NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



591 



per cent, was foreign. Of the total tonnage 

 cleared foreign, 261 per cent, was American, 

 55 - 9 per cent, was British, arid 73*9 was foreign. 



The total tonnage engaged in the direct trade 

 with Great Britain alone was: Entered 4,929,- 

 834 tons; cleared, 5,891,527 tons; total, 10,- 

 821,361 tons. Of this total, 999,277 tons, or 

 9 - 21 per cent., was American, and 7,192,089 

 tons, or 66-46 per cent., was British. 



The navy yards of the country are located as 

 follows : Kittery, Maine ; Charlestown, Mass. ; 

 New London, Conn. ; Brooklyn, N. Y. ; League 

 Island, near Philadelphia ; Washington, D. 0. ; 

 Gosport, Va. ; Pensacola, Fla. : Mare Island, 

 Oal. 



With regard to armored ships Great Britain 

 and Italy have expended enormous sums in vari- 

 ous experiments. They have established the fact 

 that a steel projectile, weighing 80 pounds, can 

 be driven through iron armor of 10 inches in 

 thickness with 33 pounds of powder ; and armor 

 of 11 inches with an increase of 3 pounds of pow- 

 der, fired from a gun weighing 35 tons. With 

 the gun increased to 80 tons and the powder to 

 100 pounds, 20 inches maybe penetrated; and 

 it is to provide for this contingency that these 

 Governments are now constructing their large 

 armored vessels. They have, consequently, in- 

 creased the thickness of their armor from 10, 

 12, and 14, to 24 inches, and the displacement, 

 as in the case of the English ship Inflexible, to 

 11,407 tons. Some idea of the cost of such 

 vessels of war may be formed when it is stated 

 that one of the 80-ton guns of the Inflexible 

 was estimated to cost $72,000, which would 

 make the cost of the four $288,000. Ten shots 

 from each of these guns will cost about $6,320 

 for powder and projectiles. 



The turrets already constructed for the Mi- 

 antonomoh are 10 inches of laminated iron 

 plating. In addition, it is proposed to band 

 them with an iron plating 5 inches, in thick- 

 ness, so that, when completed, their entire 

 thickness will be 15|- inches. This, however, 

 will not possess the resisting power of that 

 number of inches of solid iron that of lami- 

 nated compared with solid plating being about 

 sixty-six one-hundredths to one inch. These 

 turrets, therefore, will have the resisting pow- 

 er of 10J- inches of solid iron. It is believed 

 that, for present purposes, this will be ample. 

 The armor of this ship will be 7 inches of solid 

 iron, so that its resisting power will be 3 inches 

 less than that of the turret^. It was designed 

 to have her ready for a trial trip at sea during 

 the winter months of 1878-'79, so that her qual- 

 ities may be tested before the turrets are placed 

 on deck. Of the other vessels the Puritan will 

 be far in advance of the others in her means 

 of defense. She will have 11 inches of solid 

 iron armor and 15 inches of solid iron tur- 

 rats. When finished she will be one of the 

 best monitors afloat, and probably superior to 

 any war-vessel of her draught of water yet 

 built. For the completion of these vessels ad- 

 ditional appropriations must be made. When 



this is done and these five armored ships are 

 finished according to the original intention of 

 Congress, the navy will possess 15 single-tur- 

 reted monitors with two guns each, and five 

 double-turreted with four guns each, making 

 in all 50 guns. 



There is a torpedo station at Newport, K. I., 

 where experiments are constantly made. It ap- 

 pears that the torpedo can be as easily exploded 

 below the water as upon its surface, by either 

 concussion or electricity ; and by whichsoever 

 of these modes it may be done, it is probably 

 as effective for the defense of harbors and ships 

 as it ever will be. What is desired is to make 

 it more effective for attack, so as to destroy an 

 enemy before he can approach too near. To a 

 certain extent the torpedo-boat, the Alarm, 

 can, with an increase of speed, be relied on for 

 this ; and she is, within a radius of 15 feet from 

 her hull, a most formidable vessel of war. It 

 would require but few of such ships to destroy 

 an entire fleet of ordinary steam or sailing ves- 

 sels. But even the Alarm leaves unaccom- 

 plished what is so much desired in naval war- 

 fare, that is, the means of sending out the torpe- 

 do to such a distance upon the water as to cut 

 off an enemy entirely before he approaches too 

 near. The experiments have led to the belief 

 that this may be done, with reasonable cer- 

 tainty and within a reasonable distance, by 

 boats carrying torpedoes and steered by elec- 

 tricity, either from the shore or the deck of a 

 ship. As these boats would have neither offi- 

 cers nor seamen on board, they might be cap- 

 tured and lost in the event of failure, but if suc- 

 cessful the vessel with which they would come 

 in contact, whether large or small, would be 

 inevitably and immediately destroyed. Other 

 experiments are in progress by which it is ex- 

 pected that a rocket-torpedo may be forced 

 upon the water for a considerable distance, to 

 be determined by the strength and quantity of 

 the powder used, and exploded upon coming 

 in contact with an enemy, dropping the torpe- 

 do under the water and firing it below the line 

 of the vessel's armor. This, if accomplished, 

 would be equally destructive. Yet another 

 plan has almost if not entirely reached the 

 point of actual demonstration. This is by 

 means of a steam-launch, possessing extraordi- 

 nary speed, so arranged that the explosion of 

 the torpedo may be made to take place while 

 the launch is at full speed, so that two men, if 

 they can escape the balls of an enemy, may 

 pass entirely through a fleet and destroy every 

 ship they succeed in reaching. 



Captain Ericsson has constructed a partially 

 submerged and armored vessel, intended for 

 greater speed than any ironclad, and capable 

 of projecting a submarine shell with great ve- 

 locity and accuracy to a distance of 300 or 400 

 yards, which is probably as far as any offensive 

 torpedo is likely to be effective at sea. Some 

 preliminary trials have been made by the in- 

 ventor, and a board has been ordered by the 

 Department, at his request, for an official trial 



