El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-10-27

, could plug the high-freebOard yes
sci at leisure and with reasonaple
I certainty Of aim Ions before the lat
ter was able TO get within sight OF
her. For this purpose she could lie
outside the river-mouth or harbor. IN
TO which in case Of necessity she could
withdraw.
Monitors Arc Of Light Draft.
The monitor draws only Is 10 II
/ feet OF Water-as against 80 feet Ior
the battleship. Thus. in case enemy
dreadnaughts ventured into the mar o.
or or river-mouth, such a craft would
have a great advantage, being apie
TO choose her own tactical POSITION
foe would be obliged TO keep 70 the
channel How useful even two or
three ships of this type would be IN
supplementing with their Pow erLql
mobile batteries the guns OF land
forts Is sufficiently manifest
"Of the nine monitors now on our
naval list. the four oldest are the
Amplitude, MiantOnomoh- MOnad-
mock. and Terror These are sister
boats. bankruptcies, each Of them be-
ing 263 feet long and Of $500 tons
displacement, and carrying four 10
inch breech loading rifles The Non
adock is az Manila. The Terror ana
NiantonOmoh are, or we're very re-
Gently. at the navy yard near Pnila-
delphia. The Amphitrite is in use at
New Orleans by the Louisiana naval
militia
The Monterey. now stationed at
Manila. rs OF a newer type ana OF
slightly greater displacement she
carries two 12-inch guns and two OF
1O-inch caliber. The remaining four
the Cheyenne. Ozark. Tallanassee.
and Tonopah-are the l2test-oulil-
and are bankruptcies, each OF them
being Of 3225 tons and 255 feet long.
and carrying two l2-lnch hreecn-
leaders All four, as I have SAID. are
now serving as submarine mother
ships
Largest One PurpOsciy Destroyed
we did have one much larger mon
itor the Puritan. which was or 5000
tons displacement and carried four T.
inch rifles. But so slightly was TINS
formidable craft esteemed that not
long ago she was purpOsely destroy ed
being used as a target for testing the
efficiency Of hiEh-eNplOsiNe shells
At last accounts she was lying az the
bottom Of the Potomac rivera dead
loss 10 the government OF about 80
O00.00o.
''Tne suggestion repeatedly made.
that monitors could not fight their
guns in seaWay IS wholly absurd
On one occasion many years ago.
Admiral Bunce took the Monterey
out into the ocean With the deliberate
purpose OF looking for a storm The
ship went through two big gales. and
floated. as he said like a duck on
the water She was perfectly man
ageable under conditions that would
have rendered il Impossible for bat
tIeships TO use their guns
The monitor is an unequalled
floating platform Perhaps you
have seen a pine chip and hickory
chip floating together. The pine chip
hobs about on the crest Of every
wave. but the heavy hickory chip Is
comparatively uudisturbed by the
waves that break over it. The mon
itor corresponds TO the hickory chip;
though waves may break over IT, no
trouble results Il is an air-tsnk
Dramatically seaied-which is the rea-
son why nothing short Of a mine or
torpedo can sink It There is no pos
sibility Of its turning turtle and 90
ing to the bottom, Ike battleship-
L. = Has BUTT q.
From first 70 last we have built
no fewer than - monitors. beginning
with the 1Ierrimac's famous antaEon-
ist. lost during the civil war in 2
storm of Cape Hatteras. and winding
up with the Tonopah bankruptcies
The persistence with which our gov