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14¢ MARINE REVIEW Devoted to the Merchant Marine, the Navy, Ship Building, and Kindred Interests. Published every Thursday at No. 418-19 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohio. by John M. Mulrooney. SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per year in advance. Single copies 10 cents each. Con- venient binders sent, post paid, $1.0). Advertising rates on application. Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. 'A report in circulation on the Atlantic 'coast, this week, to the effect that the (Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co. has refused to book any additional orders for merchant vessels is, if true, highly sig- nificant. That the rumor, if not literally correct, is at least indicative of the general conditions existing at the Newport News yard would seem to be proven by the failure of the firm ito bid upon the torpedo boats and des- troyers for which contracts were recently awarded, taken in conjunction with the fact that in addition to the five merchant vessels and three battle- ships 'building by the Newport News company, there 'has just been award- ed to it the contract for one of the coast defense monitors. In another part of the Review a prominent eastern vessel owner is quoted as saying that a new vessel which he will build will entail an outlay 20 per ceiit. | excess of that which would have been necessary had the contract been awarded several months ago. These and other constantly recurring evi-_ dences indicate that there was nothing of exaggeration in the predictions which have been made of a wonderful activity in ship building, and it is incidently worthy of note that several of the more prominent lake ship builders anticipate securing some contracts from the Atlantic coast, in view of the crowded condition of the yards there. The meagerness of the Mexican naval force is not a matter pf great comment because little known. As a matter of fact the Mexican navy consists of two dispatch boats, launched in 1875, and two unarmored gun vessels, launched in 1874, each of 425 tons and 425 horse power, and sev- erally armored with a 4-ton muzzle-loading gun and four small breech- joaders. 'A' steel training ship, the Zaragoza, 1,200 tons, was built at Havre in 1891, four gunboats are building and five first-class torpedo boats have been ordered. The fleet is manned by about ninety officers and 500 men. \ 'Chief Constructor Hichborn estimates that an expenditure of $800,000 will be required to put the Spanish cruiser Infanta Maria Teresa in shape for service again. When it was reported that there was a likelihood that the vessel could tbe floated, Mr. Hichborn sent to England for a set of plans of the vessel, and, after a comparison of these plans with the official reports detailing her injuries, ordered the immediate construction of the parts that will require replacing. The machinery of the cruiser is reported to be in good condition. - Opposition to the abolition of tolls on the Welland canal is beginning to manifest itself in aggressive form. The Buffalo Merchants' Exchange has, of course, taken the matter up, and in accordance with the request of Robert R. Hefford, president of that organization, the Maritime Exchange of New York city has sent out a letter urging that the opposition be main- tained and promising the support of the transportation interests of New NED The British warships Renown, Talbot and Indefatigable and the United States cruiser Marblehead are at Quebec to participate in the « Champlain celebration. The Renown is a first-class battleship and the other two British vessels are cruisers of the North Atlantic squadron. The Navy in the Civil War. Compensation in a considerable degree for the avalanche of volumes on the navy and naval affairs, many of them of doubtful value, which has followed the war, is to be found in "The Navy in the Civil War," which has just been published by the Scribners. The period of the civil war is fraught with a strong inherent interest, owing to the rapid growth--almost creation--of a navy, which was obliged to cope for the first time with the problems of modern warfare. The facts that the civil war was the first great conflict in which steam constituted the motive power of ships; that it marked the introduction of the ironclad; and that it saw, for the first time, an attempt to blockade a vast length of hostile coast will make it an epoch for the technical student everywhere. Yet the navy has been com- paratively without annalists, and in consequence there can hardly be an exaggeration of the value of this work, in three volumes, giving the whole narrative of naval operations from 1861 to 1865. 'The volumes are uniform in size and consist of "The Blockade and the Cruisers," by Prof. J. Russell Soley, U .S. N.; "The Atlantic Coast," by the late Rear Admiral Daniel Ammen, and "The Gulf and Inland Waters," by Capt. A. T. Mahan. . 'A fair idea of the thoroughness of the resume and the value of the ob- servations made may be gained from a hurried examination of the first volume in the set. As the introductory volume of a series, the book deals not only with the specific objects mentioned in 'the title but with the general condition of the navy at the outbreak of the war, the peculiar diffi- culties before it and the way in which these difficulties were met. At the very outset the author says: "The naval war of 1861 was marked by two principal features. The first is that while one side had a small force of naval vessels which were generally good of their kind, the other entered the contest with absolutely nothing that could be called a man-of-war. The second is that though certain developments in the character and con- struction of ships and of weapons had been foreshadowed, and had been partially realized, it was while the struggling was actually in progress that changes took place in those respects which amounted to a revolution in naval warfare. At the beginning the fact that sailing vessels were soon to be laid aside was still far from general recognition, especially among officers of conservative tendencies; the three 'great weapons of today, the rifled gun, the ram and the torpedo were almost unknown in the service; the iron armor was still an experiment. The modifications of the past MARINE REVIEW. ; [October 6, ------<--<------=<£={=[= ls fifteen years had accustomed men's minds to the idea that changes would gradually take place; but none forsaw or were prepared for the tremen- dous development that was wrought in four years of actual fighting." Prof. Soley's forceful way of incidentally dealing with questions which are vital problems today is exemplified by the following: "The efficiency of the service was further weakened by the vicious system of pro- motion by seniority, to which the navy has always clung tenaciously in the face of reason and precedent, of the analogies of civil preferment, and the example of other military and naval establishments. The effects of the system may be briefly indicated. Every man who lives long enough, up. less gross incompetency can be proved against him, goes to the head of the list, while those who have entered the service later, however much they may excel in ability or zeal, remain below to wait their turn. It is purely a question of survival. An officer comes to look upon promotion ag his right, apart from any considerations of merit or distinction. Public opin- ion in the service has no leaders, for the leading minds are not destined as they would be in every other profession, to gravitate to the leading positions. They simply take their turn. The natural conservatism of g military body is exaggerated, and judgment becomes warped by tradition, As promotion is sure there is no inducement to effort. No one will readj- ly assume responsibility, for he only runs a risk without any prospect of reward. Itis not so much the presence of poor material that injures a ser- vice, as its elevation by an iron rule of promotion, and the enforced sub- ordination of more capable men." That the two volumes of the set are equally valuable does not need declaration. Rear Admiral Ammen commanded a vessel in the battle of Port Royal and was present at the two bombardments of Fort Fisher and is therefore fully competent to discuss every phase of these campaigns while the appearance of the name of Capt. Mahan on the title page of a volume is the best possible assurance of its right to consideration as an authority on the subject discussed. The volumes are illustrated with portraits and also contain maps and diagrams prepared under the direc- tion of the authors. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, Fifth avenue New York; price, $1 per volume. THE YEAR IN SHIP BUILDING. NUMBER AND TONNAGE OF NEW VESSELS TURNED OUT IN VARIOUS SECTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES DURING THE TWELVE MONTHS ENDED JUNE 380, 1898. Many causes contributed to make the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898, an unpropitious one for the ship building interests of the United States, and no particular significance attaches, therefore, to the fact that while an increase is shown in the business of the yards on the Pacific coast and on our western rivers, there has been a falling off in both the number of ves- sels and the aggregate tonnage turned out by the builders on the great lakes and on the Atlantic coast as compared with the showing of the year previous. The figures hereafter given may be accepted as absolutely authentic, as they are obtained from advance sheets of the annual report of Mr. E. T. Chamberlain, United States commissioner of navigation. It will be noted that Mr. Chamberlain is of the opinion that output of new tonnage during the current fiscal: year will very probably be greater than any annual output for twenty-five years past. The returns to the navigation bureau show that during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1898, there were built and documented in the United States 952 merchant vessels of 180,458 gross tons, compared with 891 vessels of 232,233 gross tons for the preceding fiscal year. The decrease in con- struction on the great lakes was considerable, the new documented ton- nage amounting to only 54,084 tons, compared with 116,937 tons for the previous fiscal year. The construction on the Pacific coast was 49,789, compared with 7,495 tons for the previous fiscal year, this increase being chiefly steam vessels designed for the Alaskan-Pacific and Alaskan river trade. The decrease in construction was wholly in the first half of the fiscal year, when ship building in Great Britain and other maritime nations also showed a falling off of about 20 per cent. During April, May and June--the months of the war with Spain--the tonnage built and docu- eae in the United States was double that of the corresponding months Oo ie The tonnage built and officially numbered during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, ended Sept. 80, comprises 301 vessels of 83,191 tons, compared with ninety-seven vessels of 26,805 tons for the corresponding quarter last year. Indications are that construction during the current fiscal year will be greater than any annual output for twenty-five years, except probably 1890-91. The following summary shows the number and gross tonnage of ves- sels built and documented in the United States during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1898, compared with the preceding fiscal year: 1897. 1898. Gross Gross Geographical distribution. Number. tons. Number. tons. Atlantic and Gulf coast............ 609 96,009 514 63,090 Bacihie coastey i a, te 64 7,495 228 49,789 INottherngiakes. 9. 6a. 120 116,937 87 54,084 NVEcteuiemieice ye 98 11,792 123 13,499 Oar eee eth ses 891 932,233 952 180,458 Power and material. Sail: WWIGO CE sn suena 397 29,678 357 27,692 Stoel Wir Mmaaare NRE ne 11 34,631 2 6,724 Steam: WMO Olas Near ae hg 244 27,917 343 57,337 I; Onmanicesteelum mserrnwr cath o. 44: 78,236 51 48,501, Cama). dG Atte es oes iamime oncls cow de lant 70 10,216 20 2,386 Barges: is NG (GSC el ie ear 182 40,027 169 30,777 Sie i ee iy MPa mH ia nies ose 13 11,528 10 7,041 Miatale cheek it fis oon SOh =» ¥282,298 952 180,498