Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1908-03-28
BUILT FOR RESULTS
AMERICAN FIGHTING SHIPS HAVE
NO SUPERIOR.
Special Report of Rear Admiral Con-
verse Thoroughly Answers Criti-
cism Rejecting on Condition
of the United States Navy.

The special report of Rear Admiral
Converse on the material and person
mel of the American navy has been
made public. 1t is a detailed consid.
Grafton of all the facts which formed
the basis Of the article put out to
prove the navy almost, if not quite,
useless and worthless.
AS far as the telegraphed summaries
show the report of Admiral Converse
covers little new ground. Most of the
technical accusations Of the "sensa-
ton" had already been refuted, not
ably in articles published in the
Scientific American, by men qualified
to speak with technical authority. Adj
miral Converse appears to cover the
same ground with more detail and in a
broader way.
The sum and substance Of the whole
matter is that our naval constructors,
like those of every other nation, have
had TO make compromises in order to
get as near as possible to that ideal
which must always be pursued even
though it can never be attained-the
perfect battleship.
All of our battleships are defective
in some respect. SO are those of every
other nation-every one of them
There never has been and there prob
ably never will be a battleship sent
TO sea at which some naval expert
could not look and say with all truth
fitness and sincerity: This is not
as it should be, in all respects
The size of ships is limited by the
amount of money congress is willing
TO spend on them and by other prac
teal considerations. Upon the size
depends the weight the ship can carry.
How shall that weight be distributed?
That is the fundamental question
which seamen and naval constructors
answer in various ways, according to
their conception of the relative i'm
portance Of different features, and on
which there must be compromise.
If the ship is made SO high out of
water as certainly to be able to fight
all guns in all weathers, the weight
thus added must be subtracted some
where else. If a ship is given such
heavy armor as to be able to resist
any projectile in use other parts must
be made lighter. If given the highest
possible speed and the largest possible
coal capacity, something must be sac
rificed in armor or guns or both. And
SO it goes all around.
The American rule, founded on eX-
perience, has been to remember that
the first purpose Of a fighting ship is
to damage the enemy. Therefore. it
has been the American rule to subor-
dinate everything else, as far as prac-
ticable, to gun power, and to make
gun power effective by trained skill in
gunnery, remembering that only the
shots that hit are shots that count.
Taken altogether, from the days of
the Constitution down, American ships
have commonly been more powerful
they have usually had greater hitting
power-than ships of the same size
and date of any other nation. And
never but once has an American ship
been compelled to strike her colors to
an enemy of even approximately her
own size!
Results" in the pungent phrase of
the street, ARE what count" The re-
suits attained in the final test of war
prove that American fighting ships.
save at those periods when the navy
was openly neglected-have been as
good as any and better than most that
other nations have. And SO they are
to-day
AS Admiral Converse says Our
ships are not inferior to those in for
eign services BY foreign critics
they are considered somewhat SUI
perior on the average, and especially
in the vital point of ability to damage
the enemy.-Chicago Inter Ocean.
r