The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-03-07


friendly fate at the hands of the
men behind the guns of our modern
Atlantic fleet. The Texas, always a
steel-sided hoodoo and long a target
for naval criticism, is to become at
last a target for American gunners
She will be towed like a culprit to
a point off the Chesapeake's protect
ing capes, anchored and shot to pieces
When her battered funnel shall have
disappeared beneath the green sea the
final record will be made in the naval
records of the first battleship built for
the American navy, a vessel that cost
the government $2,500,00 in 1892.
1t will be the first time in the history
OF our navy that a real vessel is used
as a target for the big guns. Hereto
fore targets made of canvas have been
used, but as the Texas has outlived
her usefulness, high explosive projec-
tiles will be fired against her in order
that the officers may study their ac-
ton against the hull and superstruc-
tur6 at battle range Surely a fitting
end for the unluckiest ship in the
American navy! For although she
covered herself with glory at the bat
tiO VI NocAAbidBOs size WctS So &c
in time of peace as to earn the title of
the hoodoo
Foreign navies for many years have
used their obsolete battleships as tar
gets, and the results have been of
great benefit in determining the rela-
tive value of high explosive projec-
tiles. The old query, What would hap
pen If an irresistible force came in con-
tact with an immovable object? has
almost been answered by these tests.
At recent test in the French navy
it was discovered that when a twelve
or thirteen inch projectile hits a tur-
rut surch terrific heat is developed
that for twelve hours no human being
could touch the point of contact.
Whether men could live in turret
pounded by twelve-inch projectiles Is
doubtful, although experiments have
shown that cats and chickens have
been able to withstand the terrific
heat.
For the past four or five years the
Texas has been little more than a
floating barracks for enlisted naval
men, stationed most of the time at
Charleston, S. c. Ever since the Span
ish war she has done nothing but cru
Use up and odwn the Atlantic coast,
taking the midshipmen on their an
nual practice jaunts to the New Eng
land regions. and steaming around
Hatteras in all kinds of weather for
the fall and winter maneuvers in the
tropics.
She has not been considered good
enough for station ship. In fact,
like more than fifty other men-of-war
that have become obsolete, she is moth
ing more than pile of junk. She cost
$500, 900 less than twenty years ago,
but today she would hardly bring $780,
600. The cruiser Detroit, which cost
the government S1,233,039 twenty years
ago, brought only $4,000 the other
day. In short, the men of-war of even
fifteen years ago are little more than
Junk today. And Uncle Sam has a
Junk pile which cost between $40, 000,-
600 and $150,000.0O0. The cruisers of
the famous white squadron that sailed
the seas before the organization of the
more famous fleet of the present time,
are all Obsolete" They are worthless
as fighters, useless as cruisers.
The necessity for more powerful
ships in the United States navy was
demonstrated by the battle between
the French and Chinese fleets in Au-
gust, 1884. at the Pagoda anchorage,
Min river, where the Chinese ships
were sunk in half an hour. 1t was
decided that this country should have
a modern defense force as soon as pos
sible. In 1886 President Cleveland ap-
proved a naval appropriation bill
which directed the building of the
Texas, a battleship; the Maine, sis
ter ship, and several cruisers. A prize
was offered by the secretary OF the
navy for the best designs for a battle
ship to cost $2,5OO,OOo. Many naval
architects competed and the prize was
awarded to an Englishman, Mr.. John.
with the exception of the protected
cruisers Charleston and Baltimore,
built later, the Texas was the only
vessel built on designs purchased from
abroad.
The Texas was constructed at the
Norfolk navy yard, being the first and
only battleship ever built there. Work
on her was so slow that although the
keel was laid down in January, 1889,
she was not launched until June, 1899,
and by that time the plans had been
altered so much that she was practi-
cally of American design.
From the start she showed up badly.
In fact. she had such a series OF mis-
hans that she became known as the
greatest landgoing battleship in the
world. Not only did she sink twice,
once right in her dock at the Brooklyn
navy yard, but she used to try the pa
thence of the authorities at Washing
ton by violating the navy regulations
and running ashore four or five times
a year. Her weakness for exploring
shoals and mud flats made 1t look as
If she should have been transferred to
the coast and geodetic survey.
However, she redeemed herself be-
fore Santiago. She was really out OF
date them but her nose was showed
into the fight and she acquitted herself
nobly. But so many accidents kept
recurring that the title Of THE hoodoo
of the navy still chung to her.
In fact. her ill luck began while she
was being built. A dozen men were
fatally hurt on her while she was in
eonrse OF construction and two men
were plunged to death from her deck.
Her engines were scorched in fire
at the Richmond iron works and her
propeller was broken on the first trip
to the yard. In her dock trial she
swamped a lumber schooner with the
wash from her screw. Heeled over by
the wind and the unequal weight of a
partially set up turret. she nearly sank
in her dock at Norfolk before she was
completed. She was put In dry dock,
and it was found that she was not
strong enough to bear her own weight.
She proved herself a poor steamer,
and burned great quantities Of coal.