The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-02-18
NAVY LACKS QUANTITY
Our Ships Are Inferior to None,
Converse Tells Roosevelt.
LEAD IN MANY FEATURES.

Rear Admiral, In Report Made Public
by Secretary Metcalf, Shows Where
Criticisms of BattIeships Are I'm
founded-Cites Japs' War Experience.
Washington. Feb. 19. BY direction
of the president Secretary Metcalf has
made public the report of Rear Adj
miral Converse on the fighting ships
of the American navy, called forth by
many criticisms recently published in
magazines and otherwise. This report
was prepared primarily to satisfy the
president as to the exact state of our
naval ships compared with those of
other navies, and its publication is au-
thorized with the design to reassure
the American sailors as to the quality
of the weapons with which they must
go into battle.
'.The quality of the material of our
navy is inferior to none," says the adj
miral in his report, lin quantity OF yes
sells alone are we lacking. With an
increase in number of ships the Amer
lean navy will have been supplied the
only feature necessary to make it sec
ond to none in all that tends toward
Sighting efficiency"
Praises Personnel of Navy.
The admiral says in treating of bat
tie drills that it was not until the
spring of 1908 that our new navy
achieved the size of a squadron-e eight
battleships- and not until last spring
that we acquired a fieet-two squad
rons. 1t then for the first time be-
came possible to carry out feet tao
tics These were begun in July, were
interrupted for target practice and re:
Bumed again in the present voyage
to the Pacific coast. Battle drills,
training to meet the enemy under con
ditions probable or liable to occur,
have been given much attention in re-
cent years, he says, although carried
out with the limited number of ships
available. In this connection the adj
miral remarks:
ssThe personnel of the navy in ambi-
ton and professional knowledge is sec
ond to none in the world"
Considerable space is devoted to
refutation of the criticism that Amer
lean fighting ships do not set as high
out of the water as those of foreign
navies. 1t is admitted by the adj
miral that the Indiana and Kearsarge
classes, the first battleships of the
navy, are too low forward for efficient
fighting at sea in fairly heavy wealth
er, "but the remainder of our battle
ships could without doubt give a good
account of themselves in fight at sea
In any weather in which it is at all
likely for a fleet to engage"
Answers Armor Criticisms.
at may not amiss," the report adds,
s'while dealing with the subject of gun
heights and freeboard, to add that the
Japanese in their most recently design
ed ships have not raised their gun posi-
tons nDr the freeboard, which is one
of the results gained from their expe-
riences from their recent war, and
which seems to uphold the good idea
of our system of building ships with
out the excessive heights deemed to be
necessary by some critics"
1t is noted that one of the lessons
learned from the Russo-Japanese war
was that the three and six pound guns
were not heavy enough to repel a tor
pedo boat. AS a result all our battle
ships now carry heavier batteries for
such service.
In answering the criticisms of the po-
sition of the armor belt intended to
protect the vitals of battleship, the
admiral again refers to the Russo-Jap-
anese contest. The criticisms, he ex-
plains, are based upon the assumption
that vessels will always strive to go
into action at their deep load draft To
show that such is not the correct as
sumption, he says:
"One of the principal causes of the
defeat of the Russian feet in the bat
tie of Tsushima straits in May, 1905,
Is attributed to the fact that the YES
sells of that fleet were overloaded with
coal and stores of all kinds. On the
other hand, the Japanese fleet, in antic-
apation Of meeting the Russian fleet,
had been completely stripped by re-
moving everything possible in the way
of weight equipment and superhuous
stores 1t may be reasonably assum-
ed, because of their lightness, these
vessels were near what we would call
their normal draft Still the critics
of our navy would have us believe that
ships should always, as preparation
for battle, put themselves in the condi-
ton of those that met defeat,
New HOSTS Are Needed.
'Devices to prevent the danger of
bareback and ignition of grains of pow
der in turrets," the report says, "have
been installed in our ships. Otherwise
in turret design we are like the Brit
ish, French and Japanese navies. Our
ammunition hoists are not inferior to
those of other navies, although no
hoists have yet been designed capable
OF supplying the guns in the recently
developed rapidity of gun fire in target
practice. The increased capacity of
the guns is due to the development OF
smokeless powder"
A present lack in the supply of torpe-
does is admitted, due to the inability
Of manufacturers to meet the demand.
This is to be remedied by the compile
ton of a torpedo factory at the New
port Or. H. naval station. 1t is assert
ed that our navy is abreast Of the