The National tribune., 1909-09-09
STRENGTH IfG G THE NAVY.
The Secretary Has Broad Pro-
gram for UpbuiIding Our Mari
time Strength.

Navy. They are expected to be in full
complete execution will be a matter of
a much longer time. Secretary Meyer
has been working out program. He
wants battleships that will bring Euro
pean. experts here to observe what we
are doing. He thinks the United States
ought to lead the world in designing
advanced, types of fighting ships. In
recent years England has been leading
the United States This bears upon inn
portant ponctGs as to naval bases. The
Secretary wants that problem, involving
navy yards, referred TO joint board
Of Army and Navy officers for study and
recommendations.
The naval bases are a very big ques-
ton, becoming more and more so with
the building of new Dreadnaughts.
There is no doubt in the Secretary s
mind that several of the smaller yards
should be abandoned, for it will be i'm
possible to dock and repair the future
Dreadnaught fleets of the United States
except at a few yards He wants those
few yards to be fully equipped, and will
ask Congress for sufficient appropria-
tions to bring them up to very high
standard of efficiency. As there are
prospects of struggle with Congress
over this matter, the Secretary is forti-
flying himself with first-hand informa-
ton about the better yards and also
about the yards which apparently must
be abandoned in the course of few
years.
So he is visiting the yards and giving
them very careful inspection. On this
errand he proposes to travel farther
than any Secretary of the Navy before
him has done, at least in recent years.
Ha l,a or har dar ha viii on
TO Honolulu within the next Il months.
He is greatly interested in naval bases
on the Pacific Ocean. This includes two
or three bases on the Pacific Coast the
Pearl Harbor base, now being construct
ed near Honolulu, and naval base in
the Philippines. The yard at Mare
!. Island is well equipped, but the channel
can be nayigated only with difficulty,
especially by the warships of the larger
type. There is a good yard at Bremen
ton, Wash, and Congress has set on foot
an inquiry for establishing Il new naval
base in southern California. 1t may be
that Secretary Meyer will journey as
far as the Pacific Coast before Congress
convenes, and the time comes when he
must appear before the Naval Commit
tees of Senate and House to answer
questions about appropriations and give
his opinion as to where the money for
Navy bases should be expended. He
tary of the Navy Winthrop to make an
inspection trip 10 the Pacific Coast
The Naval Bases.
The naval bases on the Atlantic Coast
are receiving his immediate attention
this Autumn, for such obvious reasons
as their proximity 10 Washington. For
midable as the Department would make
the Pacific naval bases, those on the
Atlantic are regarded as quite as i'm
portant. The battle fleet is being kept
on the Atlantic for the present, and
probably will be kept there for a num-
Der of years. Then the great naval
powers OF the world are just across the
Atlantic, and any program of naval eff
cheney must be studied with reference
to their activities.
Signs point eventually to the main
tenance of Portsmouth, Boston, New
York and Norfolk as the great naval
bases on the Atlantic Ocean. That
means the other yards will eventually
be abandoned, altho it is likely to be a
question of several years before Con-
gress can be brought TO acquiesce. There
are powerful Senators who will resist
legislation to cripple yards at New Or
leans, Pensacola, Port Royal and League
Island, which is near Philadelphia. All
these yards or stations are matters of
local pride. League Island, of course,
is now big naval establishment, but it
has a tortuous channel, and in many
respects is not desirable for base. The
yard at Portsmouth, y. H., would prob
ably be abandoned but for the fact that
1t now has a splendid drydock and a
very deep channel 1t is so near to
Boston that all the work could well be
done there rather than at Portsmouth.
There will be a vast amount of con-
troversy before the naval base question
is fully worked out. There will be
heated debates in Senate and House.
Political considerations will be weighed.
The opposition of infuentf.i Congress
men will have to be owe come. But
naval authorities are dri'fng hard to-
ward the elimination of the useless
yards. and it is inevitable that the great
Dreadnaught fleets of the American
Navy must operate from such centers
Rs Boston, New York and Norfolk. on
the Atlantic, and from Bremerton and
possibly Mare Island and Pearl Harbor
and Cavite on the Pacific. All these
gards now either have great drydocks,
sufficiently large for Dreadnaughts, OF
will soon have such docks, The big
docks are Indispensable for the modern
Navy, and will become more indispensa-
bic as the size of the ships is Increased.
Big Warships Building.
For the Navy Department is now
building 26,000-ton battieships, and IL is
not Improbable that before long they
Eill be building 30,000-ton ships. That
means not only tremendous naval
locks, but also very deep harbors, and
the navy yards that have channels deeE
enough for the heaviest battIeships will
naturally be favored with appropria-
tions.
The plans for reorganization Of the
Department forces that have to do with
designing ships promise to be very i'm
portant. Criticisms have been pouring
in upon the Navy Department, because
our Navy Is so far behind other coun-
tries in warship designs. England was
three or four years ahead Of the United
States in the Dreadnaughts, the heavy
fighting ships which have batteries oi
the all-big-sun type. The utility OF
those fighting monsters is now fully
acknowledged the world over But
there is the equally important question
Of motor power and engines. England
has led the United States in the installa-
tion of turbine engines. Several Eng
lsb Dreadnaughts are moved by them
The United States has built two scout
cruisers with turbine power, and ha.
been experimenting in recent months Il
demonstrate whether turbine engine.
are as desirable as -eciprocating en-.
iines-
The English have also led in investi.
cations of fuel. and to some extent ar,
using oil in place OF coal. The use o
- oil for fuel has enabled The English ant
also the German navies 10 built tor
pedo-boat destroyers OF far create
speed than any American torpedo-boa