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14 \ TAE MARINE. REVIEW scoUT ----e FOR THE UNITED STATES NAVY. a BY LIEUT. H. C. DINGER. In the last appropriation act for the navy, congress included an appropriation for three scout vessels of about 3,700 tons displacement. These are the first vessels i in our navy to be especially designed for this important work, and in this appropriation of congress may be seen a practice, which is to be hoped will continue, of confining appropriations to vessels of purely military and tactical value. In the majority of our cruisers and large gunboats we have nondescript vessels not properly qualified for any active military duty. They are too slow for scouting while at the same time their armament is too weak for the line of battle. Their lack of coal endurance and habitality will even make them not well adapted for blockade purposes. To continue to repair a great many of these vessels is only throwing good money after bad; and the most profitable use some such vessels could be put to would be to use them as targets in the manner of the Bellisle experiments, Others might be kept in a state of reserve on the as- sumption that they might be of some possible use in time of war, and that their presence might lessen the tendency of buying (on the inception of a war) any vessel that in- fluential personages might have to sell. Even among our vessels very recently completed we have ten vessels of comparatively little military, value. These are the four new monitors and the six cruisers of the Denver type. It is, therefore, a happy omen to see a naval bill passed which calls only for vessels that add to the essential military value of the navy. In this we may see the good effect of having questions, such as this, passed upon by the general board of the navy and not allowing the influence of sentimental, local or political conditions to affect the types of vessels on which the defense of the country depends. This apparent giving way to the influence of local, traditional or sentimental conditions has hitherto been one grave defect in our appropriations . for the increase of the navy, and no doubt this will con- tinue until an authoritative body capable of thoroughly investigating and knowing naval needs is delegated to out- line a building policy that will enable the government to. get its proper value received in fighting efficiency from the money appropriated. Scouting is special work, distinct from the real fighting work, and therefore vessels must be designed especially for this purpose. This will call for a vessel in which all defensive and offensive attributes have given way to scout- ing features. The prime features of a scout are speed, endurance, reliability. ' SPEED. The scout must have a sea speed superior to any heavily armed vessel in order that she may be able to elude cap- ture. The speediest heavily armed vessels are now built for 24 knots. Hence the lower limit for the speed of the scouts will be about 25 knots. The scouts must be of sufficient size so that ordinary rough weather will not materially affect the speed or habitability. For these reasons they should not be of less than 3,000 tons dis- placement. ENDURANCE. Their steaming radius should be at least 2,000 miles at full power. This would enable these vessels to cross the Atlantic at full speed. In order to get these requirements --speed 25 knots, endurance at full speed 2,000 miles, and displacement something over 3,000 tons.--Let us first assume that the vessel has a displacement of 3,000 tons. The necessary horsepower for aspeed of 25 knots will be about 15,000. Assumingthat the coal consumption is 2 pounds. per I. H. P. per hour, the daily coal consumption is 319 tons. At 25 knots the daily run is 600 miles. The coal neces- sary for 2,000 miles is then 1,050 tons. It will however be practically impossible to build the hull and machinery with the remaining 13950 tons. The machinery weights will require about 800 tons, so that only 1,150 would be left for the hull and other equipment including armament. As the hull must be built strong enough for hard service, weight for this purpose cannot be cut down too much. An increase of 600 tons will enable the hull and hull fittings to be made strong and adequate, and will provide for a small armament. This brings the- displacement up to 3,600 tons. With this increased displacement an increas- ed power is necessary, and likewise an increase in coal capacity. If the coal capacity is allowed to go up to 1,200 tons, and as much as 900 tons allowed to machinery, en- gineering stores and reserve feed water, we have a total of 1,700 hull plus 900 machinery plus 1,200 coal = 3,700 tons which should be the minimum displacement. An addition of 300 tons for any other added weights in armament, ammunition and fittings: brings the displace- ment up to 4,000 tons, which should allow necessary weight for the essential features of a scout with a sustained speed of 25 knots, an endurance of 2,000 miles at full speed and about 10,000 miles at 10 knots. RELIABILITY, Reliability is to be obtained by aiming to produce a vessel to meet the actual conditions of continued service in the best possible way, and not by aiming to produce certain trial speed results or paper attributes in order that vessels. may compare favorably with vessels on a foreign navy list, the condition and details of which officials of our navy and our ship builders may know next to nothing of. Trial results and paper characteristics mislead only our- selves and the lessons Russia has had an opportunity of forcibly learning in her present war ought to convince those in control of the characteistics and design of our vessels that fiat ships will, when war time comes, depre- ciate as much as flat money. To secure reliability the essential features of the vessel must be allotted sufficient space and weight to allow a thoroughly good design and arrangement to be used. : ARMAMENT. The armament of these vessels should be only sufficient to overcome torpedo craft orasmall gunboat or to capture a merchant vessel. Nothing heavier than two 5-inch guns and a few guns of smaller caliber would seem to be advisable. A heavier battery will cause the addition of considerable weight to the structure of the vessel to secure the necessary stiffness « and to accommodate the ammunition, and at the same time a serious encroachment upon the space necessary for machinery and coal. The fitting of torpedo tubes especially under water tubes on a vessel of this class may even be of questionable utility owing to the comparatively large amount of space and the weight they will require. Scouts must be able to steam for long distances at high speeds and occasions for the effective use of their batteries will in all probability be few. They are not made to fight a battle, and an attempt to load them with anything more than a very light battery will simply be a step toward adding these vessels to the class of nondescripts which are now overburdening the navy list. The original battery of the scouts was twelve 3-inch guns. This has been changed to allow two 5-inch guns and a smaller number of 3-inch guns,