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Show H j "Who Is Who" Man Discusses Question of Fighting Ships. BELIETO big warships BETTER THAN SUBMARINES Lessons Are Drawn From Great Sea Fights of Recent Years. 1 J. P. Bcllly, a well-known journalist of H tho Atlantic coast, Is at tho Wilson. Mr. H Retlly la well posted on tlilngu nautical, Hj on tho Atlantic coaot, and In discussing H the preaont opposition to a. greater navy Hj that has recently developed in Congress, Hj based on tho ocarecraw of snbmarlno tor-Hj tor-Hj pedo boats, cold, among: other th!ng3: H "There Is now, and nan bcon for yeara, H a periodical cry ngalnut a larger navy B and a orronger anny, and it reaches Its Hj zenith "rrhen Congress hs In session. It Hj wore idle to spoculato as to Its causes, for H they Ho hidden In that mausoleum of J blasted hopes and wrecked ambitious VVH which wo call the 'lobby.' HJ Cry Against Big Nayy. H "Now lot us sco what It all means, j England has just launched and Is fitting 1 tho Dreadnaught, the largest and most 1 powerful battleship In the world. Naval H authorities assure un that this ship Is a j praatlcal answer to theorists, who say M that tho moral effect of submarine de- 1 stroyers Is greater than tho veritable JBJH presence of battleships. Hj Result of Bier Battle. I "If tho battle of tho Korean straits had not been fought, and Its dotalls wore not i i known. It Is problematical how far the I moral effect' advocate could sway the Naval committeo and the people: but that naval action changod all preconceived notions no-tions of these engines of war, and whero I It Ik claimed such boats blew up the Russian Rus-sian ships, tho claim la only a claim and has no corroboration In tho official reports of that encounter. "We know tho olght-( olght-( Inch and ten-Inch shot and shell defeated tho Russian and destroyed his licet. Views of an Expert. 1 "Now comes an expert. In the columns of tho Chicago Record-Herald, to tell of a new submarine that has a sighting apparatus ap-paratus with which, when the boat Is submerged, sub-merged, by tho aid of a periscope, the man directing tho boat may ueo all around tho horizon at will. Becauso of this fact i the boat is said to be more dangerous to an enemy. You will recall. In 1EG2, off Charleston harbor, in South Carolina, that tho Housatonic was blown out of the water wa-ter by an Infernal machine of tho submarine sub-marine make. That boat nor her crew were ever heard of again, and that is the only lnatnnco on record of a submarine , attack on an enemy In naval annals. "Many experiments have been made. It i is true, but their history Is punctuated with deadly failures, and. as a matter of fact, all we know or havo achloved In submnrlno warfare la wholly In tho realm of experiment and hypothetical opinion. Practical Results. I "On tho other hand, wo havo the practical practi-cal results of the China naval war, the brilliant work of Dowey In Manila bay and the equally good work of Schley at I Santiago, and. lator still, the wonderful work of Admiral Togo In the Korean straits. These engagements were decisive ones, and changed tho map of the world, and never could havo been had the combatants com-batants feared the submarine through Its moral effect upon men. "Admiral Dewey Is now an enthusiast for a greater and heavier navy, and now Capt. Mah.an is leaning that way. 'I fall to see how even a perfect sighting sight-ing machine can mako a perfect fighting machine. The men who handle the United States naval submarines may justly be Raid to be the peers of any In the world, and yet their reports aro wholly of a tentative nature, and not at all satisfactory. satisfac-tory. ' Question of Operation. "That a submarine boat could operate safely In smooth water Is known to be true, but naval battles never take place In such waters. It taxes the seaworlhi-( seaworlhi-( nees of the great ships and tho seaman-; seaman-; ship of their able omcera to contend with the boisterous winds and seas of the At-I At-I lantlc coast, and then; aro nine months in every year when uuch vessels as submarines sub-marines would not dare to go out over any bar ( Moral Efficiency. I "The men with whom 1 have talked for 1 publication In Enstcrn newspapers are all of- he opinion that the moral effect of twenty first-class, swift battleships will . be greater on the haughty Incumbents of (( European thrones than all the submarines I from Dan to Becrshoba. The American naval olllcer and the man behind tht American gun are effective Integers In the uforesaid moral effoct. I Theory and Practice. ' Tou may recall that theories on this side of the water blew up tho Russian tleet In Port Arthur long before the Japanese Japa-nese filego guns did the work from -'03-Meter hill. It Is Just so with submarines In general. While there Js money to be , made In constructing them, they will find ndvocatcs, but the essence of war, which I moans the powess of a nation, will seek 1 the open sea, where they may light, and, mayhap, die in the open. It Is well to add here that Sherman's great definition defini-tion of war, by land or sea, Is Just as true I now as over, I. o., 'War is hell,' You cannot refine it, and naval men will have naval ships to tight naval battles." |