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368 it in addition to this, it picked out for these constantly changing positions men who had no actual experience, not only in the line of its own opera- tion, but in any manufacturing busi- ness whatsoever, its folly would make it the laughing stock of the business -and commercial world. . Under such conditions it is no wonder that ships like the Florida and New York, built in government yards, cost from 15 to 35 per cent more than sister ships built in private yards. It is hard to see how any one can fail to realize that the handling of great plants of this kind is a life work for able men and not a sort. of recreation for offi- cers who wish to be relieved of sea duty. These yards should all be in the hands of men whose success or failure should absolutely depend upon making the yards highly efficient in- dustrial organizations, even though they are government owned, organi- zations in whichtheir owners, namely, the citizens of the country, receive at least a dollar return for every dollar invested. Range of Government Plants No one can view with anything but alarm the apparent desire to increase the range of such government plants to make them include the making of armor and the furnishing of powder, not only because: of the increased cost due to inefficient management, but of the far graver danger in time of actual need. Military men are con- stantly talking of the necessity of having a reserve of men trained for fighting. Some of them seem to for- get the equal necessity of having com- mercial institutions trained for fur- nishing fighting material, which un- der modern conditions is even more important. A government armor plate plant or powder factory, of a size to be anywhere near econom- ical in times of peace, would be woe- fully inadequate in times of war. We boast of being a great manufacturing nation, and to me it would seem as though the only wise course would be to make every armor plate plant, every powder factory, every manu- facture of small arms, a sort of re- serve, so that in time of need we could take advantage of our splendid manufacturing strength, and the way to do this is not by taking away gov- ernment work in time of peace and making it in government shops, but rather by spreading it around among as many private plants. as possible to stimulate them by so doing to keep abreast of modern needs and to be ready in time of stress to render the aid to the country which would be absolutely indispensable to its success. It is only fair to say that, in my THE MARINE REVIEW judgment, these. conditions are real- ized by the majority of our naval officers, and that they exist in spite of their judgment and in spite . of their desires: The greatest drawback to an efficient navy in this country is the politician who masquerades under the name of. "Senator" or "Represen- tative', who knows nothing about the navy and. doesen't care enough about it to inform himself and whose con- cern is. not for the welfare of his country, but for his ability to get sufficient votes to return him _ to Washington at the next election. Her greatest need is a more intelligent interest in her by the citizen' of this country, the men who own her and are paying for her support; a clearer and a more interested conception by the business men and the citizens of the: country of her ideals and aspira- tions, of the character of the men and the officers who man her ships, of the work they are doing, of their splendid successes in many lines and of their shortcomings in a few; of a clearer realization of the fact that this is the navy of the hills and the prairies and the cities of the interior as well as of the coast line, that it is the first arm of our defense, the arm that must always stand between us and the warring powers on the other side of the world--an _ institu- tion whose welfare is too sacred to the nation as a whole to allow its efficiency to be constantly menaced by a political Congress. I am _ not arguing a big navy, but for a highly efficient one, for one in which the splendid progress of the last ten years may not be halted. As a busi- ness man who has had an opportun- ity of seeing into the very heart of the fleet, I know that our people can be justly proud of the officers and men who wear our uniforms upon the water, of their energy, their ability, their conscientious endeavor to do the work that is before them and of the excellent manner in which they are acquitting themselves in both their everyday work and in the emer- gencies that from time to time con- front them, and I feel that if this high efficiency is ever changed; the fault will lie, not with the navy it- self, but with those conditions which it is unable to control, but which nevertheless controls it. Steamer Medina The steamer Medina, the second of the two boats for service between gulf and northern ports, building for the Mallory Line, was launched at the yard of the Newport News Ship Build- ing & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va., recently. The Medina, a sister October, 1914 ship of the Neches, is 420 feet long, 54 feet beam and 33. feet 9 inches deep. They can carry 6,600 tons dead- weight cargo and have a draught of 24 feet loaded. They are fitted with single-screw, triple-expansion engines, developing 4,000 horsepower. The cargo holds and decks are mechan- ically ventilated by air ducts and elec- tric fans, and are especially equipped for the transportation of perishable cargoes, vegetables, fruit, etc., in addi- tion to which the freight decks are equipped with electric lights through- out 'to facilitate the. working of car- goes at. night. Change in Battleship Ownership The Turkish battleship Sultan Osman, which -has been taken over by the British admiralty, is the ship originally ordered by Brazil from Sir W. G. Arm- strong, Whitworth & Co., Ltd., Elswick, and named the Rio de Janeiro. She had just completed her contract trials prior to being taken over. The vessel is 637 feet in length, 89 feet in breadth, and on a draught of 27 feet displaces 27,500 tons. She carries 14 12-inch guns and 20 6-inch guns, with a number of smaller weapons. The armor on the broadside, as well as on the barbettes, is 9 inches thick, while thé 6-inch guns are protected by 6-inch armor. The machinery, which was constructed by Messrs. Vickers, Ltd., at Barrow-in- Furness, is of the Parsons turbine type, while the boilers are of the Babcock & Wilcox type. During the "continuous cruising speed" on the measured mile, the engines were required to develop 24,000 horsepower, and this it was an- ticipated would give the ship a _ speed of 20 knots. The power was easily ex- ceeded, and the mean speed on the measured distance was 201%4 knots. This rate was continued for eight hours, and for the succeeding 20 hours the speed was 20 knots. The full-power trial con- sisted of six runs over the measured mile. It was anticipated that, with the designed power of 32,000 shaft horse- power, a speed of 22 knots would be realized. Again the power was easily exceeded, and the mean speed over the measured course was 22.52 knots. The New York Ship Building Co., Camden, N. J., has received contract from the Carpenter & O'Brien Co., of Jacksonville, Fla., for the -construction of a steamer capable of carrying 3,- 000,000 feet of lumber and to cost $440,- 000. The three-masted schooner Albert H. Willis, building -for Rogers & Webb, Boston, Mass., by F. S. Bowker of Phippsburg, Me. is about ready for launching. She will be commanded by fom, FP. Hardy. Fee eee SE a ES le EN a see Ne SN Na a Sy So a tO i ii a as i fe a a i a