The Washington herald., 1907-12-29
Criticisms of the Navy.

Now tina: the storm aroused by the
recent criticism OF alleged defects in the
American navy has partially cleared
away we can begin to see that after all
there is nothing to get hysterical about
1t is all very well for men who claim
10 know to aver that this and that IS
wrong about our ships and that IN fight
ing capacity we are woefully defective
but in the meantime. a great body of
magnificent fighting vessels. ships OF
which we think we have right TO be
proud, are well on their way on a voy-
age that is appealing to the Imagination
and somewhat to the admiration of the
civilized world
1t is probably true that such criti-
cisms as have been leveled against our
ships, their construction. design, equip
ment and what-not, may with equal
truth, be spoken against the ships of
other nations. Indeed. there have not
been wanting severe English critics of
the English ships. nor German grumblers
at the defects OF the German navy. To
the naval experts. these criticisms have
more or less of interest. but TO the man
ships ard who will continue to pay for
them and their upkeep, gladly believing
in this sort of national insurance they
do not mean much. The average man has
mighty little idea where the armor-belt is
worn OF what il is. except in a general
way. and If some magazine writer should
tell us that our naval designers have
constructed battle ships whose hawse
pipes were in the fghting-tops, most OF Us
would not know the difference.
II is, we believe. greatly TO the credit
of the good sense Of the American peo-
pie that we quite refuse 10 believe that
our navy is going to the demnition bow
vows" We do not pay quite as much
attention TO the duties of higher citizen
ship as we should perhaps, but we have
pretty well-grounded belief that we
have a right TO have confidence in the
men and officers who man cur ships.
and in the men who build them, test them.
buy them, and equip them.
Differences OF opinion there will al
ways be, and the unfortunate thing about
navies is that no one can tell who is
right until actual practice-destructive
Russo-Japanese war there was a firm
and growing belief in the efficacy Of
the torpedo boat and had It not been
for that war, which showed how linn
tied was the striking range Of the tor
pedo boat. we should probably have spent
many millions in this sort of craft. which
ere long would have been relocated to
the scrap-heap. To-day we are all for
ships OF enormous size CARRYING guns OF
great power. It viii take real warfare
TO tell whether weight of metal will Off
set quickness and accuracy of fire. These
are only a few of the main differences.
there are thousand and one minor de-
tails of technical difference-the loca-
tlon Of ammunition hoists, turrets SUPER
imposed. open shafts, values of range
finders, protection of steering gear; 2
world OF detail which only experts are
competent to deal with
II may be quite true that in some Of
our ships there are errors of constr1c-
ton or design, but in spite of every
thing we have a navy in which our naval
officers have confidence and pride and
the people at large are willing 10 trust
to that The ships are the tools with
which our officers and men work, and IL
they think they can do good work with
such TOOLS we ought TO DE satisfied.
But In the meantime. it will be well
for Congress to look into the matter
pretty thoroughly. 70 pay heed to the
recommendations Of the Secretary of the
Navy and TO see to it that this most
important branch OF the service IS
Drought to as high state Of efficiency
and readiness as Congressional action VIII
allow.