530 



NAVY, UNITED STATES. 



of eight vessels, carrying 75 guns. But one 

 slaver has been fitted out on the coast of Africa 

 during the year, and she was captured on the 

 coast of Cuba with her cargo. It was the opin- 

 ion of prominent officials at Loando, that the 

 slave trade had expired. The duties of the 

 former African squadron have been performed 

 by the South Atlantic. 



The North Pacific squadron consists of ten 

 vessels, carrying 122 guns. It is limited to the 

 coast of North America and the Sandwich 

 Islands, and is under the command of Rear- 

 Admiral Thatcher. 



The South Pacific squadron consists of seven 

 vessels, carrying 67 guns, and has been under 

 the command of Kear-Admiral Pearson. Its 

 limits extend from Panama to Cape Horn and 

 include Australia. 



The Naval Academy has been reestablished 

 at Annapolis with some enlargement of the 

 grounds and important improvements. The 

 apprentice system, authorized by act of Congress 

 in 1837, has been revived, and promises en- 

 couraging results. 



The available resources of the department for 

 the fiscal year, ending June 30, 1866, were 

 $142,291,919, and the expenditures $43,324,- 

 526, leaving a balance of $98,967,392, to which 

 there have been appropriations. 



The effect of the war has been to exhaust the 

 supplies of timber at the different navy yards, 

 and the Secretary urges that an abundance 

 should be obtained, so that in future emergencies 

 the difficulties and embarrassments recently ex- 

 perienced, may be avoided. No preparations 

 exist for the construction of iron and armored 

 vessels, although the material exists in great 

 abundance. Wars in the future for ' the su- 

 premacy on the ocean will chiefly be deter- 

 mined by iron-clad or armored ships. While 

 the American turreted vessels or monitors will 

 be effective for harbor defence, yet in a conflict 

 with a foreign power they would not serve for 

 offence. Armored vessels, for ocean cruising, 

 must necessarily be of large size, which can 

 not, with the requisite strength, be secured in 

 wooden structures. If attempted, the immense 

 mass of timber must rapidly decay, and the cost, 

 resulting from deterioration, will be such as no 

 economical and prudent nation will consent to 

 sustain. The Secretary of the Navy urges the 

 Government to erect its own shops and ma- 

 chinery, and to possess its own establishments 

 for the construction of its iron and armored 

 vessels. Several years of preparation will be 

 required to provide the necessary appliances for 

 such an establishment. The navy yards of Nor- 

 folk and Pensacola have been occupied as naval 

 stations since the Government recovered pos- 

 session, and some repairs have been made at 

 each, but the dilapidated walls and remnants 

 of the former establishments remain in a condi- 

 tion which renders them scarcely fit for occu- 

 pancy or use. At Pensacola only a few out- 

 buildings and stables escaped destruction. These 

 are now converted into temporary quarters for 



the officers on that station. The Government 

 has no depot or station for the iron and armored 

 naval vessels. Most of them have been permit- 

 ted to remain in the back channel of League 

 Island in the Delaware, where they were 

 placed at the close of the .war, as the most 

 available location for their security and preser- 

 vation. 



The changes which have taken place within 

 a few years, both in the character of vessels 

 and guns, have raised many questions as to the 

 most effective means and the best manner of 

 using those means for harbor defence. They 

 embrace the consideration of the value of iron- 

 clad vessels, of channel obstructions, and of 

 torpedoes as means of defence. By the Secre- 

 tary of the Navy, the suggestion was made to 

 the Secretary of War, that a joint army and 

 navy board should be organized for the con- 

 sideration of these questions, and the adoption 

 of some general principles concerning them ; 

 more particularly the extent to which each ol 

 all of the means suggested could be advan 

 tageously used, the best form of iron-clad ves 

 sels, the character of the obstructions, and of 

 torpedoes, also to what department the prep- 

 aration of these defensive means properly be- 

 longed and which should control their use. The 

 Secretary of War concurred, and a board was 

 organized consisting of Bear Admirals 0. A. 

 Davis, J. A. Dahlgren, and Com. Alden, of the 

 navy, and Maj.-Gen. J. G. Barnard, Brig.-Gen. 

 Z. B. Tower, and B. S. Alexander, of the army. 

 A preliminary report was made, in which the 

 board advocated the importance of having al- 

 ways on hand a number of iron-clad vessels at 

 each of the great commercial cities, and within 

 the waters of the exterior bays ; but without 

 farther information, both as to the offensite and 

 defensive capacities of the forts, and also of the 

 iron-clads, the board was unable to specify the 

 requisite number, or to define precisely the part 

 they should perform in the defence of harbors, 

 especially as that would depend on the degree 

 of success which might be aftained in a well- 

 devised system of channel obstructions. On 

 the subject of channel obstructions, a plan sub- 

 mitted by one of their number was favorably 

 received by the board, who recommended that 

 it should be tested experimentally, but such a 

 test would have involved a large expenditure 

 of money, for which there was no adequate 

 appropriation. The board also recommended 

 some general experiments to be made under 

 their direction for ascertaining and settling cer- 

 tain general principles concerning the effect of 

 torpedoes. Being convinced that preliminary 

 experiments were necessary before any definite 

 conclusions on the points submitted could be 

 reached, the board was dissolved by the depart- 

 ment. 



From some tables of the casualties in the 

 navy during the war, it appears that the num- 

 ber of persons wounded during this period was 

 4,030, of which 8,266 were from gunpowder, 

 456 were scalded in battle, and 308 drowned in 



