By LIEUTENANT G. W. MENTZ, U. S. Navy.
Beside torpedoes and fortifications there should be always at hand for
the defense of our coasts, a sufficient number of as good iron-clads and
torpedo boats as any nation in the world possesses, vessels that can go
to sea, so that we can meet the enemy with the same kinds of weapons he
opposes to us, and with enough of them to prevent the first hard blows.
Then with this as a nucleus, and our ship-builders and our mechanics
skilled in the work necessary to keep up such an establishment, we could
build up a sufficiently large navy as the war progressed.
If we wait until war is upon us before we provide ourselves with such
modern weapons, and such as every nation of any importance, except
ourselves, possesses, our officers and men would have to fight with
weapons with which they are unfamiliar, while their opponents are trained
in their management.
It requires time to learn to handle the new weapons of naval warfare,
which are very different and much more complicated than those of the
days of wooden frigates and smooth-bore guns, such as our navy is still
composed of, and that is another reason why we should keep up a navy in
time of peace. Torpedo and torpedo-boat attacks, for instance, depend
almost entirely upon the _skill_ in their management. We have no such
things as torpedo-boats and whitehead torpedoes, etc., and our officers
have had no experience or practice with such weapons.
Germany, the leading military nation of the world, has the proper idea
of preparing her navy for war in time of peace. Beside being provided
with the best and most effective weapons, all her naval force, active
and reserve, are exercised each summer and the men and officers are
trained in their duties on board the vessels, and with the weapons they
will have to use in time of war. Then, each article, from a sailmaker’s
needle to a gun is kept ready at the naval stations, all the articles
belonging to one ship being labeled with the ship’s name, and all kept
together so that they can instantly be put on board. The German Admiralty
has recently reported that the whole naval force can be put in effective
working order, for offensive or defensive movements, in one week’s time.
It was only by similar preparations with her army in time of peace, that
she was enabled, so promptly, to meet and to conquer France in 1870.
But let us glance at the kind of weapons which would be used against
us in a foreign war, and with which we are unprovided and with which
we must supply ourselves. Except the United States, every nation of
any maritime importance possesses immense war vessels. There are some
vessels which have an average speed of sixteen miles an hour; which
have their batteries and their machinery protected by solid iron of a
thickness of two feet, or of steel and iron combined of one and a half
feet thickness; whose battery, or armament rather, consists of a few
_very_ heavy guns, capable of sending a mass of metal weighing one ton a
distance of eleven miles, several guns of less weight and power, a number
of revolving cannon, a dozen or two dozen torpedoes, two torpedo-boats,
each of these fitted with four torpedoes and a revolving gun; whose crews
are supplied with rapid, accurate and distant-firing small arms (muskets
and pistols). In addition to all this, these vessels are rams, and are
themselves most powerful weapons of war, and could cut in two and sink
any ship they struck. These vessels, when complete, with their guns,
ammunition, crews, provisions and coal, everything in fact on board,
weigh from 9,000 to 13,000 tons. About twenty-seven feet of the depth of
such a vessel while she floats is beneath the surface of the water, and
the whole ship is divided into fifty or more water-tight compartments, so
that if any two compartments are filled with water the ship will still
float. These iron-clads (more properly armor-clads) do not have this two
feet thickness of iron all around the ship, only the vital parts, the
engines and boilers, etc., and that part of the ship where the great guns
are fought, are so protected. The armor consists of a belt eight to ten
feet wide (deep) and from one to two feet thick; half of its width or
depth is below the surface of the water and half is above. The machinery,
engines and boilers in a war vessel are put in the ship as low down as
possible, the farther below the surface of the water the better, as below
the surface of the water a shot is not effective, that is, for a greater
depth below the surface than one or two feet.
The machinery then is protected from shot on the sides and underneath.
To protect it from shot on top, a steel deck of three inches thickness
is built in the ship immediately over the engines and boilers, the deck
inclining toward the sides of the ship, so that if a shot did strike the
deck it would be deflected upward and away from the engines and boilers.
This deck is also placed below the surface of the water, if practicable.
The guns of such a ship are generally placed in a citadel and on the deck
underneath the citadel. The citadel is clad with iron or steel, and the
guns on the deck beneath are protected by the belt of armor spoken of
above.
The amount of metal that the guns can fire from one side of such a ship
is anywhere from 6,700 to 8,960 pounds. The shot composing this mass of
metal travel through the air with a velocity of 1,800 feet per second,
and travel nine miles in about twenty-five seconds. When a shot weighing
one ton and traveling with such velocity strikes an object squarely, the
object must indeed be strong to withstand the shock.
What resistance to such a force could the walls of a wooden ship give, or
even those of ten-sixteenths of an inch of steel or of seven inches of
iron? Yet there is no United States war vessel with a greater thickness
of side than seven inches of iron. Most of our monitors have only 5″
armor.
The people of this country have reason to be proud of the deeds of their
navy in the past, and many a time has the “ruler of the seas” lowered his
flag to the stars and stripes. But those victories were gained with ships
the equal of any in the world, and with guns which had no superiors and
with crews and officers well trained and accustomed to the use of their
weapons. Is it so now with our navy? No. We would go into battle with
the odds all against us. The sides of our ships are as pasteboard to the
high-power guns of the present time.
Our guns are as much use against two feet of iron armor, or its
equivalent in steel, as a pop-gun is against a stone wall, and would make
just about as much impression. And, although we have just as brave,
patriotic and skillful men and officers in our navy to-day as we ever
had, they are not skilled or trained in the use of the proper weapons, in
the management of modern weapons—such as their opponents will use against
them.
The possession of these instruments of war would make all governments
very careful and respectful in their treatment of us and increase the
probabilities of their never being used in actual warfare. The annual
cost would not amount to the one millionth of the amount of damage
Brazil, or Italy, or Germany, or France, or England, or Chili even could
do us in the same length of time if we are without them.
Our navy costs about $15,000,000 yearly, about half of that sum is for
the pay of officers and men, and it is misapplied, because they are
being trained in the use of weapons which are no longer effective, and
our people are not getting the proper return for their money. But the
fault is their own and the navy is not to blame. The cause of the great
change that has taken place in the last twenty years in the weapons of
naval warfare is due to the use of iron and steel, instead of wood, in
the construction of ships, and, although the navy has asked the country
repeatedly for modern ships and guns, the people have not seen fit to
grant them.
This is what our navy consists of: Of high-power rifle guns, such as
almost every nation possesses, we have one, recently finished, and which,
owing to lack of experience, required _one year_ to construct.
Of cruising vessels, fit only to destroy merchant vessels of slow speed,
we have thirty-six, four of which are of iron, whose sides are about one
half inch thick. None of these vessels would be able to engage the battle
ships of any maritime nation.
For coast defense, we have nineteen iron-clads; many require extensive
repairs, and it would take time to put them in condition. None of them
have sides of a greater thickness than seven inches of iron, and they
could not withstand the blows of modern guns.
Of guns for the whole fleet, we have, beside the one mentioned above,
eighty-seven converted rifle guns worth retaining, but they are only of
fair power. The other guns in the navy, 2,577 in number, are, according
to a late report of the Secretary of the Navy, “in no real sense suited
to the needs of the present day.”
Of torpedo-boats such as every other navy has, we have _none_ nor have we
any torpedo-boats, except the “Alarm.”
Of the personnel, there are, all told, officers, seamen, apprentices and
marines, 11,918.
Of reserves, we have none but the merchant marine, and merchant sailors
require considerable training to fit them for war purposes, and none of
them are trained for such a purpose now.
This force is to protect 10,000 miles of sea coast, the lake coast, the
second largest merchant marine in the world, the amount of property is
incalculable, and the interests of 55,000,000 of people. Our country
is rich and prosperous, and the treasury is fairly bursting with the
money we have saved. Every year we put away in its vaults $100,000,000,
for which we have no present use. Our resources in metal in the ore,
and in everything connected with the material of ship building and gun
building is almost beyond comparison with any other country. With one
year’s surplus of revenue we could build a navy that would cause the
most powerful nations to fear and respect us, and which would be the
surest harbinger of peace. But our people are beginning in a slow way
to realize that we need a reorganization of the navy, and Congress has
appropriated the money for the building of four new vessels. These are
to be of steel, and are for the purpose of protecting our shipping, our
citizens abroad, and to police the seas in time of peace and to prey upon
the enemy’s commerce in time of war. They will have high speed, about
seventeen miles an hour, and (if Congress appropriates the money) they
will have high-power modern rifle guns which will compare favorably with
the guns of similar size of other nations. But they will not be _battle_
ships, nor coast defense ships. Their sides will be about ten-sixteenths
of an inch thick, and, although of steel, that thickness will not resist
a shot from a high-powered rifle gun. These four vessels have been named
the “Chicago,” “Boston,” “Atlanta” and “Dolphin.” The “Dolphin” is now
afloat, having been launched Saturday, April 12th, at Chester, Pa., at
the works of John Roach & Co. The same firm is building the other three
new vessels. They will all be finished one year from now. The guns for
the armament are being constructed, some at the Washington Arsenal, some
at Cold Springs, N. Y., and some at South Boston, Mass. They are all to
be of steel, and this metal, which is used throughout in the construction
of the ships and guns, if possible is to be manufactured in the United
States, however, it may be necessary to send to England for the tubes for
the larger sized guns. The building of these vessels and guns has given
an impetus to the steel industry in our country and has been the means
of giving employment and experience to our mechanics, which almost alone
repays for the outlay in money.
Building ships and guns in our own country, and of our own metal, and
with our own workmen, increases our resources just so much, and adds just
so much to our war strength; and adds just so much, too, to the interest
the people of the country take in their defenses, in their navy. The
employment affects thousands of families; not only are the ship builder,
the gun constructor and the skilled mechanics employed by them benefited,
but the miners, and all those engaged in transporting the ore and the
coal from the mines to the workshops, and _their_ families are benefited.
We have grown to be a great manufacturing country, and the skill and
ingenuity of our mechanics in the manufacture of some articles are
recognized by all. Many of our manufactured articles are in use in every
part of the world. We are unrivaled in our labor-saving machines, because
it requires, to think out and invent the sewing machine, the agricultural
machine, etc., etc., something which the mechanics of other countries do
not possess, superior mental ability, due to our free institutions and
general education. Here is a field for our mechanics, _the manufacture of
all war material_. Why should not _we_, instead of Mr. Krupp, supply the
world with guns? Why should not _we_, instead of Mr. Yarrow, of England,
supply the world with torpedo-boats, etc., etc.?
We have supplied other nations with muskets; an American invented the gun
which fires a hailstorm of 1,200 bullets per minute, and which bears his
name, the Gatling gun; and our fellow countryman is supplying the world
with revolving cannon, but _not_ from the United States. Every one of
our manufacturing industries has been assisted by the government by high
tariff on similar articles of foreign manufacture. But that would not be
the kind of assistance the manufacture of war material would need to boom
it along. All that would be necessary for the government to do for that
industry is to accept and adopt such articles for the use of our army and
navy as are proved to be valuable, and to provide itself liberally with
them, and cease doing as it did with the Hotchkiss gun, purchase one or
two, and drive the inventor to a foreign land, where his invention is
better appreciated.
It is humiliating to every patriotic man and to every mechanic in our
land, and a disgrace to the American people that we, a manufacturing
country, a country full of mechanical genius, a country full of iron ore
and of coal, a rich country, should go to other nations to buy steel
plates to use as armor for our monitors, and steel for the tubes of our
guns. That is what we have recently done, and the “Alert” is now bringing
us some steel plates made in England. Why should not our manufacturers
get the large profit there is in the manufacture of weapons of war? All
they need is a little encouragement from the government, and orders would
soon come in from foreign governments, for it can not be doubted that
our superior mechanics in a very short time would produce a superior
style of weapon. There is at present no demand by our government for
such articles, while in England there is _constant_ demand for them;
our mechanics are inexperienced, and governments which have a need for
such material, and which _do_ prepare for war in time of peace, purchase
from those skilled and experienced in their make. Our government, by
encouraging such an industry, would be but providing itself with the best
of weapons, and would be putting the country in a secure state of defense.
Germany, ten years ago, adopted a scheme for the improvement of her navy,
which before that time was of little consequence, and part of the policy
was, to build her own armor-clads, and everything pertaining to the navy
in her own country, and she has so far succeeded that her navy, though
not the largest, is one of the _best_ in the world, and was all created
by her own people, and at a small annual expenditure. Now, the private
dock-yards in Germany that build some of the new ships of the navy are
building war vessels for other countries. It is unnecessary to say that
Germany’s wealth and natural resources are not nearly as great as our own.
At the opening of Congress in 1872, the President, in his message, called
attention to this subject in the following few but apt and unequivocal
words:
I can not too strongly urge upon you my conviction that
every consideration of national safety, _economy_, and honor
imperatively demands a thorough rehabilitation of our navy.
With a full appreciation of the fact that compliance with the
suggestions of the head of the Department and of the advisory
board must involve a large expenditure of the public money, I
earnestly recommend such appropriation as will accomplish an end
which seems to me so desirable.
Nothing can be more inconsistent with true public economy than
withholding the means necessary to accomplish the object intended
by the constitution to the national legislature. One of these
objects, and one which is of paramount importance, is declared by
our fundamental law to be the provision for the “common defense.”
Surely nothing is more essential to the defense of the United
States, and of _all_ our people than the efficiency of our navy.
We have for many years maintained with foreign governments the
relations of honorable peace, and that such relations may be
permanent is desired by every patriotic citizen of the republic.
But if we heed the teachings of history we shall not forget that
in the life of _every_ nation emergencies may arise when a resort
to arms can alone save it from dishonor.
The Secretary of the Navy commences his annual report for the same year
with this earnest appeal in behalf of the navy:
The condition of the navy imperatively demands the prompt and
earnest attention of Congress. Unless some action be had in its
behalf it must soon dwindle into insignificance. From such a
state it would be difficult to revive it into efficiency without
dangerous delay and _enormous expense_. Emergencies may at any
moment arise which would render its aid indispensable to the
protection of the lives and property of our citizens abroad and
at home, and even to our existence as a nation.… The mercantile
interests of our country have extended themselves over all
quarters of the globe. Our citizens engaged in commerce with
foreign nations look to the navy for the supervisory protection
of their persons and property. Calls are made upon the Department
to send vessels into different parts of the world, in order
to prevent threatened aggression upon the rights of American
citizens and shield them in time of civil commotion in foreign
lands, from insult or personal indignity. It is to be deplored
that in many such instances it has proved impossible to respond
to these calls, from the want of a sufficient number of vessels.
These things ought not to be. While the navy should not be large,
it should _at all times_ afford a nucleus for its enlargement
upon an emergency. Its power of prompt and extended expansion
should be established. It should be sufficiently powerful to
assure the navigator that in whatsoever sea he shall sail his
ship he is protected by the stars and stripes of his country.
Notwithstanding such messages from the highest authority in our land,
only _some_ of the money necessary to build four new cruisers has been
appropriated by Congress. Our people must instruct their representatives
in Congress to provide them with the means to put them and their
country in a secure state of defense, else that body, composed of many
politicians and few statesmen, will never show that they have any other
welfare at heart than their own reëlection, and the getting or retaining
of their party in power.