Chapter XXXVIII — Strength of the Opposing Squadrons and Armies — Our War with Spain for Cuba’s Freedom by Trumbull White

Chapter XXXVIII Strength of the Opposing Squadrons and Armies

Growth of the White Squadron in a Single Decade—Progress of Our Navy a Gratifying Ode after It Was Fairly Started—How the United States Stands in Comparison with the Other Nations of the World—

List of Ships in the American Navy—List of Ships in the Navy of Spain at the Beginning of the War—Interest of All Countries Centered on the Result of Our Naval Battles—Modern Guns and Projectiles—The Armies of the Two Combatants—Coast Defenses of the United States.

Three elements enter into the fighting efficiency of nations at war: the strength of their navies, the strength of their armies and the condition of their coast defences. For the first time in many years general attention of the people of the United States was centered upon these conditions when the outbreak of hostilities began to threaten. Inasmuch as it was an admitted fact that most of the fighting would be done at sea, or at least that the efficiency of our fleets would be the most important factor, most of the attention was directed to a study of the navy.

The constructions of what we call the new navy of the United States, “the white squadron,” which has placed us sixth in the rank of the naval powers of the world, instead of so far down that we were scarcely to be counted at all, has all been done in less than twelve years. It may be that to stand sixth in rank is not yet high enough, but the progress of a single decade certainly is remarkable.

After the Civil War, when hostilities on our own coast and complications abroad seemed to be at an end, the care of the navy was abandoned and ships were sold with scarcely a protest, almost as entirely as had been done eighty years before, at the end of the Revolution. There was even less reason for this policy, because in 1785 the country was poor and needed the money the ships brought, while in the twenty years following the Civil War there was no such excuse of national poverty. By 1885 there was no United States navy at all worthy the name, for the wooden vessels on the list, with their obsolete guns, were of no value whatever in the event of hostilities with a foreign power that had kept up its equipment with rifled guns and ironclads.

The movement to repair the decay began when, in 1881, Secretary of the Navy William H. Hunt appointed the first advisory board, presided over by Rear-Admiral John Bodgers, “to determine the requirements of a new navy.” This board reported that the United States should have twenty-one battleships, seventy unarmored cruisers of various sizes and types, twenty torpedo boats, five rams and five torpedo gunboats, all to be built of steel. The report was received by Congress and the country with the attention it merited, but to get the work started was another matter.

Policy of the Economists

The economists had been praising the policy of idleness in naval construction, claiming first that we were at peace and did not need to spend money on expensive vessels and, next, that naval construction was in an experimental stage and that we should let the European nations go to the expense of the experiments, as they were doing, and when some result had been reached, take advantage of it, instead of wasting our own money in work that would have to be thrown away in a few years.

When the country became convinced that a navy was needed, it was found that we could not follow out that pleasant little theory. Our naval authorities could not obtain the facts and the experience they wanted from other nations, and our shipyards could not build even one of the armored ships. We could not roll even the thinnest of modern armor-plates, and could not make a gun that was worth mounting on a modern vessel if we had it.

The shipyard of John Roach did the first work on the new navy, and during Secretary Chandler’s term of office built the Chicago, the Boston, the Atlanta and the Dolphin. Instead of battleships, the first of the fleet were third-rate cruisers. Armor-plate was bought in a foreign market, and we actually went abroad for the plans of one our largest cruisers—the Charleston.

In 1885 the navy department came under the administration of Secretary William C. Whitney, and it was beginning with his years of service that the greatest progress was made. While our shipyards were learning to build ships, the gunmakers and the makers of armor-plate were learning their craft too, so that progress was along parallel lines. In 1886 the sum of $2,128,000 was appropriated for modern rifled guns. The first contract for armor-plate was signed in 1887. Since that time the plants for construction have been completed and armor-plate equal to the best in the world turned out from them. Ten years of apprenticeship have taught us how to build whatever we need to carry on naval warfare.

Takes the Rank of Sixth

By 1894 the United States had risen to the sixth among the naval powers of the world, the first ten and their relative strength expressed in percentage of that of Great Britain being as follows:

Great Britain	100	United States	17
France	68	Spain	11
Italy	48	China	6
Russia	38	Austria	5
Germany	21	Turkey	3

Since that time the relative position of the leaders has not materially changed, although some estimates are to the effect that Russia and Italy have changed places and that Spain has gained slightly on the United States. Of the ones at the foot of the procession all have dropped below the station assigned them, by the advance of Japan, which has come from outside the file of the first ten and is now eighth, ranking between Spain and China. The estimates are based on a calculation of all the elements that enter into the efficiency of the navies, such as tonnage, speed, armor, caliber and range of armament, number of enlisted men and their efficiency. Such calculations cannot be absolute, for they cannot measure at all times the accuracy of the gunnery of a certain vessel. The human equation enters so prominently into warfare that mathematical calculations must be at all times incomplete. Americans will be slow to believe, however, that they are at any disadvantage in this detail, whatever their material equipment may be.

The following table shows the strength of the navy of the United States. In that part of the table marked “first rate” the four ships placed first are first-class battle ships, the Brooklyn and New York are armored cruisers, the Columbia, Olympia and Minneapolis protected cruisers, the Texas a second-class battle ship and the Puritan a double-turret monitor. Among the second-raters all but the Miantonomah, Amphitrite, Monadnock and Terror (monitors) are protected cruisers. The newly bought boats, New Orleans and Albany, belong in this class. The third-raters are a heterogeneous lot, consisting of cruisers, gunboats, old monitors and unprotected cruisers. Of the fourth raters, Vesuvius is a dynamite ship, the Yankee and Michigan are cruisers, the Petrel, Bancroft and Pinta are gunboats and the Fern is a transport. The remaining classes of the table are homogeneous. The government has recently purchased numerous tugs and yachts not accounted for in the table:

First Rate

NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower

Iowa	11,340	18	12,105	Steel
Indiana	10,288	16	9,738	Steel
Massachusetts	10,288	16	10,403	Steel
Oregon	10,288	16	11,111	Steel
Brooklyn	9,215	20	18,769	Steel
New York	8,200	18	17,401	Steel
Columbia	7,375	11	18,509	Steel
Minneapolis	7,375	11	20,862	Steel
Texas	6,315	8	8,610	Steel
Puritan	6,060	10	3,700	Iron
Olympia	5,870	14	17,313	Steel

Second Rate

NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower

Chicago	4,500	18	9,000	Steel
Baltimore	4,413	10	10,064	Steel
Philadelphia	4,324	12	8,815	Steel
Monterey	4,084	4	5,244	Steel
Newark	4,098	12	8,869	Steel
San Francisco	4,098	12	9,913	Steel
Charleston	3,730	8	6,666	Steel
Miantonomah	3,990	4	1,426	Iron
Amphitrite	3,990	6	1,600	Iron
Monadnock	3,990	6	3,000	Iron
Terror	3,990	4	1,600	Iron
Lancaster	3,250	12	1,000	Wood
Cincinnati	3,213	11	10,000	Steel
Raleigh	3,213	11	10,000	Steel
Atlanta	3,000	8	4,030	Steel
Boston	3,000	8	4,030	Steel

Third Rate

NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower

Hartford	2,790	13	2,000	Wood
Katahdin	2,155	4	5,068	Steel
Ajax	2,100	2	340	Iron
Canonicus	2,100	2	340	Iron
Mahopac	2,100	2	340	Iron
Manhattan	2,100	2	340	Iron
Wyandotte	2,100	2	340	Iron
Detroit	2,089	10	5,227	Steel
Montgomery	2,089	10	5,580	Steel
Marblehead	2,089	10	5,451	Steel
Marion	1,900	8	1,100	Wood
Mohican	1,900	10	1,100	Wood
Comanche	1,873	2	340	Iron
Catskill	1,875	2	340	Iron
Jason	1,875	2	340	Iron
Lehigh	1,875	2	340	Iron
Montauk	1,875	2	340	Iron
Nahant	1,875	2	340	Iron
Nantucket	1,875	2	340	Iron
Passaic	1,875	2	340	Iron
Bennington	1,710	6	3,436	Steel
Concord	1,710	6	3,405	Steel
Yorktown	1,710	6	3,392	Steel
Dolphin	1,486	2	2,253	Steel
Wilmington	1,392	8	1,894	Steel
Helena	1,392	8	1,988	Steel
Adams	1,375	6	800	Wood
Alliance	1,375	6	800	Wood
Essex	1,375	6	800	Wood
Enterprise	1,375	4	800	Wood
Nashville	1,371	8	2,536	Steel
Monocacy	1,370	6	850	Iron
Thetis	1,250	0	530	Wood
Castine	1,177	8	2,199	Steel
Machias	1,177	8	2,046	Steel
Alert	1,020	3	500	Iron
Ranger	1,020	6	500	Iron
Annapolis	1,000	6	1,227	Comp
Vicksburg	1,000	6	1,118	Comp
Wheeling	1,000	6	1,081	Comp
Marietta	1,000	6	1,054	Comp
Newport	1,000	6	1,008	Comp

Fourth Rate

NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower

Vesuvius	929	3	3,795	Steel
Yantic	900	4	310	Wood
Petrel	892	4	1,095	Steel
Fern	840	0	0	Wood
Bancroft	839	4	1,213	Steel
Michigan	685	4	365	Iron
Pinta	550	2	310	Iron

Torpedo Boats

Name Displacement Guns in indicated Hull (tons) main battery horsepower

1-Gushing	105		3	1,720	Steel
2-Ericsson	120		3	1,800	Steel
3-Foote	142		3	2,000	Steel
4-Rodgers	142		3	2,000	Steel
5-Winslow	142		3	2,000	Steel
6-Porter	0		3	0	Steel
7-Du Pont	0		3	0	Steel
8-Rowan	182		3	3,200	Steel
9-Dahlgren	146		2	4,200	Steel
10-T. A. M. Craven	146		2	4,200	Steel
11-Farragut	273		2	5,600	Steel
12-Davis	132		3	1,750	Steel
13_Fox	132		3	1,750	Steel
14-Morris	103		3	1,750	Steel
15-Talbot	46	1/2	2	850	Steel
16-Gwin	46	1/2	2	850	Steel
17-Mackenzie	65		2	850	Steel
18-McKee	65		2	850	Steel
19-Stringham	340		2	7,200	Steel
20-Goldsborough	247	1/2	2	0	Steel
21-Bailey	235		2	5,600	Steel
Stiletto	31		2	359	Wood

Tugboats

NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower

Fortune	450	0	340	Iron
Iwana.	192	0	300	Steel
Leyden	450	0	340	Iron
Narkeeta	192	0	300	Steel
Nina	357	0	388	Iron
Rocket	187	0	147	Wood
Standish	450	1	340	Iron
Traffic	280	0	0	Wood
Triton	212	0	300	Steel
Waneta	192	0	300	Steel
Unadilla	345	0	500	Steel
Samoset	225	0	450	Steel

Sailing Ships

NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower

Monongahela	2,100	4	Wood
Constellation	1,186	8	Wood
Jamestown	1,150	0	Wood
Portsmouth	1,125	12	Wood
Saratoga	1,025	0	Wood
St. Mary’s.	1,025	0	Wood

Receiving Ships

NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower

Franklin	5,170	4	1,050	Wood
Wabash	4,650	0	950	Wood
Vermont	4,150	0	0	Wood
Independence	3,270	.6	0	Wood
Richmond	2,700	.2	692	Wood

Unserviceable

NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower

New Hampshire	4,150	.6	0	Wood
Pensacola	3,000	0	680	Wood
Omaha.	2,400	0	953	Wood
Constitution	2,200	4	0	Wood
Iroquois	1,575	0	1,202	Wood
Nipsic	1,375	4	839	Wood
St. Louis	830	0	0	Wood
Dale.	675	0	0	Wood
Minnesota	4,700	9	1,000	Wood

Under Construction

NAME Displacement Guns in indicated Hull
(tons) main battery horsepower

Kearsarge	11,525	22	10,000	Steel
Kentucky	11,525	22	10,000	Steel
Illinois	11,525	18	10,000	Steel
Alabama	11,525	18	10,000	Steel
Wisconsin	11,525	18	10,000	Steel
Princeton	1,000	6	800	Comp
Plunger	168	2	1,200	Steel
Tug No. 6	225	0	450	Steel
Tug No. 7	225	0	450	Steel
Training ship.	1,175	6	0	Comp

Spain’s Navy Is a Weaker One

Spain’s navy is decidedly weak when compared with that of the United States. A mere glance at the two tables will be sufficient to show the difference. Spain’s list of unarmored cruisers is long, but four of our battle ships or swift, modern, armored cruisers could blow the lot out of the water. In torpedo boats we compare favorably with Spain. In one respect Spain is stronger, that is in her six speedy torpedo boat destroyers. This table accounts for every war ship Spain has, to say nothing of the few antique merchantmen of the Spanish liner company which can be turned into cruisers.