Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 November 1888 — NAVAL CONSTRUCTION. [ARTICLE]

NAVAL CONSTRUCTION.

Chief Constructor of the Navy, Theodore D. Wilson, has submitted to Secretary Whitney his annual report of the operations of his bureau during the last fiscal year. It shows that the sum of $885,349 was expended in the repair of ships, purchase of tools, etc. The payments made on account of vessels building, under contract, up to Oct. 31 last, aggregated $3,266,195. The present strength of the navy and the condition of the vessels is stated as follows: Five double-turreted monitors, awaiting completion; two belted cruisers, preparing ways; thirteen single-turreted monitors, in ordinary; twenty-three unarmored steel and iron vessels, four of which are in commission, eleven building, two repairing, five on station, and one in ordinary; twenty-eight wooden steam vessels, nearly all on station or undergoing repairs, and eleven iron and Wood steam tug boats. The estimates for’next fiscal year aggregate $936,452, while the appropriations for the current fiscal year were SB6B 952. In addition to these estimates, $3,540,000 will be required to meet payments on account of hulls and outfits of new ships; but thiß sum has already been appropriated. The bureau recommends the immediate construction of experimental works, to cost $60,000, for use in the determination of the resistance and other qualities of ships by means of models, holding that the tanks will be of permanent value in designing high-speed vessels and in show-* ing results of ships’ trials. The report states that the old sloop-of-war Hartford can be repaired for $175,00i*, and would be valuable for service as a cruiser for several years. He adds that her past recor 1 as Admiral Farragut’s flagship, victorious in battle both over ironclads and forts, not only endears her to the American peopl-, but when she has ©utHved- her-naemlßessas- a c?*is©r r she should be preserved as a receiving ship as a monument of her past achievements. Tools are now bein t■> delivered to the New York and Norfolk yards, and the chief co. structor says he shall soon be in possession of two yards well epuipped for bui dihg steel and iron vessels-of-war of every size and type. Of the Mare island, Califo nia jard, he says that, being the only one on the Pacific coast, it is now being fitted with a complete outfit of modern ship-building tooL. The climate is such that it is perfectly practicable to c nduct shipbuilding without the she ter of ship houses, which are expensive, b th in first cost and renair, and do not favor rapidity of constnlctioa or excellence of workmanship on account of the darkness.