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first, after once getting the range, it is useful in getting differences in range; in other words, the change of range that we are after, so that a range finder, even though it may not give an absolutely cor- rect reading, if it does not jar out of position, is quite valuable, and that leads to. the whole question of conning-tower, range finder, and position of the com- manding officer, and all of these other things which are.related to this subject. It is recognized that the first advantage is a great one. With regard to splinters and with re- gard to other questions that have been raised, it seems to be a matter of very small importance where the captain is killed. It is not less dangerous to be on, an open bridge apparently than to be in "a conning-tower, in fact, in the case of splinters we have come to. accept the meaning of splinters as having something to do with wood. As a matter of fact the splinters are the iron stanchions, bolts, nuts and fragments of every kind are splinters, and in the open it would seem if there is nothing to stop the flight of a projectile, even an awning stanchion, for instance, might of itself cause a projectile to explode that would otherwise go harm- lessly over the ship, and in the open it tw hard to say whether a person is in any more danger than where he is screened. To specify a position where an officer shall locate himself in battle, is very much like the period arrived at where an armor was worn in olden times, and it became so heavy it was discarded, and: in this question of handling ships in ac- 'tion, it would seem that it is practically, impossible to protect the officers, abso- lutely, and it seems to me that whatever devices are provided for their protection they must necessarily take some chances in action. The conning-tower is where it was when originally designed, speaking freely. There is room for improvement. There is one point with regard to Mr. Nixon's statement with relation to tor- pedo boats or patrol boats. I had gath- ered that they had not been extensively used, but at his request he has given me an official statement from a reliable Rus- sian newspaper showing that the experi- ments that have been made with the Baltic seashore defense has been success- ful. The article is as follows: The Novoye Vremya 'of St: Petersburg pub- lished the qollowing from the Kronstadistky Viestnick, lor rae naval organ of Kron- stadt navy yard: . ; e The Be tai that have been made with the Baltic sea shore defense squadron of pa- trol boats, on. the word of the authorities, have shown that under the present state of motor construction these boats furnish excel- lent weapons against an _enemy's sudden at- tacks upon points of the Baltic sea. The motors are run by gasoline, are of 20 knots speed, carry torpedo apparatus and guns, and on this account could best be termed harbor defense torpedo boats. The seaworthy qualities of the boats are good. The vessels on a straight course steer without moving the wheel. The President: The society extends _the 'THE Marine REVIEW its cordial thanks to Commander Niblack for his valuable paper. There is probably no member of the society who is so cor- dially: welcome to this arena as he is. The chair regrets, however, that the dis- cussion upon some of the interesting points he has raised has been inadequate and the chair feels bound to say in de- fense of members of this society who will not speak for themselves, that no: one in this world manufactures or designs bet- ter steering gear than is made in the United States and fitted to its battleships. There is quite a difference between an indifferent steering gear, and a steering gear in indifferent condition. We always see in- the first dispatches relating to a collision between bat- tleships, that something happened to the steering gear, but I have yet to see in the final investigation where blame was located on the steering gear definitely and finally. Mr. Nixon will certainly be most cordially encouraged and welcomed when he shows us the advantages that are un- doubtedly within the range of the internal combustion 'engine. Everybody will wel- come that development. It is regretable, however, that he looks with such dark glasses upon the turbine engine. It seems to me to be sufficient to recall to his notice that whatever faults he finds with the turbine engine, it has accomplished, it is accomplishing 'today, what-no other engine in existence can do. All the com- parisons that can be produced to the con- trary, the monumental performance of Lusitania and the Mauretania are sufficient; no one wishes to undertake the results we require in the use of torpedo boats with reciprocating engines. I do not believe anybody can produce the re-" sults in the modern battle boats that are going to be required with the reciprocat- ing engine, Adjournment was then taken until 2 p. m. Thursday. THURSDAY AFTERNOON'S SESSION. At the opening of Thursday after- noon's session the following letter from Sir William H. White was read: Cedarcroft, Putney Heath, SW. Noy," 12: My dear Sir--You are already aware that pressure of unavoidable engage- ments here has prevented me from having the pleasure of attending the meetings of the society on the 21st and 22d inst, and from making 4 contribution to the proceedings. I now write to ask you to express to the president and the members of the society my hope and full assur- ance that, in their new home and with the more favorable conditions now prevailing, the future of the so- ciety will be even more successful than its past. I value very highly 'the distinction of honorary member- 25 ship of the society which was con- ferred upon me three years ago. Yours sincerely, W. H. WHITE. Mason S. Chace then presented his paper entitled "Submarines of Battle- ship Speed," to the text of which attention will later be paid in the REVIEW. _ DISCUSSION. Capt. William Hovgaard: I think this paper gives a very clear and very comprehensive discussion on the question of submarine vessels. It does not lose itself in the history of the past. It discusses conditions as they are today, and moreover it gives a look into the future by discussing the possibilities of future developments, indicating the means, the way which we have to go to further improve the submarine boats and giving figures and facts in connection therewith. I see that Mr. Chace gives as the charge of passive mines five hun- dred pounds. That seems to me ex- tremely 'great, I was not aware that passive mines could be made efficient with such great charges. In waters where there is a tide I was under the impression that such great mines would be liable' to be deflected so much by the tide that they were not efficient, but I presume that Mr. Chace has good ground for his state- ment. ' As to the shape of the Japanese boats, which Mr. Chace mentions' as having an oval section with the major axis vertical, I think that sec- tion is best for the small boats, be- cause it permits you to utilize the whole length of the boat by giving sufficient headroom throughout the boat either forward or aft. When we come to larger boats, it seems to me ~ likely we shall have to invert the oval, and must come to ovals with the majon axis horizontal, for the rea- son that the headroom is a fixed quantity, at least there is a minimum headroom which 'we must have in all boats, large and small. On the other hand, it is undesirable to in- crease the vertical depth of the boats, for the sake of handling, and so when we come to 'larger boats and larger displacements, say about 700 tons, it seems to be likely we will have to maintain a certain minimunf of ver- tical depth, while we naturally increase the length and beam for preserving a certain desirable proportion between length and beam. That can only be done if we come to oval sections with the major axis horizontal. I pointed that out in 1887 in my book on sub- marine boats, but it occurred to me