NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



565 



ened complications with Spurn, amounted in 

 t!'- air^iv^it.- to $27, 147, 857.68, and tli- 

 i-xpcinlinir.-s f.r ill-- xani.- period, to wit, t'roin 

 July 1, ls7;{, t<> Juiu- ."<>, 1S74, from these ap- 

 propriation-,, amounted to $26,254,155.82, or 

 about jfc'.iuiMMM) li-s.-t than tla- whole amount, 

 rin- appropriations made available fur the cur- 

 rent year, i-omnirm-ing.Iuly 1, 1874, amount in 

 the aggregate to $19,'27:<,781.27. The amount 

 of those appropriations for the current year, 

 drawn for the five months since July 1st, and 

 up to tho 1st of December, 1874, is $11,854,- 

 l ti',.M7, which, reduced by the amount re- 

 funded during the period, and that remaining 

 in the hands of the paymasters and agents of 

 tho Government, will leave a little less than 

 $9,000,000 as the sum actually expended from 

 the current appropriations during the five work- 

 ing summer months. 



The estimates for the ensuing year aggre- 

 gate $19,096,567. 



The Secretary reports the Navy to be " in a 

 better condition of effective and permanent 

 strength than it has been for years.'' He also 

 reports "the fighting force of our Navy in 

 good and effective condition." During the 

 past two years the whole fleet of single-tur- 

 reted monitors has been thoroughly overhauled 

 and repaired, their sides raised up, their rotten 

 wooden beams and decks replaced by iron, and 

 their turrets and machinery put in complete 

 order, so that they are now efficient to their 

 utmost capacity, and ready to go to sea at any 

 time as soon as crews can be put on board and 

 organized. These, with the Dictator and 

 Roanoke, also in good order, make a fleet 

 of sixteen iron-clads, powerful for any naval 

 purpose which does not require long voyages, 

 or great speed. Two powerful iron torpedo- 

 vessels have also been completed, and are 

 ready for service, fully equipped with this most 

 powerful weapon of modern warfare. Four 

 of the powerful double-turreted monitors, viz., 

 the Terror, the Miantonomah, the Monad nock, 

 and the Amphitrite (by far the most formida- 

 ble vessels ever in our Navy), are also under- 

 going repairs. The eight new sloops specially 

 authorized, and built entirely of live-oak or 

 iron, are about ready to be added to the cruis- 

 ing navy, and seven other vessels have been 

 thoroughly repaired with like durable material, 

 and supplied with new and improved machine- 

 ry, so as to be in all respects equal to new 

 ships of their class. Thus have been added 

 fifteen new and active ships to the cruising 

 navy, to take the places of those vessels which 

 are worn out and must be relieved. Most of 

 the powerful wooden ships of the first class 

 were also put in condition at the tune of the 

 threatened difficulties with Spain. 



Admiral Porter, however, in his annual re- 

 port to tho Secretary of the Navy, dated No- 

 vember 6, 1874, argues that the Navy is in 

 poor condition for war, being greatly inferior 

 to the navies of other countries. He says : 



We have now but six monitors fit for service out 



of the forty-eight which appear on the Navy register. 

 Twenty wore lung ago condemned M unfit for Mr- 

 vice. 



The available monitor! formed part of oar Wett 

 India fleet, which lately assembled : but they would 

 have been of little uae in a fleet flgut on account i 

 their want of apeed. Their turret* and hulla could 

 not resist the heavy rifled projectiles now in use, and 

 they cannot raise tin ir turrets from their seata in u 

 sea-way, for the water would rush in and deluge 

 tii. ir holds. 



Those monitors were built during the late war for 

 a specific purpose, which they amply fulfilled viz.. 

 to operate in smooth water against ibrtiflcations and 

 for the defense of harbors. For such service they 

 proved themselves admirably adapted, and their 

 turrets and hulls, well marked with heavy shot, 

 which did no harm, showed that they were practi- 

 cally invulnerable at that time. Possessing the 

 heaviest ordnance then known, they were a match 

 for any single ship afloat ; but since they were built 

 ten and eleven inch plates have been easily perfo- 

 rated by the eleven-inch rifle. 



Either of the above-mentioned guns could perfo- 

 rate the turrets of any of our monitors, while the 

 vessels from which they were fired coul 1 remain at 

 a distance where our smooth-bore guns could do 

 them no harm. 



If such guns could HO easily demolish the turrets 

 of our monitors, what chance would the hitter have 

 against a ship like the Inflexible, now building in 

 England ? She is of 11,095 tons displacement, 8,000 

 indicated horse-power, is to be driven at a speed of 

 fourteen knots by twin-screws, and it is understood 

 she is to mount lour 8-ton guns, throwing shot of 

 about 1,600 pounds weight. It is very evident that 

 such a ship, with her 24-inch iron plates, would 

 receive no damage from one of our monitors, except 

 at very close quarters. 



Thus you will see that these monitors, with their 

 present batteries, speed, and armor, are in no re- 

 spect a match for the new style of iron-clads, with 

 their powerful rifled guns ; and it was apparent to 

 myself and to every officer of the West India fleet 

 who had studied the subject, that the monitors 

 would have been of little avail if brought in contact 

 with the foreign vessels in Cuban waters. 



In showing that in respect to its Navy the 

 United States is unprepared for war, Admiral 

 Porter says : 



We have never had a settled policy with regard 

 to the class of vessels we should build, and I beg 

 leave to suggest a system, which, if adhered to, will 

 soon place us in a very respectable condition, enable 

 us to defend our coasts, and do great damage to our 

 enemies. 



Mines planted in channels will not prevent nn 

 enemy from shutting up New York at both ends, if 

 he is superior to us in iron-clads. It is, therefore, 

 imperatively necessary that we should at once pro- 

 vide for building annually so many tons of monitors 



first-class monster rams of great speed, armed witn 

 monster guns, in addition to our present force, and 

 at least fifty iron torpedo-boats of not less than 100 

 tons, of good speed. The latter should bo hauled 

 up under cover, fitted with all the modern improve- 

 ments, and kept for an occasion, while hundreds of 

 ot IHTS could be improvised in a short time after tho 

 commencement of a war. 



This is partly the system pursued by Great Brit- 

 ain. She builds 20,000 tons of naval vessels annu- 

 ally, and finds it the cheapest way of averting war 

 and protecting and increasing her commerce, which 

 has doubled since 1865, while ours has dwindled 

 away exactly one-half. 



On the 20th of January, 1875, President 

 Grant sent to Congress a special message, call- 



