Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-24
:SH|PS EQUAL TO ANY
Criticism of the Naval Vessels
Denounced.
EVANS DECLARES IT SILLY
Dewey Praises the Fleet Now on. Its
Way Around the World.
SCHLEY EXCORIATES CRITICS
Letters Read by Rear Admiral
Capps, Chief Of Construction, at
Banquet Of Annapolis Alumni.

| board at the Auditorium Hotel and letters
were read from Admiral George Dewey,
Rear Admiral Schley and Rear Admiral
r. D. Evans The rear admirals present
were Washington L. Capps, Albert Ross.
Willard II. Brownson, Francis J.: Hig-
einson. French E. Chadwick and James
II. Dayton.
Rear Admiral Caps. after referring
briefly to the development of battleships
and declaring that the vessels of this
country were fully abreast of the times,
said: Il shall refer you to the opinions
of the most distinguished officers who
ever have commanded fleets in our own
or any other navy. Each of these opin-
| ions was written in response to re-
quest
Equal to Any, Says Dewey.
Admiral Deweys letter said. in part:
"Of the battleships designed during the
past five years 1 have spoken and shall
continue to speak in the highest terms.
| The South Carolina and Michigan, the
North Dakota and that class are. in my
opinion. equal in value to any batt1eships
of their displacement in any navy, and
this is. l believe. the general naval YER
dict upon their power and efficiency.
| The fleet of batteships now going
around the world and received every
| where with so much hospitality and en-
thusiasm. which hospitality and enthu-
siasm are evidences of respect for the
power which the ships in themselves en-
body. as well as of international good
feeling. are of older type, and some of
them have lived about half the life. as
commonly estimated. of battleship of the
| first line.
''Battleship building is one of the most
progressive of modern arts, and old ships
are not equal to new; but the vessels
which have recently been received with
/ StInh plynl y1csI1 4,
| America, New Zealand Australia. Japan
| and China are the equals of foreign YES
| sells of their date of design and compile
| ton, and often their superiors. That
them by foreign observers cannot be
doubted. There is probably nowhere in
| the world today fleet of sixteen battle
ships of greater fighting strength
Schley Denounces Critics.
Admiral Schley's letter said, in part:
| Il am wholly out of sympathy with
those critics who find nothing good In
what exists. or whose policy appears to
| be destructive rather than constructive.
1t is the same old heresy Of our boyhood,
when we thought the apples in our neigh
! bOr's garden superior to those in our own.
| I have watched this discussion in the
press and periodicals with interest born
of lifetime of service in every class or
| ship under the flag, and l am satisfied
| that II proceeds from a spirit of censorl-
BUSINESS that overlooks the fact that no
| such thing as a perfect ship floats the
| seas today, nor is 1t possible to create one,
| any more than 1t is possible to find a per-
| feet man.
THE whole discussion of minor errors
| appears to me more academic than vital,
| while the fact seems to be ignored that
| ships at best have to be compromises to
some extent In order to accommodate
many essential things that they have to
carry in their equipment for war.
| Il take exception to much of the ad-
| verse criticism today, because the fact is
withheld that many of the minor defects
adverted to were incident to the time and
type when those vessels were constructed,
and they are common to a large percent
| age OF the war vessels of every other
power. But the inference sought to be
established that our ships are inferior in
| their classes to those in foreign naves
| is unfair, untrue and unpatriotic. One has
periodicals to discover that there are
some captious critics abroad who seem to
think that all is not well in these matters
on their side Of the ocean. Only last
summer l met an English gentleman who
| wanted to know all about this 'ruction,
as he called it, going on in the periodicals
over our navy. He volunteered the infor-
nation that we had the best ships in the
world, and it was a pity we did not
| know it,
officer of Unique Experience.
After reading these letters Admiral
Caps said:
while it would unquestionably be pos
sible to obtain opinions from many dis
tinguished naval officers similar in tenor
to those just given, 1 requested an
opinion from only one other and this
officer is one who has served as a COM
mander-in-chief Of modern fleets for a
longer period than any other American
naval officer now living. He is an officer
of whom the President of the United
! States expressed himself in the following
| terms in letter referring to a publica-
ton soon to appear:
Your career has been one that has
reflected honor upon the entire American
people, and it covered a period which
saw changes as great as those which di-
vided the period of the rowing galleys,
which fought at Lepanto. from the period
of the great sailing ships of the line that
formed the fleets Of Blake and Nelson of
Tromp and De Ruyter and Suffern
While still one of the youngest officers
in the navy in the assault at Fort
you won with signal gallantry the honor
able wounds that you yet bear: and
you ended your career as the rear ad-
miral who took on its first and most
important stage the great battle fleet
which is at this moment engaged in max
ing the longest voyage ever undertaken
! by any such fleet of any nation.
''You have shown the qualities of cour-
age and honor and trained efficiency
which we are glad to believe typical
of the American Navy: and l hope your
book will be widely read throughout all
the country, for it cannot but tend in
favor of a glowing and lofty patriotism
| of course there is doubt as to
whom the President referred to in the
foregoing. 1 will read the letter from
Rear Admiral Evans:
Evans Vigorous Views.
~ am glad you are going to Chi
cago to dine with the Naval Academy
men there for 1 believe you can do the
service much good by giving the men you
will meet at the banquet the facts as
to our present condition. After an ex-
rerience with our fleet which few men
have had, 1 am convinced that our ships
taken as a whole, are equal to, or SUI
perior to, those built by any other coun-
try OF course, our first ships are not
the equals of the last foreign ships and
no sane man would expect them to be;
but, date for date Of design, they are
the equals Of any. except in the case OF
our latest-designed ships, where the great
superiority of ours is beyong question.
LAS fighting machines. our designs of
the last few years show great advan-
tages over anything proposed abroad.