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22 MARINE REVIEW. [September 13, NAVIES OF THE WORLD. Mr. J. Holt Schooling has been writing in the Fortnightly Review on the "Naval Strength of the Seven Sea Powers." In a July article Mr. Schooling's object was to present some better test for comparisons than that which is afforded by mere numbers. He made allowance for the depreciation of navies by age and then listed them after the readjust- ment according to their fighting weights, taking account of vessels of all classes. Upon this basis the absolute and relative strength was stated to be as follows, the first column of figures representing tons of fighting weight, the second the degrees of strength, with Japan as the unit: Great Britain) 3) 6 ee ee ee Ce as 1,347,000 6.38 rance: 6) i ee a 548,000 2.57 IRBSIA a i a es ears. 397,000: 1.88 WOnited States...) oes. eg 349,000 1.65 Germany 2506 es ee 282,000 1.34 WAI eo ees 218,000 1.03 NOI ns ee ar 211,000 1.00 It will be seen that by this method of estimating values Great Britain is credited with greater strength than France, Germany and Russia com- bined, and it must interest Americans to know that the United States is a decided gainer because of the discount on old ships. In actual ton- nage she ranks sixth, but is sent to fourth place owing to the fact that a relatively large number of her boats are of modern construction. It is manifest, however, that tonnage and date of building are not the only things which determine the effectiveness of a navy, and in a paper which appears in the August Fortnightly 'Mr. Schooling completes his very exhaustive and painstaking tables, with a comparison of armaments. The calculations are necessarily more complex than the former ones, because of the great variety of guns and the different proportions in which they are employed. There might be several combinations whose merits would provoke a debate among the-best trained naval officers, so that it would be perilous to dogmatize upon the subject. But the facts themselves are exceedingly interesting and point pretty clearly to certain general con- clusions. From-the large number of tables, therefore, there is selected two which contain the most complete, general and comparative sum- maries, omitting those which go into the details for each class of vessels. The first gives the gun figures in the following form: Breech- Quick- Muzzle- Torpedo All loading. firing. loading. tubes. classes. Great Britain ... 912 7,454 340 1,532 10,240 Hrance, ee 471 3,653 oo 928 5,052 RSSla ee 393: 2,589 sae 625 3,607 Genmany (0.2.5. 258 1,995 os 611 2.864 Ttaly 3. : eee 140 1,791 4 573 2,508 United States .... 303 1,791 ee 230 2,324 Japatl o.2. ee 110 1,168 foe 314 1,592 2,587 20,441 344 4,815 28,187 The second table is computed from the first, and gives an estimate by percentages thus: Breech- Quick- Muzzle- Torpedo All loading. firing. loading. tubes. classes. Great Britain <7... 35.3 36.5 98.8 31.8 36.3 FiratiCe: G0 18.2 17.9 es 19.3 17.9 IRUSSIds Ge. 15.2 12% ae 13.0 12.8 Germany. 6..5...4..4 10.0 9.8 ae 12.7 10.2 Waly 28 66s a. oA. 8.7 1.2 11.9 8.9 Wnhited States ......; 1%. 8.7 Bees 4.8 8.2 Japan oe: 4.2 5.7 ah 6.5 5.7 _--_ SS 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Muzzle-loading guns are out of date, and Great Britain has most of them, but as they are only 340 in her total of 10,240 they are not good grounds for the charge that she is handicapped by an ancient equipment. It will be noticed, however, that her supply of breech-loading guns and torpedo tubes falls below her average for all classes, while this loss is offset by her supply of quick-firing guns. It appears also that she has a larger proportion of big quick-firing guns than any other nation, which is a factor of immense importance. We ourselves are lacking in this par- ticular, but are relatively well supplied with breech-loaders and fairly supplied with the light rapid-firing guns, ranking fourth in the first col- umn and tying Italy for fifth place in the second column. Hence, taking all the factors that have 'been considered in both papers, we might still be entitled to the rank that was assigned to us in the first of them, and so fall in after Russia and before Germany. Mr. Schooling extends his investigation to the question of the dis- tribution of arms among the several classes of ships, but it is not neces- sary to say more on this point than that the high-class ships of the Amer- ican navy are among the most fully armed of all. For the British reader the discussion will derive its greatest interest from the clear demonstra- tion that the fleet of his country is certainly stronger than those of France and Russia combined. és MOORING DEVICE FOR BUOYS. In the presence of several army and navy officers, some of whom were connected with the light-house department, tests were made, a few days ago, in the harbor of New York of a new mooring device, designed primarily to keep buoys and light-ships from getting out of position in a storm. The new device is the invention of F. B. Langston, and it re- sembles in form the mushroom anchor which is used by the light-house department. By means of hydraulic pressure a hole is made beneath the anchor after it strikes 'bottom, into which it sinks to any desirable dis- tance. The hole is soon filled in, and, on account of its saucerlike shape, the mooring, it is asserted, will be immovable except by means of the same hydraulic pressure with which it was sunk. The tests were made off Ulmer Park. The tug Albert H. Ellis pulled up the new mooring with little difficulty, but those who watched the tests think that with suit- able working apparatus the disk can be sunk far enough to resist any tension. Further trials are in contemplation. BRITISH SHIPPING LEGISLATION. The past session in parliament has not proved a fruitful one so far as shipping legislation is concerned. With the exception of the Fixed Objects Bill--whereby shipowners and dockowners mutually contract themselves out of unlimited liability in respect of damages done to docks, etc., or suffered by shipping through the negligence of dockowners--the statute book practically remains as it was. This is not to be wondered at, for with such powerful counter attractions as the South African struggle and the conflict with the Chinese, it was hardly to be expected that even the most persistent of shipping legislators could. secure serious attention. The tendency in the past has been to over-legislate for ship- owners. Such a fault can hardly be laid at the door of the present government. Their weak point lies in the fact that, having resolved upon legislation of a favorable type, they have not had the courage to go far enough. It may be that the role of a government undertaking to legis- late on lines intended to benefit the shipowners' business is such a novel one that Mr. Ritchie must have felt a certain amount of nervous modesty in filling the part. However, with practice he may improve, and should he again occupy the post of president of the board of trade, it is possible to conceive that he may give more practical effect to those many sympathetic utterances of his towards shipowners. We allude more es- pecially to the question of the light dues and boy sailors. No fault can be found with the principle of the legislation adoption. The trouble is that the relief afforded to shipowners is not sufficient. And, unfortunate- ly, in legislative action, it is too frequently the case that what is done-- is done. When once the legislation is effected, the matter is often a closed book, and we fear that now that parliament has moved in the matter of the light dues it is all too likely that the question will not be re-opened. The attitude of shipowners on the apprenticeship matter, since Mr. Ritchie gave his measure to the world, affords us no reason to alter our contention that the best scheme which could have been adopted --and one which would have afforded the maximum of satisfaction to shipowners and the general public--was that which we suggested on the basis of a total remission of light dues, shipowners undertaking as a quid pro quo that they would carry British boy apprentices on a seale pro- portionate to the tonnage af their vessels. This scheme, fully enunciated in the columns of the Syren and Shipping, received the hall-mark of ap- proval in shipowning circles. But however desirable such a principle undoubtedly is, it was evidently too drastic a reform to receive the sanc- tion of the government. Still, we feel convinced that it is only by the adoption of such a suggestion that the vexed anomalies of the incidence of the charges for our coastal lighting will be effected. Further, we may point out that the suggested price to be paid by shipowners would settle, once and for all, the question of the foreigner in the British forecastle. The mention of the foreign element in the British mercantile marine re- calls the fact that the flag bill, which seeks to debar all save British sub- jects from commanding or piloting British ships, has not yet emerged from the proposal stage. The stock argument against the suggested measure is that the leaven of officers of foreign nationality serving in the British mercantile marine is so small that it can be ignored as not worthy of legislative regulation. At the same time, the principle cannot be ob- jected to, for it would be utterly illogical to indicate a plan for rendering the forecastle more attractive to the British born and bred citizen, and yet leave the higher grades of the merchant service open to non-British * subjects, either by birth or naturalization. The mariners' votes bill is in much the same state as the fag bill; and the scheme under which it is proposed that mariners shall be able to exercise the privileges of the franchise, is of such a clumsy and unsatisfactory character that it is not possible to think parliament can ever give the bill its serious attention. To be quite candid, seagoers themselves are indifferent as to whether or no they can record their votes. The experience of those versed in electioneering matters is that it is exceedingly difficult to induce mariners, who are on the register and at home when an election takes place, to go to the poll. Thus there will be no very general feeling of regret if the mariners' votes bill is never entered on the statute book. We cannot, however, say the same with regard to the under load-line bill. It is altogether unfortunate that South Africa matters should have drawn public attention from realizing the very pressing necessity of preventing underladen vessels from going to sea. The danger of such a practice is as great as general, and the plea of urgency and expediency, on the ground that competition will not allow of any save freight paying cargo to be carried is one that can hardly be received when the issues are con- sidered. Economy is all very well, but economy at the expense of serious risk to hfe cannot be tolerated. Were the under load-line bill to become law, we feel convinced that shipbuilders and naval architects would soon devise some means of providing the huge modern steam-carrier of today with a sufficiency of accommodation for carrying the necessary water ballast to immerse vessels to a depth which would ensure their safety, even if called upon to make a North Atlantic voyage in the depth of winter.--Syren & Shipping. WATER TUBE BOILERS REQUIRE INCREASED SKILL. Referring to the recent report of the British admiralty to parliament relative to its experience with the Belleville water tube boiler, the Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers says: The paper is full of interest to the naval engineer, and exhibits well the urgent necessity of making engineering knowledge of paramount im- portance in the personnel of a modern navy. The special merits or de- merits of the Belleville boiler have not been fairly presented by the pre- viously published rumors or semi-official reports, and great distortions of the facts have resulted. While it would be only proper for the admiralty to make the best presentation possible of the good points of the boiler it has so extensively adopted, the showing brings into a proper promi- nence the fact that water tube boilers in general, with the increased rate of evaporation and higher steam pressures, require a greatly increased skill and intelligence in their management. Both in numbers and in tech- nical training the engineer force of naval vessels unquestionably demands increase, This is slowly and expensively dawning upon the higher authorities: in the navies of the world. Official reports of facts, when made public as are those in the English report, assist in the earlier con- summation of a proper distribution of trained men for such service and in advancing the essential knowledge of engi i . ve in command where it is needed." : oe eS