The Washington herald., 1915-10-17

ing the seven seas. Let us suppose that
some foreign country with which we
were at outs felt competent to pit It's
battle fleet against ours. Might il nor
refrain from that undertaking IL II
knew that whatever might be the out
tome of the fight its merchant marine
would be swept from the seas by our
last lisht cruisers operating from the
innumcrahlc bases that our coasts afYord7
one would suppose that any scheme OF
naval construction being propounded for
this country would include tho construc-
ton of anything from twenty to fifty
Iight cruisers making thirty-fve knots.
II Is not too much to say that with
such fleet of commerce raiders We
could almost do without battleships
whlCh are only valuable If one happens
10 possess few more than the enemy
and which, in the event that the enemy
Is fortunate enough to possess a few
more. are worth no more than baskets
OF trawberries. AS matter Of fact
there has been a tendency in all quarters
TO build So-called destroyers larger and
inrEer. so that now they are almost Iigh,
cruisers In the war they have been sent
into action light cruisers But as n
matter of fact they are at present more
or less useless objects. and ii is unfor-
tunate that 1t Is contemplated building
more of them. In former days destroyers
We're the eyes and ears of the navy
Now that function is monopolizcd by the
wireless telegraph. which can he mount
ed on any old patrol boat with a crew of
ten men that isn't worth the price of the
shot that would sink it. Similarly as a
submarine hunter the destroyer Is too ex-
pensire a vessel and takes too large n
crew to be satisfactory. The fifty-ton
motorboat is cheaper and more efficient
for the work
Large as our more modern destroyers
are. however. they are not large enough
to 20 on long cruises except in the COM
pany of larger vessels. They could not
he used as commerce raiders at long dis
tances from their base.
If we examine the British and other
navy lists We discover a sort of gradu-
ated scale of small ships going by vari-
GUS names through which the original
torpedo boat emerges into the cruiser
They may be ia bula ted as follows:
Obsolete torpedo boats up to 300 tons.
Old destroyers. 800 to 80 tons.
Modern destroyers. 80 10 Loo tons.
Destroyer leaders. 100 to 1000 tons.
Scouts. 1000 to 5000 tons
Light cruisers, 5000 to SOC tons
The tendency has been TO build the light
cruisers lighter and the destroyer heavier
until they merge into the scout cruiser
of about $500 tons. of which the British
Royalist and the German Emden and
our own Birmingham are typical exam
pies
The Submarine
OF the submarine nothing can be added
to the much that has already been said.
The lesson OF the war seems to be that
these vessels are admirably suited to
defensive work, though less valuable for
attack. 1t Is clear. however that the
means by which Great Britain has COPIED
with the submarine peril could not be
reduplicated by a fleet that attacked our
coasts and that the vulnerability of that
fleet to submarine attack would be at
least serious. A large number Of small
submarines with a limited radius Of op-
Grafton would seem almost 4 sufficient
defense in themselves for our coasts, II
the naval experts do not conclude to ex-
pend any large sum Of money on this
arm of the services II will be because
they contemplate q striking fleet which
will be more than able to deal with any
possible adversary at arms length,
Enough has been said here to chow the
reader Of what modern navies consist.
the general tendencies manifesting them
selves in respect to the construction Of
different types Of ships and the purposes
fulfilled by each class Of vessel. When
the complete program OF new construc-
ton for the coming financial year il an.
nounced the readers can form their own
Opinion bf In MARTA Ar AfhArviaA