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having become suffocated. Of the crew of 900 men, probably not one-tenth re- mained alive, and of the guns, only a few of the smaller caliber were in work- ing order. It must, however, be noted that the armor had proved most ef- fective, the entire ship below the armor deck, including machinery and magazines, appear to have been intact, and even the 3-in. armor on the lower 12-pounder bat- tery proved a most valuable protection. It seems clear from this account, as well as from other accounts of the battle, that any plan for directing a fleet or 2 ship, in a serious engagement,. from an unprotected position must be doomed to failure early in the battle. To place the captain and his staff outside the conning- tower is to place the brain outside the skull. I believe, therefore, that the best solu- tion is to control the ship from the con- ning-tower, and to design and locaté this structure in such a way that it will be- come a relatively safe and efficient cen- ter for the activity of the ship. ' It may be objected that the conning- tower of the Souvaroff proved anything but a safe place, but the reason of this was its very unsatisfactory construction and location, defects which were easy to avoid in future ships, and which may be largely remedied in existing ships. The conning-tower of the Souvaroff had a mushroom-shaped hood, which left a continuous slit open, affording a good all round view, but the overhanging hood or roof would catch the splinters glanc- ing upwards along the vertical wall of the tower and deflect them into the tower. Similar conning-towers are/used in the French navy, while in most other navies the lookout takes place through isolated holes in the vertical armor wall, offering far less chance for splinters to enter. I believe it possible to improve the construction of conning-towers very con- siderably, but in order to attain this ob- ject we must be prepared for greater sacrifice in weight than hitherto. The conning-tower should be of ample size, eventually in two stories, one for control of the ship, the other for control of the guns. Access should be at top and bottom, the top hatch eventually used for lookout when circumstances permit. The holes should be surrounded for ex- ternal projections so as to deflect splinters and should be provided with heavy ar- mored shutters, easy to open and close. These features contain nothing new, they having already been either used or pro- posed, but are not generally found in existing ships. I now further venture to suggest the following features as protection against splinters : Vertical radial screens, about 2 ft. deep, should be fitted on the inside wall of the TAE Marine REVIEW conning-tower. These screens should be placed between the sight-holes and car- ried from the floor to the level of the sight-holes, forming a sort-of 'stall at - each hole, eventually closed by. swinging doors on the rear. The man at the wheel, the steer- ing mechanism, the compass and other instruments, should be also as far as feasible protected by special screens. The inside walls of the conning- tower should be coated with a thick layer of some plastic cement, in order to pre- vent or deaden the rebound of splinters. The officers and men stationed in the. eonning-tower should be provided with metallic helmets, protecting head and shoulders against splinters. As to placing a compass inside the con- ning-tower, its directive force will always be weak, but it can generally be made useful as a guide for keeping approxi+ mately a given direction under circum- stances where the view is obscured by smoke or fog, even if it is not sufficiently reliable for navigation. The view from a conning-tower is, of course, restricted, but it is a matter of experience that this difficulty may be largely overcome by practice. As to location, the conning-tower of the Souvaroff was imbedded between, two bridges with wooden decks, both inflam- mable and full of fittings which would catch the shell and produce splinters. The upper bridge was. overhanging the conning-tower on both sides, and would, even if undamaged, partly obscure the view of the horizon, when the ship took a heel. When demolished and burning, this upper bridge, together with the burn- ing lower bridge, put the conning-tower Out Of actions The location and surroundings of the conning-tower of many, if not most, ex- isting battleships, both American and for- eign, present essentially the same feat- ures as in the Souvaroff, and in some ships the conning-tower is moreover di- rectly surmounted by a ponderous mast with military tops. To make the conning-tower.a safe and reliable station for directing the ship, it should be placed entirely free, neither sur- mounted nor surrounded 'by any struc- tures, and well forward of the bridges, the mast and the funnel. The bridges should be reduced in size to a minimum, and no wood should be used in their construction. Nor should any wood deck be laid- on unprotected superstructures, even if placed on a steel deck. - It appears to me very important that those lessons ofthe late war should be acted upon, not only in new ships, but also in existing. battleships and armored cruisers. Notably the bridges, super- structures and masts which do not con- _ suit himself. 21 form to the above claims should be re- constructed. Lewis Nixon: I am sure I voice the opinion of all the technical members of the society in welcoming articles of this sort, because it is most important we should get the point of view of the men who are fighting the battles of the coun- try, and who. command the boats which > are built for the navy after they are in service. In the merchant mafine work, which we have before us, our limitations are clearly defined by the service which the boat is to perform, and we have to build our boat to meet that requirement. But in the case of the boats built for the navy, the more we get the point of view of the fighting officer, the man who is in charge of the ship, the better, I believe, will be our ship. As to the question of the conning-tow- er, there is one point which seems to be of considerable importance. I sat through a conference wherein the question of con- ning-towers for use in designs in the light of the experience of the past war were carefully gone into, and they were speci- fying, among other things, a non-mag- netic armor for the conning-tower. Just what is to be done in that line I do not know, but if other nations can get non- magnetic conning-towers, certainly the United States can. As to the question of holding a fixed course, that is, one which involves ele- ments of tactics, and I feel sure that American ingenuity will solve it by some form of gyroscope, and at the same time be able to depend on the reliability and steadiness of such an instrument. In the submarine work, where they make con- ning-towers with non-magnetic armor, they have not so much trouble in steer- ing straight courses. I cannot discuss the subject of conning- towers, without subdividing it under sev- eral heads, under any circumstances. The question whether an officer should ex- pose himself, and not remain in his con- ning-tower, is a question largely for the officer who is in command of the ship, and he is going to settle it, as a rule, to Precedents seem to have led to many of the officers of the Ameri- can navy standing outside, but that the proper place is in a large conning-tower with plenty of room for motion, where the various accessories and auxiliaries for handling the ship are conveniently placed, easy of access, and easy of manipulation is unquestioned. That the officers will ever wear a kind of armor is somewhat doubtful, to my mind. As regards the question of the use of different types of battleships, in armored tactics, I am not sure it is nct the desire of the author to lead us to believe that he is extending the simile of the chain in its weakest link, because it will undoubt-