USS United States

“ Never before has the United States had a Navy that compared in efficiency with its present one, but never before have the requirements with respect to naval warfare been higher and more exacting than now. ”

“ THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. BY BENSON J. LOSSING. Chapter III.
"North African pirates are out on the Mediterranean Sea; our budding commerce there is in danger; we must have a navy to protect it," wrote a distinguished American in Europe to Alexander Hamilton. President Washington called the attention of Congress to the matter, and in the spring of 1794 he was authorized to have six frigates built, each carrying not less than thirty-two cannon. The keel of the Constitution (yet afloat) was soon laid at Boston, and so the creation of the Navy of the United States was begun. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Americans have long looked to the sea as a source of security and prosperity. Bounded by two oceans and the Gulf of Mexico, and criss-crossed by a myriad of inland waterways, America's destiny as a maritime nation was a story foretold. The Merchant Marine took up arms alongside the Continental Navy to help defeat the British Navy during the American Revolution. Since then, they have served bravely as the United States has faced threats ranging from war to piracy, and our seafaring fleet has proven instrumental in protecting our safety. ”

“ It is true that vessels of size and power enough to hold their own against the battle-ships of other nations had been under construction for several years, but the United States was still without an available man-of-war of the first class until the "Indiana" and the "Oregon" joined the fleet. ”

“ It is not the policy of the United States to maintain a large navy, but its reputation, honor, and prosperity require that such naval vessels as it possesses shall be the best which human ingenuity can devise and modern artificers construct. ”

“ The Navy has maintained the spirit and high efficiency which have always characterized that service, and has lost none of the gallantry in heroic action which has signalized its brilliant and glorious past. The Nation has equal pride in its early and later achievements. Its habitual readiness for every emergency has won the confidence and admiration of the country. The people are interested in the continued preparation and prestige of the Navy and will justify liberal appropriations for its maintenance and improvement. ”

“ Yet, while this is true, our American merchant marine has been steadily declining until it is now lower, both in the percentage of tonnage and the number of vessels employed, than it was prior to the Civil War. Commendable progress has been made of late years in the upbuilding of the American Navy, but we must supplement these efforts by providing as a proper consort for it a merchant marine amply sufficient for our own carrying trade to foreign countries. The question is one that appeals both to our business necessities and the patriotic aspirations of a great people. ”

“ That the United States Navy within the last dozen years should have been recast almost wholly, upon more modern lines, is not, in itself alone, a fact that should cause comment, or give rise to questions about its future career or sphere of action. ”

“ Never before had the United States so splendid a fleet to fight with. There were five fine battleships, the Iowa, the Indiana, the Massachusetts, the Oregon, and the Texas. Then there was the New York, Admiral Sampson's flagship, and the Brooklyn, Commodore Schley's flagship. These were steel-clad cruisers, not so heavy, but much faster than the [315] battleships. Besides these there were monitors, and cruisers, and gunboats, and vessels of other kinds, all spread like a net around the mouth of the harbor, ready to catch any big fish that might swim out. ”

“ The United States navy is not so powerful as might be expected from such a maritime people. There are only twelve ships of the line and twelve first class frigates, including receiving-ships and those on the stocks. ”

“ It is important to have our Navy of adequate size, but it is even more important that ship for ship it should equal in efficiency any navy in the world. This is possible only with highly drilled crews and officers, and this in turn imperatively demands continuous and progressive instruction in target practice, ship handling, squadron tactics, and general discipline. Our ships must be assembled in squadrons actively cruising away from harbors and never long at anchor. The resulting wear upon engines and hulls must be endured ”

“ Back of this force and available for the defense of the Atlantic coast, were a large number of battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and submarines of old, nearly obsolete, design, all of which were utilized to the fullest extent, Congress and the Navy Department, awakened at last to the fact that the United States was not immune from war, making haste to supply the deficiencies in the naval establishment that should have been supplied many years before. ”

“ England is still a long way ahead of us, the English navy now numbering nearly five hundred vessels, of which one hundred and twenty are armored cruisers. But, comparing the navies ship to ship, the United States fleet, so far as it goes, is superior even to that of Great Britain. The battle-ships, while somewhat smaller, are more effective fighters. The English navy has no armored cruisers as fast or as powerful as the "New York" and "Brooklyn;" and the commerce-destroyers, "Columbia" and "Minneapolis," are the fastest vessels, either of war or peace, that have gone to sea. ”

“ Nevertheless, the war at sea began in a fashion to discourage the nation and humiliate the whole navy.
On the day (June 18, 1812) that war was declared, the effective part of the American navy—the only American naval ships ready for a fight—lay in New York Harbor, or else were at sea where they could not hear the news. The ships in New York were the flag-ship President, rated forty-four, Captain Rodgers; the United States, forty-four, Captain Decatur; the Congress, thirty-eight, Captain Smith; the Hornet, eighteen, Captain Lawrence, and the Argus, sixteen, Lieutenant Sinclair. ”

“ The young nation was living literally up to Washington's rule of avoiding entanglements abroad, and its people looked with suspicion on the naval branch of the service which had rendered such a good account of itself in the war with Great Britain. They feared to build and man ships lest possession of a navy might prove an incentive to war. And so when war did come—war, not with Europe, but with our nearest neighbor—the United States had little floating force to join in it. ”

“ The present Navy of the United States, called suddenly into existence by a great national exigency, has raised us in our own esteem, and by the protection afforded to our commerce has effected to the extent of our expectations the objects for which it was created. ”

“ When this is done, all the strength that there is in our Navy will be developed and useful to its full capacity, and it will be powerful for purposes of defense, and also for offensive action, should the necessity for that arise within a reasonable distance from our shores.
The fact that our Navy is not more modern and powerful than it is has been made a cause of complaint against the Secretary of the Navy by persons who at the same time criticise and complain of his endeavors to bring the Navy that we have to its best and most efficient condition ”

“ Nothing effective can be done for the Navy once war has begun, and the result of the war, if the combatants are otherwise equally matched, will depend upon which power has prepared best in time of peace. The United States Navy is the best guaranty the Nation has that its honor and interest will not be neglected ”

“ No nation with a long sea frontier and important interests abroad should be without the means of protecting both, and for this an adequate naval force is essential. For the United States this dangerous condition no longer exists. Stirring appeals by successive Secretaries of the Navy have at last roused the nation to action. With a marvellous energy, of which an example was afforded in the last Civil War, America has developed during the last few years everything necessary for the construction and equipment of a modern fleet. ”

“ The Navy has the full treaty tonnage of capital ships. Work is going forward in modernizing the older ones, building aircraft carriers, additional fleet submarines, and fast scout cruisers, but we are carefully avoiding anything that might be construed as a competition in armaments with other nations. The joint Army and Navy maneuvers at Hawaii, followed by the cruise of a full Battle Fleet to Australia and New Zealand, were successfully carried out. ”

“ But men and means were lacking.
Men and means were also lacking in the naval North at the time the war began. But the small regular navy was invincible against next to none; and it enjoyed many means of expansion denied to the South.
On the outbreak of hostilities the United States Navy had ninety ships and about nine thousand men—all ranks and ratings (with marines) included. The age of steam had come. But fifty vessels had no steam at all. ”

“ Seagoing torpedo-boat destroyers should be substituted for some of the smaller torpedo boats. During the present Congress there need be no additions to the aggregate number of units of the navy. Our navy, though very small relatively to the navies of other nations, is for the present sufficient in point of numbers for our needs, and while we must constantly strive to make its efficiency higher, there need be no additions to the total of ships now built and building, save in the way of substitution as above outlined. ”

“ Nearly 500 warships belonging to nine different countries have been fitted, or are in course of equipment, with radio-telegraphy. According to the American list the United States Navy has been foremost among the navies of the world in the use of ‘wireless.’ On October 1 last 173 United States warships were fitted with various systems. The Berne lists, issued up to May 1 last, show Great Britain to have 157 vessels equipped, Germany 80, Netherlands 11, Denmark 9, and Spain 5. ”

“ The United States Navy was always a popular service in the country, for the adventurous genius and inventive faculties of our people, developed and stimulated by its successful prosecution of commerce, had easily dealt with the naval problems of fifty years ago. ”

“ Secretary Daniels, in other passages of the foregoing report, declares that the record made abroad by the United States Navy, in co-operation with the navies of Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, is without precedent in allied warfare. He pays a high tribute to the efficiency [Pg 321] of Admiral Sims, Commander-in-Chief of American naval forces in European waters; of Rear-Admiral Rodman, in command of the American battleships with the British fleet; of Vice-Admiral Wilson, in France; Rear-Admiral Niblack, in the Mediterranean ”

“ There has been more than a sixfold increase in naval man power and about a fourfold increase in the number of ships in service. When present plans have been carried out—and all projects are proceeding swiftly—the United States will probably rank second to Britain among naval Powers of the world. Training facilities have increased on a stupendous scale; [Pg 8] we have now various specialized schools for seamen and officers ”