anu IJtSlucut
Roosevelt Ia his letter to, the chair
man OF the House Committee ON
naval affairs urges the construc-
tion "of battle ships of large dis
placement with their primary bat
teries all Of one type of big guns"
AS the battle ships at present in
commission will all be comparative
/, worthless in few years it is
most important that such new ships
Us Congress may provide for shah
be Of the most modern type and
able to more than cope with any
thing aflcat. The size of the bat
tic ship is not the only thing to
be considered, for it is acknowledge
cd that a battle ship of the Dread
naugnt type would be at the mercy
Of u smaller ship with greater
speed and armed with guns Of
greater size and power than the
present II inch guns. Four Ii or
IL inch guns mounted ON u vessel
u much less displacement than the
Drcadnaught could stand off out of
the range Of her fire and destroy
her, or even a ship with two such
guns, could batter the Dreodnaught
on the ancient plan Of the bow and
stern chasers with which the priva-
teers Of the war Of 1912 were arm
ed which enabled them to stand off
and make easy prey Of a ship Of
greater power and u much greater
broadside Of lighter guns.
1t requires no argument TO prove
, that q battle ship of 10000 tons
carrying four 16 inch guns and
having superior speed would have
the 10000 ton Drcadnaught at her
mercy, although the latter has ten
IL inoh guns in her bioadsidc The
faster ship will always be able to
select the distance she viii fight
at and would naturally chose to be
where her antagonist COULD do her
the least harm.
The ship with incl ar1nor il
now comparatively safe outside OF
the range oil torpedoes, whose rad
ius is from three TO five thousand
yards because the present L. incl
naval gun is unablc to pierce IL
inch armor at that distance, but q
smaller oattle ship with larger guns
and with the necessary speed Nigh,
iIflict such damage ns to lead to
her sinking.
1t is demonstrated that guns OF
ii or 16 inch will weigh but little
mere than the present II inch nav,
al gun and il is not necessary u
use such enormous powder charges
yet tue range Of these larger guns
Is superior TO the II inch type
Tho construction OF these largcr
guns is urged by the Chief Of
Ordinance of the Army and his rec
cmincndation is based upon a long
series of experiments 80 his conciu-
siqns must he accepted as correct
AS 1t Is nov we are following in
the wake Of England and are throw
ing AWAY millions CT dollars every
year OH sil,ps and armament that
llave already proved to be Of an
obsolete type and yet our pottcrins
Republican politicians seem deter
mined to perpetuate a type Of ships
and guns which will soon be turn
cd over TO the junk heap. They
persist in providing for shells that
experience proves win not penc-
traic the arrnor Of "a battle ship at
the distance, that tho known range
Of topedoes compc.s the command
er Of a battle strip TO place his
vessel ct, Notwithstanding that cx-
periments have proved that shells
which explode on coltact arc avail
able and tie present shells in use
are comparatively worthless.
The eommitteeyo I the House and
Senate on naval affairs maii wske
pp and learn their lesyon eva pt