Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1887 — The Naval Report. [ARTICLE]

The Naval Report.

Secretrary Whitney says he finds himself unable to concur in the recommendation that the single turreted monitors be repaired and made ready far coast defense vessels. An examination of their characteristics shows that, outside of the ships in our own navy, no antagonist could probably ba found against which they could stand for a moment. They were good vessels for their time, but are entirely obsolete. It would be little less than murder to send men in these ships, at the present time, to encounter any recently built ironclad. I appreciate fully that it is only as a etmporarv expedient that it is suggested, and with the thought that in the absence of anything else these might be better than nothing. This has been ihe tbeoiy upon which over <60,000,000, and probably $75000,000, have been spent since the close of the war. After describing the extravagant system of repairing vessels in past years, the repairs often costing several times as much ai t le vessel did, the Secretary sayß: “It is often the subject of Wonder what has become of the $70,030,000' spent upon war vessels since the close of the war in vie w of the fact that there is now no navy. The foregoing hjt of history will serve as an illustration.” He recommends the adoption of the dynamite gun, a naval reserve and establishment uf~anaval station on the~ Gulf of Mexico. The estimates for the navy and marine corps for the current fiscal year amounted to $25586479 02, and the appropriations to $26,182,723.79. The estimates for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889. amount to $23,427 940.13, or <2.161.538 86 less than the estimates and $2,754,783 66 less than the appropriations for the current fiscal year.