The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-01-10
HANCOCK
CANADIAN ALARM Is NOT
TAKEN SERIOUSLY HERE
Naval Training Ships on the orea'
lakes Would Be Useless In Time
Of War Say Washington
Authorities.

rho concern manifested In Canada
aarding the presence OF American
,,o,.ol vessels on the Great Lakes is
~, taken very seriously In Washing
.on People are inclined to smile al
ma idea. preached in the Dominion
,,art,onent that Canadian shipping
would be at the mercy of the Unit
81 states in the remote event OF DIFF
ooulties arising between the two
Countries. They point to the age size
ooulpment. and tonnage of the ves-
aals concerned. with the possible ex-
oentlon of the Nashville, these ships
oon he deemed negligible as fighting
units.
Tbev are eight in number OF this
,rmber only one strictly belongs TO
tbe United States navy-namely. the
wolverine. a vessel of the old paddle
wheel type. built i'm 1912. She Is only
,ct feet long over all. She makes q
cruise through the lakes once year
Cor recruiting purposes. The other
seven vessels are used by the various
st,tcs which border on the lakes for
the training OF their naval militia. They
are the Gopher, Nashville, Dorothea,
uowk Don Juan de Auseria, and the
yantic. The Gopher, an old wooden
two-masted fishing boat built I'm 1871,
is designated in the navy register as
,unserviceable for war purposes" The
Nashville. which is the best of the
vessels is small gunboat, built In
1898. of 1871 tons displacement, 22O
feet long. and with speed of 16. 80
knots. The Essex is an old corvette
or wooden cruiser, of 1875 tons, 1S5
feet long. and was built i'm 1874. The
Dorothea and the Hawk are convert
ed private yachts. purchased in 1898.
e'rhe former is of 594 tons displace-
ment. and is 1S2 feet in length over
all Their speed is about fifteen or
fourteen knots respectively. The Don
Juan de Austria Is n small gunboat
captured from the Spanish by Ad-
miraI Dewey in Manila Bay. with a
displacement of /, 100 tons and length
Of 2lO feet. Its speed Is 1920. The
Yantic is of the same class as the
Essex, and was built i'm 1864. The ar
mament of these vessels can best be
described by means of the following
table:
State Naval
Vessels. Militia. Armament.
Gopher. Minnesota. a Glib. guns.
Nashville. o. Illinois. ....S Ain, 4 Glib,
lib, Colt
guns.
Essex. ......4 Glib. 2 l.
h.. Colt guns.
Hawk. New York. Battery re-
moved.
Don Juan de. Michigan. Glib, 2 l.
suns qt Il 'eypsnv
Wolverine. u. S. train-.6 Glib, l.
isg ship..... h., 1 Cat
ling 1 Colt
guns.
Yantic. ..... Michigan. A Glib. guns
The vessels are, as a rule. segregat-
ed each in the "home waters" of It's
state. Occasionally they come togeth-
er, as they did last summer and the
naval militia of the various states &c
through some form of summer exer-
cises." The navy department Is un-
derstood to be considering changes III
their ornaments, the effect of which
If made, would be to reduce theii
strength. There is proposal to trans
fer number of the six-pound guns
to shore and distribute them among
the coast batteries, leaving the vessels
with two guns only of this class. Ii
the case of the Don Juan de Austria's
armament, the plan suggested is t6
dismantle the eight six-pound guns
she has and replace them with two
four-inch guns. The one-pound guns
on the vessels would be retained ant
used as before, solely for saluting pur-
poses The vessels have no other raj
son detre on the Lakes than their us'
Tor training purposes. Nevertheless
their existence constitutes an in
irlngement on the terms of the Rush
Bago treaty. The attitude OF the
United States is to let things slide
The responsibility of altering the sta