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14 MARINE REVIEW [Niovember 30, PROGRAM OF NAVAL INCREASE. SECRETARY OF THE NAVY ADOPTS RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD OF CONSTRUO--- TION FOR THREE MORE ARMORED CRUISERS, THREE PROTECTED CRUISERS AND TWELVE GUNBOATS--MORE PRACTICE WITH TORPEDOES-- WASHINGTON MATTERS. Wasuineton Orrick Marina Review, 1845 PENNSYLVANIA aoa Wasuineton, D. C., Nov. 29, 1899. The secretary of the navy has adopted with some slight changes as to the tonnage of the vessels concerned the program of naval increase recom- mended by the board of construction, and in his annual report to the president will advocate the construction of the following vessels, congress being asked to appropriate the necessary amount for use during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1900: Three armored cruisers of about 13,000 tons displacement each; three protected cruisers of about 8,000 tons displace- ment each, and twelve gunboats of about 900 tons displacement each. The program adopted by the board of construction which served as the basis of the secretary's recommendation, provided for three armored cruisers of about 13,500 tons each, three protected cruisers of about 8,000 tons each, six gunboats of about 1,000 tons each and six gunboats of about 800 tons each. The only changes made by the secretary are in par- ing down the tonnage of the armored cruisers and consolidating the gun- boats in one class, splitting the; difference of the; tonnage recommended by the board. Much doubt was expressed. in naval circles that the de- partment would decide to recommend any, armored ships. It was gener- ally believed that in view of the fact that the department had to include armor clads in its suggestive program to the board of-construction, the board's recommendations as to armored vessels would. be rejected by Secretary Long. The twelve gunboats are designed for service in the Philippines. They were recommended by Admiral Dewey. They are to be of light draught, somewhat similar to the Wheeling and Marietta, with better speed. The department would prefer to have vessels of even lighter draught than these, but the seaworthiness of such ships was questioned. The secretary of the navy has issued an order for increased torpedo practice on board all vessels of the service, which indicates that much greater use for these implements of destruction may be expected in the future than was the case in the war with Spain, when, with the single exception of the final sinking of the Merrimac after she had drifted over the mines of Santiago, no attempt was made to use automobile torpedoes. The United States now maintains a large and rapidly increasing fleet of torpedo vessels, whose only practical weapon is the automobile contriv- ance for delivering large quantities of high explosives against the hull of an adversary, and in addition all the armored ships in the service and most of the later cruisers,:these vessels are equipped with submerged tubes and expensive appliances. It is proposed that hereafter these outfits shall be put to their intended use and that the torpedo crews shall become as ex- pert as the gun crews showed themselves to be a year and a half ago. Occasionally there have been fitful practice drills with torpedoes aboard ship, but only at fixed targets. Now the course at the naval station at Newport is to be supplemented on cruising ships at least once a quarter and monthly on torpedo boats with the important innovation of moving targets. The new order which goes into operation at once is as follows: "The commanding officer of every vessel other than a torpedo vessel shall cause each torpedo on board the vessel under his command to be run at least once in each quarter, and in case of failure to carry out the provisions of this paragraph a quarterly torpedo practice report made on the regular torpedo practice form must state the reasons of the failure. Torpedo practice, additional to the above, for the instruction of the offi- cers and men shall be held as much oftener as circumstances may permit, and the commander-in-chief, senior officer present or commanding officer may deem advisable. "Torpedo practice with the vessel dead in the water is of value only so far as the care and adjustment of the.torpedoes and the training of inexperienced crews are concerned, and the commander-in-chief, senior officer present or commanding officer will therefore use every effort to hold torpedo practice at the highest practicable speed and when possible at a moving target. Every precaution must be taken to insure the re- covery of a torpedo when fired for an exercise run, but it is not desired that the fear of the loss of an occasional torpedo shall prevent officers and men from becoming thoroughly familiar with the weapon under probable service conditions of speed and helm angle of ship and air pressure in torpedo flask. "The provision of the foregoing paragraphs of this order shall apply to torpedo vessels, except that on board such vessels each torpedo must them shall be stated in the quarterly torpedo report. be fired at least once a month and the reasons. for every failure to so fire | to insure the carrying out of the provisions. of this. order," , "The commanders-in-chief and senior officers present) will take' steps «| Secretary Long is now considering whether he)shall +ec¢onimend in his annual report that legislation be enacted authorizing the consolida- tion of the bureaus of construction and repair, steam engineering and equipment. He has turned his thoughts in this direction, owing to the evidences of friction which obtain in these departments. That each should -encroach upon the domain of the other is almost unavoidable. Each de- partment wants all the space it can get upon a ship. None of the chiefs of bureaus is in favor of the plan, though Constructor Hichborn js. less opposed to it than the others, The navy department expects to receive shortly from the Holland Torpedo Boat Co. a proposition looking to the removal of the machinery now on board the submarine boat Plunger and the installation of new machinery in its stead. A board was recently convened by the depart- ment to pass upon the efficiency of the Plunger's machinery but the com- pany requested permission to make changes and the department has ap- proved the request. j ! The navy department has accepted preliminarily the torpedo boat Dahlgren, built by the Bath Iron Works, upon the report of the naval board of inspection that the boat made 30.007 knots per hour and was sound in every particular. It has been recommended that a penalty of $4,925 be exacted for failure to make 30.5 knots, as promised by the builders in the supplemental contract. CANADA'S FIGHT FOR THE GRAIN TRADE. Notwithstanding the complaint set up by Canadian vessel owners as a result of the recent action of the Dominion government in suspending the coasting regulations on the great lakes, which prevented American vessels carrying grain between Canadian ports, it is a fact that this move has resulted in Canada securing a great deal of 'business. that would otherwise have gone to Buffalo or other ports in the United States. This is admitted by the grain merchants of Montreal even within the few weeks that have elapsed since the government order was issued. The coasting laws of Canada are similar to those of the United States; they keep the coasting trade of the country exclusively for the native ships. But, though this has been the law in Canada for years it has not had its expected effect of building up a lake marine. The Canadian tonnage on the lakes, amounting to practically nothing as compared with the great fleet of American vessels, has steadily decreased in the last dozen years, and of late years the only effect of the coasting laws has been"to deflect the Canadian wheat trade from Canadian ports to Buffalo, especially towards the close of navigation when, grain ship- ments are very active. There not being enough Canadian vessels to transport the wheat, American steamers had to be called in, and, as they could not carry it to a port on the Canadian side of the lakes, they had, perforce, to go to Buffalo. This year the government, by order in council, suspended the regulations for the closing part of the season. This was greeted with an outburst of criticism, and the government was accused of surrendering valuable privileges to the Americans without compensation, and so forth, but the sequel has shown the success of the move. American steamers are now delivering large quantities of wheat at Midland, Collingwood and Depot Harbor on Georgian 'bay, and this grain is being carried to Montreal by the Canadian railroads. Montreal merchants are holding large stocks of Manitoba wheat, and are in daily receipt of orders for it ior export coming from New York merchants, and directing that it 'be shipped out by New York or Boston. Last year all this business went to Buffalo. The success of the experiment has 'been so great that Canada's coasting regulations will probably here- after be a dead letter on the lakes during the grain-shipping season, though they will remain on the statute books and be enforced at. other times. DEATH OF JOHN STANG. John Stang, known in all parts of the great lakes as a dock builder and dredging contractor, died at his home in Lorain, O., on Saturday last after an illness of several months. Forty-five years ago John Stang, who was then a 'boy of nineteen, only a short time here from Germany, walked from Cleveland to Lorain, with probably not more than a dollar to his name, to join relatives on a farm. He worked at ship carpenter- ing in winter and soon picked up enough of the trade to undertake small contracts in the ship yards. His contracts were extended to rail- road work, to dock building and to the dredging of rivers and harbors for the government. He becaine interested in numerous enterprises in and around Lorain and for many years before his death was one of the foremost citizens of that place. He was highly respected. It was said that almost every child in the county knew him. All the merchants of the town closed their places of business at the funeral time. Colors of the ships in port were lowered. The local commercial body paid tribute to his character in a series of resolutions, and the courts of the county were closed. In the community where practically his entire life was spent and where everybody knew him all the people honored his memory. His business dealings extending beyond the town of Lorain were always of an upright kind. WAUKEGAN COAL DOCKS. The management of the Western Coal & Dock Co., which has been handling a large amount of coal at Waukegan, IIl., during the past sea- son, is not of a kind that allows its business to suffer on account of the slow methods of government or municipal officials. The coal company had secured 19 feet of water in a slip where its unloading machinery is located, and the harbor channel in all'its parts up to this slip should have 'been of full 16 feet depth, but a very large rock, which the city was , expected to remove, was a decided menace to navigation. The city was , slow to undertake thé wotk and so the coal company caused. the rock : Now they have 16_ feet of water upto their slp with 19 feet'in the slip; and they have'un- to 'be blasted and removed and paid for tne work. dertaken: important additions to their unloading plant;"that' are' to. be completed before the opening of navigation next season and' which' will) result in practically doubling the capacity of the dock property, sd that about 200,000 tons of coal, hard and soft, will be handled at Waukegan next year. The late William H. Webb, ship builder, provided liberally in his will for Webb's Academv and Home for Ship Builders, which he founded. He gave directly to the institution the oil painting showing Robert Fulton explaining to Chancellor Livingston the first steamboat, Fis bust and all paintings, engravings or prints descriptive of marine vessels or their parts, plans, drawings and models of marine vessels and all memoranda pertain- ing to the science and art of ship building or kindred subjects. Upon the termination of the many trusts made and the death of his wife Mr. Webb's fortune, which is now estimated at $600,000, will go mainly to Webb's Academy and Home for Ship Builders. : Wm. Rogers of Bath, Me., is to build two schooners with a carrying capacity of 1,800 tons each. ae