Navy

a collective term comprising the warships belonging to a country, together with the sailors and officers who man them. The warships of the ancients consisted of long, slender galleys. They were propelled with oars by benches of men, usually galley slaves. Men-at-arms occupied a level upper deck from which they fought. The galley was constructed with a sharp beak designed for ramming against the side of the enemy. The chief naval powers among the ancients were the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Romans. The Greeks can hardly be said, however, to have possessed a national navy, except as the navies of two or more cities were united temporarily for a common purpose. The Persian navies, with which descents were made upon the coast of Greece, were composed entirely of galleys drafted from allies along the coast of Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece itself.

In the Middle Ages, the cities of Italy, particularly Venice and Genoa, were noted for their navies. The vikings of the north prided themselves on the management of the galleys in which they made frequent descents upon the coasts of England and France. The Normans established themselves in France by means of their navy. Recent excavations in Denmark and elsewhere have disclosed the type of ship in use among the vikings. It was essentially like the galley used in the Mediterranean. Some idea of the part played by the galley in warfare may be had from the accounts which have come down from the battle of Lepanto, fought between the Christian powers and the Turks in 1571. The Turkish fleet included 300 vessels. The Christians had about two-thirds as many. The ships met each other bravely. Grappling irons were flung out and a hand to hand conflict ensued. The slaves in the Christian galleys took arms and fought for their masters under promise of freedom in case of success. The slaves in the Turkish galleys rose in revolt and fought against their masters in hope of freedom. The battle went against the Turks. Fifteen thousand Christian galley slaves were liberated. Thirty thousand Turks were slain. Over 200 of their ships were sunk or captured.

The adoption of sails in place of oars marks the beginning of modern navies. Among modern nations Portugal took the lead in building up a navy. Spain, England, Holland, and France followed. The earlier navies of this period were constructed chiefly of wood. Iron hulls came in fashion with the application of steam to navigation. Up to the time of our Civil War the warship was constructed chiefly of oak. The naval powers of the world named in order of present strength (1909) are the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. Prior to the Russo-Japanese War Russia occupied the third, place. In 1897 these eight countries expended $298,000,000 on their navies; in 1907, ten years later, the same countries expended $522,000,000 for naval purposes. In 1909 the navy of the United Kingdom, that is to say, of Great Britain and Ireland, was rated at 1,871,176 tons; that of the United States at 770,468 tons. Warships are classified chiefly as battleships, cruisers, either armored or protected, gunboats, destroyers, torpedo boats, and submarines.

The navy of the United States dates from 1775, when whalers and merchant vessels were armed to intercept supplies coming into the harbor of Boston for the British fleet stationed there. Before the War of the Revolution was over the ships in the service of the Continental Congress numbered sixty-four, carrying in all over 1,200 guns. They captured 196 British vessels valued at several million dollars. In addition privateers owned by private parties to the number of several hundred captured some 600 British merchant ships valued at about $18,000,000. The United States navy acquitted itself creditably during the war of 1812. The American gunners distinguished themselves by the accuracy of their fire. The present navy of the United States (1910) includes thirty-three battleships, fifty-one cruisers, with enough gunboats, torpedo destroyers, etc., to bring the total up to 362. Other ships are building. The battleships are named chiefly for the states, as the Maine, Missouri, Ohio, and Texas. Cruisers are named for cities and states, as the Brooklyn, Colorado, and New York. A first class battleship like the Wyoming is about 560 feet in length at the water line. Its displacement is 26,000 tons and it has a speed of twenty knots an hour. The heavy guns are mounted in steel revolving turrets as nearly proof against projectiles as human ingenuity can devise. The larger guns throw a half-ton projectile over twelve miles.

Our principal navy yards are at Brooklyn, New York; Mare Island, near San Francisco; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Norfolk, Virginia; Charleston, Massachusetts; League Island, Philadelphia; Washington, D. C.; and Puget Sound. Stations are maintained at Pensacola, Florida; Cavite, Philippines; San Juan, Porto Rico; Samoa; Guam; Guantanamo, Cuba; Honolulu, Hawaii; Sitka, Alaska; and Culebra, West Indies. The president of the United States is commander-in-chef of the navy. The immediate management is intrusted to the secretary of the navy, a member of the president's cabinet. Congress establishes suitable rules and regulations and makes all appropriations for expenditure. There are several bureaus within the navy department, as the bureau of yards and docks; the bureau of equipment, in charge of purchasing coal and supplies; and the bureau of ordnance, in charge of armor and guns. There is also a bureau of repairs and steam engineering, as well as a bureau of medicine and surgery. Subordinate departments prepare charts, a nautical almanac, compasses, and other instruments of navigation.

In 1907 President Roosevelt ordered the American fleet to rendezvous at Hampton Roads and make ready to circumnavigate the world. December 16, 1907, sixteen battleships were ready for departure. The fleet went southward past Trinidad and Rio Janeiro, passed through the Strait of Magellan, and took its way northward, calling at Callao, Magdalena, San Diego, and San Pedro, arriving at San Francisco May 6, 1908. Two months later the fleet departed for Honolulu. Thence the course led to Australia. Landings were made at Auckland, Sidney, Melbourne, and Albany. From southern waters the fleet went north in a long loop past the Philippines and Japan and China, and returned to Manila. December 1, 1908, the journey was continued by Singapore and the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean. Passing through the Strait of Gibraltar and holding a westward course the fleet arrived at Hampton Roads February 22, 1909. The fleet was gone fourteen months and six days. It completed the journey of 45,000 miles without accident or breakdown. The most enthusiastic hospitality was shown everywhere the fleet touched. The people of Australia, in particular, feeling perhaps that they live a little out of the way, seemed overjoyed to receive a visit from their American cousins.

An official estimate places the cost of the cruise at $20,000,000. The fleet went out under command of Rear Admiral Evans, who was obliged, however, by ill health to resign the command to Rear Admiral Sperry. The battleship fleet was accompanied during portions of the trip by a flotilla of torpedo boats and a squadron of armored cruisers, but it was obliged to get its fuel everywhere from colliers of other nations; a proceeding, of course, absolutely impossible in time of war with any nation.

In 1864 the president was authorized to appoint from the rear-admirals one vice-admiral. This position was bestowed, as intended, upon Rear-Admiral Farragut. In 1866 Congress provided for the grade of admiral, which rank was then bestowed upon Farragut. Farragut was succeeded by Vice-Admiral Porter. A later law abolished the position of admiral. In 1899 the office of admiral was recreated. In recognition of service at Manila Bay George Dewey was appointed to the position. Squadrons are commanded by rear-admirals; individual vessels, according to their importance, by commodores, captains, commanders, or lieutenant-commanders. When at sea an admiral receives a salary of $14,850; a rear-admiral from $6,600 to $8,800; a captain $4,400; a commander, $3,850; a lieutenant, $2,640; an ensign, $1,870; a mate, $1,500; a cadet, $600. The chief gunner, chief carpenter, and chief sailmaker receive $1,870. Seamen receive from $21 to $38 a month.

The comparative strength of the naval powers, including a swarm of 290 torpedo boats for France, was in 1909:

That the nations of the world are not contemplating any reduction in their naval expense is shown by the following table of amounts voted for new construction and armaments:

See Monitor And Merrimac; Farragut; Jones; Battleship; Torpedo; Armor; Annapolis; Dreadnought

NAVAL BATTLES OF NOTE.

Artemisium. B. C. 500. Greeks defeated Persians. Salamis. B. C. 480. Greeks defeated Persians. Winchelsea. A. D. 1350. English defeated Spaniards. Harfleur. 1416. English defeated French. Bay of Lepanto. 1571. Christians defeated Turks. English Channel. 1588. Destruction of Spanish Armada. Gibraltar. 1607. Dutch defeated Spaniards. Dover Straits. Nov. 25, 1652. The Dutch Admiral Van Tromp with 80 ships attacked and destroyed 40 English ships and sailed away with a broom at his masthead to show that he had swept the seas of the British fleet. Portsmouth. Feb. 18, 1653. British Admiral Blake defeated Van Tromp, sinking 41 ships. North Foreland. June 2, 1653. Blake with 100 men-of-war defeated Van Tromp; captured 6 Dutch ships, sunk 11, dispersed 83. Holland. July 31, 1653. Blake defeated and killed Van Tromp; sunk 30 Dutch ships. Bordeaux. Dec. 4, 1664. Duke of York defeated and sunk 130 French ships. Harwich. June 3, 1665. Duke of York defeated Dutch Admiral Opdam; captured 18 ships; destroyed 14. Thames. July 25, 1666. Dutch lost 24 ships, 4 admirals, and 4,000 men killed. Cape St. Vincent. June 16, 1693. British Admiral Benbow defeated by French. Cape Finistere. May 3, 1747. Admiral Anson captured 38 French ships in battle. Cape St. Vincent. Feb. 14, 1797. Sir John Jervis with 15 ships defeated 27 Spanish ships, capturing 4 and sinking 23. Camperdown. Oct. 11, 1797. British Admiral Duncan defeated Dutch fleet, sinking 15 ships. Nile. Aug. 1, 1798. Lord Nelson defeated French fleet, capturing 9 ships and burning 2. Copenhagen. April 2, 1801. City bombarded by Lord Nelson; Danish fleet of 23 ships of the line attacked, 18 destroyed. Trafalgar. Oct. 21, 1805. Lord Nelson with 27 ships of the line defeated combined French and Spanish fleets with 33 ships; Nelson's signal was "England expects every man to do his duty;" Nelson killed. Yalu. Sept. 17, 1894. Japanese defeated Chinese fleet, sinking 8 modern cruisers. Manila. May 1, 1898. Dewey defeated Spanish fleet and gave Philippines to the United States. Santiago. July 3, 1898. Americans defeated Spanish fleet, destroying 5 modern armored cruisers. Chemulpho. Feb. 9, 1904. Japanese fleet destroyed Russian cruiser Variag and the gunboat Korietz. Port Arthur. Aug. 10, 1904. Togo defeated Russian fleet, driving 5 battleships and 2 cruisers back to harbor; dispersing rest of fleet. Korea Strait. Aug. 14, 1904. Kamimura defeated Vladivostock fleet. sinking the Rurik. Tsushima Straits. May 27, 1905. Togo defeated Rojestvensky, sinking 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, and a repair ship, and dispersing the rest of the fleet.