OF MEN-OF-WAR AND THEIR EMBODIMENT IN DESIGN. 79 



After the beginning of the recent war, but before the United States entered it, the 

 General Board of the Navy under Admiral Dewey, charged with the duty of recommending 

 to the Secretary the characteristics of ships, urged submarines of about 500 tons. Officers 

 of the submarine service did not agree to this view but wanted larger craft of 800 tons. 

 Now, however, the Navy Department favors the large type. At the time I wrote a paper 

 for this Society favoring the smaller size. The reason for this change of view by the Navy 

 Department is worth examining. German submarines were coming out to sea to operate west 

 of the British Islands. They were entering the Mediterranean and making long voyages, and 

 their performances were spectacular. Hence our submarine service was chiefly impressed by 

 German performance and requirements and wanted the United States to adopt the large type. 

 The Navy Department, however, looked to American requirements if we entered the war as 

 allies of western Europe and realized that with bases always near at hand, long radius based 

 on large size was not called for. Moderate size with handiness, although requiring frequent 

 returns to port, would be preferable. We built such craft and used them with good results 

 both on our own coast and abroad. 



But for general use now, without the certainty of allies, and separated by great oceans 

 from all serious adversaries, such small, short-radius boats are no longer the best type, and the 

 Navy Department has changed its plans to suit the requirements of any field of action. A 

 large boat is utilizable near home and also overseas. 



The advantages of size are obvious in all classes of ships. We know that they in- 

 crease faster than the displacement, and hence the constant tendency towards bigger and 

 bigger ships. 



AVIATION. 



Aviation as a new arm deserves attention. It is spectacular and romantic and attracts 

 popular regard on these grounds as well as on account of its inherent value. 



It is the most speedy means of locomotion known. Hence aircraft are specially indi- 

 cated as suitable for reconnaissance and screening. Their speed makes them available as 

 carriers for weapons of position such as the torpedo and bomb. Further, like the torpedo 

 boat and other speed craft, the reply to seaplanes should take the form of counter attack 

 by similar craft. It is unlike the submarine in this respect, whose slow speed causes it to 

 rely on concealment for protection. To the submarine the hostile reply is by search and the 

 use of a short-range water projectile — the depth bomb. 



The airplane has a disadvantage belonging to the submarine — it is ceaselessly strug- 

 gling against gravity; but, on the other hand, it can sometimes find defense by concealment 

 in the clouds. Yet its short radius and light weight prevent it at present from assuming 

 a major role, unless and until it is unopposed by its like. 



COMBINATIONS OF DIFFERENT CLASSES OF WEAPONS. 



We have examined the reason for various types of ships, each specializing in weapons 

 suitable to them. It lies in relative mobility. But each weapon's method of attack calls for a 

 correspondingly suitable method of defense. Where a single weapon of one type is opposed 

 by a single weapon of another type it is desirable to develop the battle into a tactical form 

 suitable to our weapon and unfavorable to the enemy's weapon. Hence, if we can induce 

 the enemy to accept a certain form of attack and then pass to another, he is at a disadvantage 

 by the surprise. We supplement brute force by intelligence and skill — a most satisfactory 



