The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1911-12-14
GREAT GROWTH
OF The NAVY.
Since the Columbian and the
Dewey PaTades.
SHOWN BY RECENT REVIEW.

A Fleet of Twelve Wsrships In 1893 as
Against 1o2 In the Limo Which Pass
! ed Before President Taft at Now
York Mobilization.
1t is most surprising as well as In
teresting and instructive to compare
the great assemblage Of 102 ships
which recently was reviewed in the
Hudson river by President Taft with
former reviews, such as that held In
celebration Of Admiral Dewey's return
in the Olympia. his flagship, In 1899
and that other memorable review in
April. 1893. which marked the Column
bian celebration. The figures on these
reviews make a comparison of Ameri-
can naval strength possible which is
astounding and highly satisfying to
many enthusiasts.
1t shows that for the Columbian cell
ebration, to which all the great pow
ers sent one or more ships. the United
States was represented by a squadron
| of twelve ships. the flagship being the
protected cruiser Philadelphia, Rear
Admiral Gherardi. and including the
protected cruisers Chicago, Atlanta
and Yorktown and the dynamite cruis-
er Vesuvius.
The American ships In this review |
were greatly outnumbered by the total
number OF foreign representatives pres
emf. The comparison of this dozen of
small ships compared to the imposing
show of battleships, to say nothing of
the large cruisers and other vessels of
the present feet. gives a good Idea Of
the remarkable growth Of the navy in
the last eighteen years.
But the little American fleet which
President Cleveland saw at the time
Of the Columbian celebration contain
ed the nucleus Of the modern fleet that I
assembled In the Hudson. The Chica-
go, Atlanta and Yorktown, with the
Boston. formed the famous White
squadron. which was the first preten-
tious group of armored vessels built
by this country. They were ready for
sea In 1885 and went abroad at that
time to show our English cousins what
Uncle Sam was doing in the way of
These vessels were built at the yard
of John Roach In Philadelphia at a
cost of something over 100000 for
the four. The Chicago, which was the
largest, was OF 800 tons displacement
and made speed Of sixteen knots, In
her main battery she had four eight
inch guns and eight sixinch guns.
The Boston. Atlanta and Yorktown
were Of 5000 tons each.
Very small indeed would these ships
of war look in comparison with the
new Yankee Dreadnoughts, which are
800 feet long and of $4,000 tons dis
placement.
The Dewey parade, little more than
six years after the Columbian review,
showed that we had made marked
strides In naval construction. In fact,
we had just put grand old power out
of commission on the sea, and we were
rather chesty. But even the showing
made IN '93. when President Mckinley
reviewed the ships. seems meager
when the figures are compared to those
of the present fleet.
AS squadron Of welcome to Ad-
miral Dewey there lay Off Tompkins-
vile at that time the armored cruiser
New York, flagship Of Rear Admiral
the first class battleships In !
diana and Massachusetts, the second
class battleship Texas and the ar +
mored cruiser Brooklyn, all Of these &
vessels having been In the Santiago I
fight. Also in the review which fol- I
lowed were the Chicago Of white
squadron fame. the Marietta and few 8
other gunboats and half dozen of our +
first torpedo boats This feet. which &
welcomes the hero of Manila, repre- +
sented a great part Of our naval +
strength at the Spanish war stage, +
and In comparison It made the feet Z
recently In the Hudson look rather +
vast x
The Grant monument review of +
April. 1897 was made up Of good :
many of the ships that appeared In the .
Dewey celebration. In the Hudson 4,
Fulton festivities of two years ago
forecast was given of what might be
lone In the way of mobilizlng a big
American feet. But the total number
II American ships in that review was
,nly about third of the number In III
he recent one III