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Show SECOND NAVY OF THE WORLD. (Leslie's Weekly.) During the year 1908, and by a very narrow margin, the United States navy maintained its right to be classed as the second strongest navy in the world, second only to Great Britain's and closely followed by Germany's, which has made great strides to regain the place it occupied in 106. France's ranks fourth and Japan's fifth. Great Britain has sixty-one first-class battleships, the United States thirty-one, Germany thirty-one, but with a smaller tonnage than ours, France twenty-six and Japan Ja-pan fifteen. The total cost of the new American navy, built and building, has been $344,904,298. But the cost does not cease with the completion of the vessels. Each vear laree sums are cxnended in keen ing them in repair and manning them. A huge item of expense is the cost of coal. The government spent $5,168,824 for coal in 1908, purchasing 836,389 tons, at an average of $6.18 per ton. Of this, 618.085 tons were used on navy vessels. The battleships' cruise around the world was very expensive. The personnel of the principal naval powers shows that in numbers the United States stands fourth, though if the marine corps is included we stand second. Great Britain has. 99.219 enlisted enlist-ed men In her navy, Germany 47,286, France 44,577, the United States 42,400 and Japan 41,966. |