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34 MARINE REVIEW. [September 28, TRANSPORT SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY. ITS SPEEDY ORGANIZATION THE WONDER OF THE WORLD. BY THE SPECIAL WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT OF THE REVIEW. It can truly be said that the transport service of the United States government is the wonder of the world, and no end of credit is due to the quartermaster general's department for the speedy organization of the service. It must be remembered that it is the first time in its history that the United States has operated a line of transports, and the manner in which the officials have surmounted every difficulty is truly marvelous. The remarkable success which has attended the trips of the remodeled transports Grant, Sherman and Sheridan from New York with reinforce- ments for Gen. Otis at Manila has caused universal comment and has showered upon the war department no end of praises from other nations. The great success achieved by the quartermaster's department in the construction of the troopships Grant, Sherman and Sheridan has induced. the war department to increase the number of such ships. Three of the largest army transports which were used on the West Indian station dur- ing and after the Spanish war have been selected for this purpose and are now being remodeled into troopships. These are the Logan, Meade and Thomas. The two first named are now in process of refitting and reno- vating in Brooklyn, and the Thomas is being remodeled at the Cramp ship yard, Philadelphia. Notwithstanding the extensive character of the alterations being made to the ships, it is expected that they will be com- pleted and ready for the transportation of troops to the Philippines by The three vessels have an aggregate capacity of Nov. 1 at the latest. SLEEPING ACCOMMODATIONS ON BOARD ONB 0,000 men. It is contemplated that each vessel will carry one entire regi- ment and one battallion of another regiment with ample room for the wives and families of the officers and non-commissioned officers. In fitting up the transports the officials of the quartermaster's depart- ment worked out the problem for themselves. Advantage was taken, of course, of the experience of other nations in transporting troops, but the accommodations provided for the comfort and health of the soldiers repre- sent new ideas, and the American innovations have all been found im- provements. d _ When war with Spain proved inevitable and preparations for hostili- ties were undertaken, nearly all the divisions of the war department were caught unprepared. But the tasks involved in recruiting and equipping an army were no more serious than those which confronted the quarter- master general, who was charged with the added responsibility of pro- viding transportation for the troops that would be sent abroad for service. The new duties were mastered with a success that warranted more atten-_ tion and commendation than has been bestowed. With the navy having a blanket over all the desirable vessels of American register and congress declining emphatically to relieve the emergency by granting register to foreign vessels, the quartermaster general succeeded before the end of June, 1898, in chartering forty-three transports on the Atlantic and four- teen on the Pacific, with water boats, steam lighters, ocean tugs and deck barges, but the experiences in moving troops to Santiago demonstrated that the jacilities were not sufficient and fourteen large steamers were purchased and added to the transport fleet. These vessels conveyed during actual hostilities 28,195 men to Cuba, 17,460 to Porto Rico, 16,405 to Manila and 629 to Honolulu, and returned from Cuba 21,686 men and from Porto Rico 5,541, in addition to the 2,920 civilian employes transported, Since the close of hostilities with Spain there have been transported to and from Cuba about 42,000 men; to and from Porto Rico about 15,000 men; and from the Philippines about 5,600 men, making a total move- ment of 155,436 men. This, however, was only a temporary service. The vessels had been prepared for the accommodation of troops during the emergency, but the fruits of the war entailed new duties upon the quar- termaster general's department. The acquisition of Porto Rico and the Philippines and the temporary occupation of Cuba necessitated the estab- lishment of a permanent system of ocean transportation, and when Aguin- aldo and his followers opened fire upon the American troops, starting a rebellion which required the forwarding of reinforcements to Gen. Otis, the work that had been done in the way of providing a fleet of transports was given a trial. WHAT THE FLEET CONSISTS OF. The transport fleet of the United States \Inow consists of eighteen vessels, all purchased from steamship companies with the exception of two, the Panama and the Rita, which were captured by the navy and bid in by the department when sold as prizes of war. All these vessels have OF THE NEW UNITED STATES ARMY TRANSPORTS. been remodeled and refitted or are now in course of transformation. In addition to the transport fleet chartered for the Cuban and Porto Rican campaign, a fleet of chartered steamships was fitted out in the early sum- mer of last year for the transportation of troops from San Francisco to Manila. For this movement there were chartered seventeen large and commodious ocean steamships. As this involved a voyage of over 7,000 miles--a portion of it through a tropical clime--it was necessary that the ships in which the troops were to make this long voyage be specially fitted with a view to the health and comfort of the men. There have been car-: ried from the United States to Manila about 17,000 men and the reports show that this army was delivered at Manila without a single mishap an the men in condition for active operations as soon as they had disem- barked. Since then nearly all of the original army of volunteers has been returned to the United States. There is now an army of 31,000 in the Philippines and an additional army of 30,000 is en route. This shows in a measure the immense labor of the transport department. Nearly 100,- 000 men have or will be transported. Twenty-three of these chartered transports, not including the animal ships, are still in the Philippine service, and in addition two large steamers, the Hancock and the Warren, have been elaborately fitted up. The three transports, Grant, Sherman and Sheridan, are at present the pride of the quartermaster's department, though as stated the depart- ment expects to surpass them in the Logan, Meade and Thomas. The Grant, Sherman and Sheridan have a gross tonnage of 5,508, 5,780 and 5,673 tons respectively and have been completely overhauled and remod-