558 NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



NEBRASKA. 



year all will receive complete outfits. The How- 

 ell Torpedo Company, in their latest model, have 

 produced a highly satisfactory weapon, and 

 deliveries have begun under the contract. At 

 the instance of the department, E. W. Bliss & 

 Co., of Brooklyn, have purchased the patents and 

 secrets of the Whitehead torpedo, and a con- 

 tract has been made with them for 100 18-inch 

 (diameter) torpedoes of the most recent type. 

 This firm is also nearly ready to begin deliver- 

 ies. The Hall torpedo is still in the experimental 

 stage. Three Patrick dirigible torpedoes have 

 been purchased for harbor defense, and negotia- 

 tions have been opened with the Sims-Edison 

 Company, but no purchases have been made 

 from lack of funds for the purpose. This tor- 

 pedo is also of the dirigible type i. e., directed 

 by wires extending from the operator to the tor- 

 pedo. 



Submarine Gun. The projectile of the sub- 

 marine gun may also be considered a torpedo. It 

 is fired underneath the water from a special form 

 of gun contained within the vessel. It differs 

 from an ordinary torpedo fired from an under- 

 water tube in that the driving force is wholly in 

 the gun, the projectile being merely a missile 

 containing no means of self-propulsion. It is 

 one of Ericsson's last inventions, and had not 

 been fully tested and developed at the time of 

 his death. No trials have been made under the 

 present arrangement. 



Torpedo Nets, The Midgely Wire Belt Com- 

 pany, of Beaver Falls, Pa., have submitted for 

 trial a sample net for defense against torpedoes, 

 which compares favorably in stowage, weight, 

 and flexibility with those in use abroad. An- 

 other American company is negotiating for the 

 purchase of the patent rights of the Bullivant 

 (English) net. These will be tested as soon as the 

 submarine gun is completed, and if they are found 

 satisfactory one or the other will be supplied to 

 armored vessels of the navy, to which they are at 

 present to be confined. 



Torpedo Boats. The navy still remains de- 

 ficient in torpedo boats. The Cashing (torpedo 

 boat No. 1) is completed, and her launching tubes 

 are being placed on board. Another boat of the 

 first class is under construction, and the " Sti- 

 letto " has been refitted and makes a fair second- 

 class boat. The submarine torpedo boat de- 

 scribed on page 798 of the " Annual Cyclope- 

 dia " for 1888 was not built, her design being in 

 several respects unsatisfactory. 



Dynamite Gun. The experiments with the 

 " Vesuvius," whose battery consists of guns of 

 this kind, have not been wholly satisfactory. The 

 valves and breech mechanism are undergoing al- 

 terations, which are expected to effect consider- 

 able improvement. The design of the vessel is 

 not approved for the pxirpose intended, and, 

 while the guns are admitted to be valuable, if any 

 are to be hereafter mounted on shipboard the 

 method of installation will be greatly changed, 

 and probably some armor protection given. 



Personnel. In view of the rapid building 

 up of the navy, the number of enlisted men al- 

 lowed (8,250, including 750 apprentices) will 

 doubtless soon be increased, and, if the new ships 

 are to be manned as soon as completed, this in- 

 crease must be made within the next two years. 



The question of promotion of officers is attract- 



ing more and more attention each year as the, 

 state of affairs under existing laws becomes worse 

 and worse. As the case now stands most officers 

 will reach the age of fifty years before promo- 

 tion out of the grade of lieutenant. This is the 

 result of ill-considered crowding of the list im- 

 mediately after the civil war and of the various 

 acts passed since, by which the number of offi- 

 cers in each grade was reduced. Various plans 

 have been devised to remedy this state of things, 

 and the Secretary of the Navy brought the mat- 

 ter before Congress in his last report. 



Naval Reserve. Much interest has been 

 aroused recently regarding the development of a 

 naval militia in all the seaboard States, and in 

 several of them appropriations were made by the 

 legislatures for the expenses of such organiza- 

 tions on the same footing as the National Guard. 

 In March, 1891, following out the recommenda- 

 tions of Secretary Tracy, Congress appropriated 

 $25,000 for the armament of such forces. This 

 money was allotted to the several States in pro- 

 portion to the number of men actually on the 

 rolls. The number certified to as mustered in 

 and serving in the naval militia is as follows: 

 California, 371 ; New York, 842 ; Massachusetts, 

 238; North Carolina, 101; Rhode Island, 54; 

 Texas, 43 ; total, 1.149. Since the date of that 

 report this number has been much increased and 

 the Lake States have begun to form organizations. 

 An additional sum has consequently been asked 

 for to continue the supply of arms to those at 

 present unprovided. The Navy Department has 

 sought to encourage this movement by every 

 means within its power, and, to facilitate the train- 

 ing by actual service onboard ship, the squad- 

 ron of evolution conducted drills for two weeks 

 at Boston and in Long Island Sound, in which 

 the naval militia of New York and Massachu- 

 setts, which States were most advanced in prep- 

 aration, took part. 



Coaling Stations Abroad. In the event of 

 war our ships would be unable to purchase coal 

 in foreign ports. This has made the establish- 

 ment of coaling stations abroad a question of 

 great moment, and considerable attention has re- 

 cently been paid to it. Santa Barbara de Sa- 

 mana, St. Nicholas Mole, and St. Thomas, in the 

 West Indies, Pearl Harbor, in the Hawaiian 

 Islands, the Galapagos Islands, and other points 

 have been considered. A site in the harbor of 

 Pago Pago, Samoa, has been ceded by the Sa- 

 moan Government, and the station has been 

 established under authority of Congress. 



NEBRASKA, a Western State, admitted to 

 the Union March 1, 18G7; area, 77,510 square 

 miles. The population, according to each de- 

 cennial census since admission, was 122,993 in 

 1870; 452,402 in 1880; and 1,058,910 in 1890. 

 Capital, Lincoln. 



Government. The following were State of- 

 ficers during the year: Governor, John M. 

 Thayer, Republican, succeeded on Jan. 8 by 

 James E. Boyd. Democrat, who was ousted from 

 office on May 5 by decree of the State Supreme 

 Court, and was succeeded by John M. Thayer. 

 the latter holding the office for the remainder 

 of the year. Lieutenant-Governor, Thomas J, 

 Majors ; Secretary of State, John C. Allen ; 

 Auditor of Public Accounts, Thomas H. Ben- 

 ton; Treasurer, John E. Hill; Attorney-General, 



