| Show Our j Navy In 1893 Socrotary Horbort Chats With Our Corrosponclont as to Its Condition and Its Moods It Compares Hit American XnyWlth Thou of ilinff and San Wi are ltfln Among the norlJtNarairomn Ilie American ffflurallr a AM on Ike StaOxr Katy in lliiloryllmAmtrian veins lint a < Htg Hke Nwit of Hit IIJ The lonileri of Our Km Gnus and Maltni I lm < Jer riit I I UonJeifHt JoJ Our Mlern n jetlilti Acroa Ikt Atlantic in IJH Than 7aa 1011 or Arm d the florid fall 7Kan a Air Our Dig IHH i faelortei and He Aw Armor title in IUM He Lewd the WortilIHt Sterrlaty Discusses the Ann Torpedoes aid mil llnal llitv Can Do in Natal Harfaie lle Talks of Ikt Ilif Haltle Skips and Civet his Ofinton of Monitor and Kefirs He i esnt iasThe Speed of He MoJtn liar Skip lililltl in Naval AtfoMmenti tie = = KpKiel Cvrrtipontltitn of Hi Nsw WASil I HOTOi Oct 18 8oJllia bloom bl-oom on the second floor ol the eastside east-side or the biggest granite building In the world surrounded by the models of ships at a big desk sits a big man boiling boil-ing his big bruin over sumo of the biggest I questions ol the United Stain I refer to Secretary Hilary A Herbert i the head of our great Navy Department Ten years ago H o had one ol the pouted navies of the world Now we have one i of the belt and the Navy Department Is the most wide awake and progressive ol our government establishments It bus vast foundries and manufactories under Its control It spends millions upon millions of dollars upon ships and armor every year It k buying the best brain the United Staten can give and It has its I agents In every part or the world Inventing Invent-ing and studying how to mike new guns and other Instruments of destruction It Is the most wonderful establishment in the United Males government and the matters It deals with reach to Urn ends of the earth Already some of the bljgeit gun baits areas their way to Clilna Only a few month ago we were Ilcr im the edge of n war with Chile Whit we arc to do with the Sandwich Islands Is I till a live question and the excitement excite-ment of the troubles Ida Janeiro have arcely died away The Importance of the American navy Increases every day and the personality and views 01 the man who presides over It arc full olin lest Tim tCRBTARYS I1RST NASAL STUDIES I spent an hour with him this week nt Ihe department and continued my con Miimn during an evening which he then fixed for me at his home 1 know nui bias about wars and fighting and at my lequest the Secretary kindly avoided technical I I terms and explained I matter In such a way that slt believe the talk will beat great merest to the average rea der Its 1 Is a charming conversnlionillst He 1 has for years been making a study of l hl naval I matters and f when I asked him f how It came that lie a man who bad been brought Ui In the Interior I I of the mites f Ie country mile away from the sea coast became such a specialist naval ai1aitf lrefh He replied 1 think my first t Interest In the navy was aroused by a book which I rend when I was a boy It was mulled The Naval Untiles of the Revolution of i8i > and It made such an impression upon m that for a line 1 wanted tu go to sea 1505 1 lint I to this I have read r and I studied everything olt I could find In connection with the navy and when I was first elected to Congress about seventeen yens aya I resaaember that I came hero with the idea that the navy ought to be Improved KIchard lliomp son of Indiana was then secretary allli It was with some trepidation that Ir I n green Congressman called upon him and told hint that I wanted I to know something as to the condition of the tiny I said that I thought our cities along the const were In an unprotected state and that ought to have better shifts and better guns Secretary Thompson J who erh hail probably been bothered by young Congressmen before listened to my statement An etlil I island i he rather pompously but confidentially told inn that I might rest easy about the matter And Hint our torpedoes had 1 then reached such a state ol perfection that If I the hll1lo all the world could come at once within the range of thee we have planted along the sea coast we could blow them out of the water I remember that I went away from the department with my mind considerably relieved I did not know as much about torpedoes then ns I da now or I should undoubtedly I have bad a diflcrcnt opinion I continued my Interest In the navy however and I was connected with the committee on naval allilrs during all large part of my coiiniemionil I II period f I wa you know chmnuii of that committee during then Congresses Including the last one AUhRICA AGAINST TUB WORLD How does our navy now compare wllh the other great navies of the worldVery well Indeed replied the Secretary or It will do so as soon ns we hive finished the shins we are now building We now stand fifth or sixth I among the greet navies of the world The creates naval power on caith li I Great Jlilum She has nearly half a < many naval officers tsar have nun and her tout naval service Includes about Inoouo She has 175 ships In commission com-mission and she Is I nuking others so that I next ear she will have about 415 effective sips afloat Her colonies arc such that the very ealslenri of her government depends upon a great navy and than new erl hiS I which she AI Is now building will cost III Is said more than < 100000oui Not In rngland as n greet naval power Is France who Sass some of the I dltxeit I gun twits and best I mmorcd ships of the world Her naval service Includes vast numbers of men and the Mine Is I true of Italy and Kus U Next to these waters comes the United Slain or jcimany It Is a quest m as to whither Germany or Sun United State stand fifth in rank among the navle I of the world 1 In some respects we are superior to Germany and In some they are ahead of IK We are rapidly advancing however and our navy has been the creation I of practically only the I lost ten tears I AMERICAN NATUKAItr rillKt FOR NAVAL WAKPARK What kind of naval Herts do Americans make How do we rAnk among lira nations as lighten on the sea Y I I believe the American k l naturally Tilled for naval warfare and I believe we have all the elements of n great naval power I do not think It n necessity I I that we should surpass the world In this regard at present The development of our vast interior resources will consume our best II energy lor n generation 1 or so t to come Hut when we no out ol our own boundaries when we become a great sea going i ieople I our navy will Incrcsie I at our Interests demand r protictlon and we may eventually become the greatest natal power ol the world OUR NAVY IN IIISTOkV As to our natural ability In this respect res-pect Secretary Herbert went on look at our history At the beginning of the revolution Ellllian was mistress of thee the-e During the first two year of lhat Iv el1 r what r rJ war our navy nude up of what we could buy build or borrow captured more than 267 Bnchtli ships anil acquired for Itself n reputation ns one ol the naval powers of the time In I the war eor 1811 I we started out with about n doten and a half sill of war to fight nngland who then bad more than 8no ships of which a large number were effective cruisers there were told fourteen duels between single shins In that war and In ten of these the Americans were victorious In two of the remainder Ihe honors were nearly even and In only two out of the fourteen were the llrlllsh the victors At Ihe beginning of the late civil war the government had only ninety veaMll afloat At Us close its navy contained 770 ships and It stood out as one of the greatest naval powers of the l world 1 Its Catties changed I the navies of the 1 world and same of the greatest of naval Inventions In-ventions have sprung from American brains TIIK AGE Of STEEL IN NAVAL MATTERS That was so with the fight of the Monitor and Ihe Mertimsc was it null Yen replied Secretary Herbert Thai battle struck the death blow to the ships of Hut diy With It the age of wooden war vowels passed aw ivand that of Iron and steel i began r I very elvlllied natron nt once put In ship yards kll IJIII f to work lo build new Heels I and roman r Ingenuity busied Itself lo construct better guns Guns then began to be made I orI hammered sleet and In order Hut they might I carry still II le heavier charges char-ges they were made longer and longer slowburning powder won Invented The I powder we now lllel Is nothing like that used at Ihe lime ot the 1 last war It Is the color of ciiocoUte and III li molded mol-ded Into grains as big as a lubys fist It burns from the lime III Is limited until the charge lealtlihe gun and II nuadily pushes M It were on the charge from the powder bed to tniiirlc 01 K VVOSUKRFUt Ol v I i It Is much more effective Hun the powder of the iwilf I asked Yes replied I bite tccrelarr I can hardly describe Its power Some of the pn jecll es we now use weigh as high as IIU pounds or half a ton and the guns which shoot these great masses of sled and balls arc forty feet long and weigh more than sixty tons each It takes 550 pounds of this powder for a single charge of one of these guns and through It this half ton ol dulled meet lies from the niuisle of the gun at the rate ol Jloo feet per second and goes thirteen miles felon It slops Take our pencil and estimate what ihosc figures r mean A ton Is a good load for n team of horses Pour charges of powder for one of lho e guns would hall I I h-all lIt the horse wmildwinl to pull Two of those projectile would be n rrlo1 anal wagon load ami to carry oil Ihv gun lt cll were It louled upon wheels ono hundred and hilly horses would have II trth i 10 tie i hitched to It wenly I one hundred hun-dred feel tier second it l nl the rale of I almost n mile In two and half seconds II that velocity could continue the projectile pro-jectile would go on nt the rate of about I twenty three mites a minute It would l i cross the Atlantic In low than 10 hours I and a hall and It could go around the world In less than a desyTItosc puns eti1 ll r are called the Ihlrlcenfnrh guns Pour l of them are to bo placed on each ol the battle > hl > s and lIr will tuna a part ol the armament of Ihe ind ann the Ore lion mid the Mauachuseit I Can we make 5s good guns as the Burs ans I asked Thero Is mi doubt I of It was the reply Txnerlmenls I I show hit wi are doing 1 so The gun mnnufnctor at the navy yard here U otic of the finest In the world and a man from ion of the big establishments of Jurol I when he visited it the other di Mid lie had never seen anything equal to it Wet can turn out guns I very rapidly 1 and since Hi opening we have completed n large number of fine guns ranging < from four to thirteen Inches m lid and weighing from tlurt > our hundred pounds to one hundred and thlnyfivc thousand pounds each We have now one hundred and eight guns afloat two hundred and ninetyelf completed and hive remit aecn In hind We will soon be making armorpiercing shells lor our six and taght met gum and will eventually maki hells for our large guns welghitir eleven hundred pounds Zfiel rttl Miese big shells will go forth from the gun at a velocity of from 3000 to j600 Run r Sent per second OUR aim WORKS AND TORTRDO FACTOR Ins Are our naval factories such that we are now practically Independent of any other country In the making and equipment I equip-ment of our naval vessels Ye replied Ihc secretary wo can make any kind r a gun that may be needed and with I the great forging work which we now hive at IMhleneni and at 1 the Carnegie works near IltU burg we are In the position to create as great a navy as the future may demand What we now need Is I more battle ships We need plenty of good torpedo bunts to defend our harbors and my Idea of Ihe navy Is I that It should be Urge enough command peace and protect In I 3 i 1ra American r cltltcii In their rights I the world oven We have lately established a factory In lids country for the making of torpedoes nod we are nuking tome of the bet armor of the world The I armor which binds than naval vessels today to-day is I ol rolled or hammered steel lo which I we have added about three per cent r nickel l with such I success that tour t-our plate IB I siiierior lo any other armor plate of the world A WORD AnOUT TOHrEDOC I Is 1 the torpedo of much value In the naval waifare of today I asked I think there H no doubt of thai replied re-plied the secretary All of the great nation arc adding torpedo boats lo heir naval forces Kngiatid I 1 has nerrly vai Y li rl I MO and U building twenty five more France II has Selo I and l Is building holy Kussln IMS spa and is building I more I Germsn ass toy and the other I powers II = I me well equipped At a lest of rt torpedo bouts I last summer In Kngland twenty four tor lied boats attacked a squad of cruiser and llun boats The result was that after seven da > trial the had destroyed one battle ship and six mil ears and eighteen out of the twenty four torpedo boats era deslrojed Ol course there was no actual destruction i of these nemesis and the torpedoes were WIIi I Ii li rd j so fixed with collapsibln headH That no real damare was done It was In fact like Shb filing of a blank cartridge but i the efltct could be Kicnlilirallv eitlmat 1 ell Irani the torpedoes hiving struck the I ship The result of the trial was oa I have slated und the estimated value of I the battle snip and six riuicis destroyed destroy-ed amounted about 9500 ooo Including Includ-ing 9050 mm The cause 01 Ihe eighteen eigh-teen torpedo boat wan only i HUOOOO = cl f and rll mn denlroycd would have lane only jen In other words the torpedo dial 1 about eo limes as much dimag inn proportion p to In-n cost ai the batlle ships and crmstri 1 he torpedo vessel which are now being buill abroad are nb fast Ir they range m sue from 700 tog to-g 0 tons They will go from nineteen 10 twenty knots per huur Ihc 1 torpedo I Iroals are from iu la 200 lout In lie and they will go from twentythree lo I twenlynlne knots iicr hour Inent nine knots i Is more than thirty two miles and these boat tip through the water at the speed ol the werage rillronl train the toiixdocs used arc the automobile auto-mobile torpedoes and they arc about I eleven feet long with a diameter of seventeen Inches They explode as soon as they touch the ship and they err so made that they can be sent as straight through the water as a hall from a gun 1 hey are fired by hrrar = i sl4 or powder or compressed air and compressed com-pressed 1 air Is the motive power which runs It the engine In the torpedo and propels pro-pels It by means of the screws They go forth I from the toriiedo boat at the rule of about thirty mile I per hour and they run by the air 1 power contained within them half n mile with accuracy I his h Ihe Whitejead torpedo The Howell I torpedo Is propelled 1 I by the J1 tl Kiralory motion of a wheel within It which li spinning before the torpedo leave the ship I How about electricity In the use of torpedo sr The SlmnnlMison torpedo Is I worked work-ed by electricity Some of these are stationed oaf from the shore and connected con-nected by l electric wire They are propelled pro-pelled leered I and exploded ely electricity electri-city 1 he ywwtrcumen from a machine on ounce or on a ship We have not found f them as efficient as the Whltehead torpedo and It Is with the Whltehead awl the Howell Hut our lanai experiments experi-ments have been made How I about the dynamite cruiser You refer to the Vesuvius This h a boat of 930 tons It was finished In 1890 and It Is I armed with there dynamite guilt each of which Is I ss feel long These guns throw I shells I of dviumite weighing as much as jon pounds each I and each gun ran he discharged once every two riiinulr Sue shin has two I engine each of which has nearly 4000 horse mater and In addition to these dll hlltr jiumiie I guns It hat a light batter consisting of thlee three po > mdero It has a speed of twenttwo knots per hour and curries between sixty and evenly men OUR Bill BATTtK mils I Canon give me wine Idea of our I big battle I chalk Mr Secretary We have three bailie thip building I of Ihe first tins each of which U 10100 ton in alae and one ship building which I Is 11 jeo tuna UV have also the Texas and Ihe Main which range between 1 6vx and 1 iGcu Ions In displacement The Iowa w I ijoo tons and out of the largest ship In I the world U ith It lull coal supply It wilt have a displacement of over ono i Ions and It is i lo have speed 1 of sixteen knots per hour In order lo give you some idea ut one of these battle liiis Ibis vast vessel la I placed J with Hsrveed nickel I fourteen four-teen Inches thick with n wood tucking twelve Inches thick She ho turrets which are armored with fourteen incl plates and she will be equipped with lour twelve inch guru together with a number eighlTncli and twentveight rapid firing and machine guns Sliewlll have liooo horse power and situ wall have cent when she Is completed In Hi more than Jiocooiia Kuwla hat a new hip called the Rulk which has ijiw horse power while Ihe Indiana and Massachusetts lave each 9000 horse waver The armor on these two last vessel 10 I eighteen inches thick and llicy are to cost not more than < oooooo i upiece WE HRRII ATTtK SHIM AND TORIEDO BOATS Are we not spending a great deal on the navy f Ye lteplied Secretary Herbert but the amount we are spending now Is considerably less In proportion lo our ponulallun than tint which we spent lust If 1 before fgl before the war I think expenditures ought lo go on until We have n mui her h-er navy We ought to have seven or eight more battle ship and some torpedo tor-pedo cruiser and some torpedo boats Tim MONITOR 01 low about the monitors They I are especially valuable as far at the strength of our sea coast It I con corned We have five of them the 1urltan Mlanlonomoh MonadnocU Terror and Ampliiliile These ships I are protected by armor raging from nine In eleven and a I lrtl Inches lrfI thickness They have revolving turrets nnd each of them has a speed of over ten knots mi hour They are so armed that they will j I Ir ol rrrl Wnu ofywar lie of great value In l the time of wir They are developed an the basis ol the old 1 Monitor and they ate the moM powerful ships of their draught and displacement dis-placement in the world They are pecu ilarly 1 Jrh protection liarly adapted for the protection of our Atlantic coast Iwcaute Slurp can be nave gated in water Inaccessible lo the deep draught ships of other powers and choose their own position I low about our cruisers We are building some of the belt In the world Take the New York It is one of the strongest and sw iftest commerce com-merce destroyers ever made and nny nation with or large commerce afloat will Hunk twice before it makes war with in If ae have many such ships It Is the same with oilier cruisers and we are I inch l bringing otirsehes Into such shapi I that we can hold our own against any of I the other great naval power TIIX SILI n or MODKRN WAR sill > I I low about speed The modern war ship la 1 rapidly m i creating lit upeiil replltil Secretary Herbert We now so from 1710 r 5 mllet p > r hour in moat vessels and Ihe time was when IJ knot per hour was considered fast I In contldcrlng than peed ul h a ship IOU must lemember that a number of things coma ill question The umullnt uf mul 1 to be t carried the I weight of the armor and gun together with the amount of ammunition form i important Him i If the ship Is lienny i neighed with armor 11 l liecomet so loaded that It cannot make the same speed on the same amount of coil If its armor were lighter These things nil I have tote I taken Into consideration In Ihe building up of these great batlle ship and I the question of gelling I out of 1 lur f the way and of long matches at sea it liana aB Important at that of dcfcn U and attack CIVil HEKVICK 111 TilE NWI How about I Hjlitica In Ihe nnv > > Do they enter Into the consideration of appointments Not so much at In other department of Ihe government replied Secretary Herbert Civil service rule govern very largely in the administration of the derailment and the navy pouts and It it I no doubt true that In our navy yards flloJh1r Ovrs f more skillul and efficient work It I done now than at any period In the pair I FRANa U 1 CARIIISTCM |
