144 Military Preparedness 



to be of use aboard ship; and it is infinitely more 

 necessary than in former times that a man-of-war's- 

 man should have especial training with his guns be 

 fore he can use them aright. In the old days cannon 

 were very simple; sighting was done roughly; and 

 the ordinary merchant seaman speedily grew fit to do 

 his share of work on a frigate. Nowadays men 

 must be carefully trained for a considerable space of 

 time before they can be of any assistance whatever 

 in handling and getting good results from the for 

 midable engines of destruction on battleship, cruiser, 

 and torpedo-boat. Crews can not be improvised. 

 To get the very best work out of them, they should 

 all be composed of trained and seasoned men; and 

 in any event they should not be sent against a for 

 midable adversary unless each crew has for a nucleus 

 a large body of such men filling all the important po 

 sitions. From time immemorial it has proved im 

 possible to improvise so much as a makeshift navy 

 for use against a formidable naval opponent. Any 

 such effort must meet with disaster. 



Most fortunately, the United States had grown to 

 realize this some time before the Spanish War broke 

 out. After the gigantic Civil War the reaction from 

 the strain of the contest was such that our navy was 

 permitted to go to pieces. Fifteen years after the 

 close of the contest in which Farragut took rank as 

 one of the great admirals of all time, the splendid 



