careful consideration. The gun could be protected by heavy armor, and the shells stowed in cushioned magazines to avoid shock and consequent danger. A 20-inch gun would throw 1,000 pounds of high explosive; and if two vessels seek to ram, one armed with this gun and the other without it, there can be no question as to which will have the advantage. By holding one shot in reserve for close quarters, and firing others as we approach, the enemy's nerves would be severely tested if his ship was not destroyed before the ram did its work.

Quickly moving targets and the pitching and rolling of a ship will increase the uncertainty of a successful shot, but the same conditions embarrass the working of other guns and torpedoes, and will by no means render the dynamite gun unserviceable.

The light draught and great speed of the "Vesuvius" will enable her to take advantage of all inner passages and shoal places, where she cannot be followed, and from which she can dart out to deliver her fire. We have n't a fort between Maine and Texas, nor a gun mounted, nor a ship afloat that can resist a modern iron-clad; but the "Vesuvius" may sink the most formidable ship with a single shell. However remote the chances of a successful shot, therefore, officers will be found ready to take all risks, and the obstacles to be overcome will be no greater than those encountered by Cushing when he sank the Albemarle." If war were forced upon us now, unprepared as we are, our naval officers would be called upon

to attack an enemy's ships with the crudest weapons-even with the spar torpedo. They should be quite willing. therefore, to make the most of a weapon that may accomplish, with less danger. the destruction of a vessel at the distance of a mile.

The vulnerability of the "Vesuvius" is not a subject for adverse criticism, since she has been built merely as a floating gun-carriage to demonstrate to the most conservative the possibility of using this weapon afloat. Nearly all foreign torpedo boats are unarmored and quite as vulnerable as the "Vesuvius." Besides, what is more to their disadvantage, they must approach to within four hundred yards of an enemy to be efficient, while the "Vesuvius" may remain at four times that distance.

Modifications will be made in future vessels. Guns will be placed to fire astern as well as ahead; armor protec tion will be sought either by armoring the bow and stern, encasing the guns in a heavily-armored tube, or building the ship with nothing above water but a turtle back. One gun may be mounted nearly horizontal for use at close quarters or against other torpedo boats.

Lieutenant Commander F. M. Barber, U. S. Navy, in a recent article, states that the preliminary designs have been already prepared for a large vessel of 3300 tons displacement, with sufficient coal capacity for cruising purposes, and with a supply of 800 projectiles stowed well below the water line, which would be sufficient to clear a channel five miles long of mines or obstructions. Her dynamite guns may also be used for

protection as coast defence vessels. The work has begun and will be pushed as fast as armor can be supplied. The "Puritan," the largest of the monitors, has a displacement of 6,000 tons, while the "Miantonomoh,' Monadnock," "Amphitrite" and "Terror," sister-ships, have each a displacement of 3,815 tons. The turrets are plated with 11 inches of armor, and the armored decks are two inches thick. The ventilators and lower parts of smoke pipes are protected by ten inches of armor and the pilot houses are plated with from 9 to 12 inches of steel. The "Puritan" is 296 feet long with a breadth of 60 feet, while the " Miantonomoh" and class are 262 feet long with 55 feet beam. The "Puritan" has 12-inch armor on her side and the other ships 7-inch, the former showing 30 inches of her side above water and the latter only 25 inches.

the maximum thickness being restricted to the waterline, it follows that there are but few ships afloat that may not be pierced by the guns of our monitors. The armor of the "Puritan " is thicker than that of two-thirds of the armored ships of France or England, from which it will be seen that she is by comparison a formidable ship. Another point is that the "Puritan " presents such a small target for an enemy's guns. Her side, only 30 inches out of water, will be difficult to hit, and her turrets, circular in shape and only 9 feet above the water line, present but little surface. Foreign ironclads, particularly those that have more armor than the "Puritan," have immense hulls from 20 to 30 feet out of water, thus presenting a target about ten times as large as the "Puritan." The latter will evidently have a great advantage in this respect, since most shot that strike short will ricochet harmlessly over her deck,

each carry four 10-inch breechloading ri

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STEEL CRUISER

fles throwing 500-pound shells, which will pierce 23 inches of wrought iron at close quarters and 17 inches at the distance of a mile. It is interesting to note in this connection that of the seventy ironclads in the English navy there are only eleven that have more than 17 inches of armor, and only one that has 23 inches. Since few mod ern ships are completely armored, and

CHARLESTON."

whereas they would pierce the side of any other vessel. The monitors are com paratively slow, the speed varying from 11 to 13 knots, but, being intended merely for coast de fence, speed is not so important, since their light draught, 14 to 18 feet, enables them to take advantage of shoal water and thus choose their distance from more powerful opponents. No foreign ships of this armor and gun-power draw less than from 20 to 30 feet of water, and could not, therefore, follow them into

shoal places. For this reason the important rôle of the monitors is apparent. As floating batteries stationed along the shores of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, and in shoal water off our principal ports, they may harass an attacking or blockading fleet.

Above each turret is a pilot-house, conical in shape, to deflect striking shot, and above each pilothouse, supported by iron stanchions, is a circular wooden house, containing quarters for officers,

chart-rooms, etc. In the old monitors the turrets rested on the upper deck, from which they were lifted and revolved by a central spindle. This method has been done away with, and the turrets now pass through the upper deck and rest and revolve upon conical rollers in a circular track on the next deck below.

Between the two turrets is a hurricane deck supported on iron stanchions. Upon this deck, boats and hammocks will be stowed and machine guns mounted. At sea in heavy weather the seas will sweep freely over the deck and under the hurricane deck. Under these circumstances all hatches will be closed and the blower engines will ventilate the ship, air being supplied by the ventilators which project above the hurricane deck.

The seaworthiness of the monitors has been thoroughly tested. The old "Monadnock" rounded Cape Horn in 1866 and behaved admirably in the long seas of the Pacific Ocean. Soon after the Civil War the old "Miantonomoh " made a cruise to Europe, encountering heavy weather. The seas would come over bow and stern four feet deep at times but pass off quickly without even preventing the use of her guns. She rolled but 7°, while the two ships accompanying her rolled 20 to 30°. In the report of this cruise by AssistantSecretary Fox we find: "A vessel which attacks a monitor in a seaway must approach very close to have any chance of hitting such a low hull; and even then the monitor is half the time covered up with three or four feet of water, protecting herself and disturbing her opponent's

fire." Nor are the monitors unhealthful. During the war the medical reports during a period of thirty months showed that "so far from being unhealthful, there was less sickness on board the monitors

than on the same number of wooden ships with an equal number of men and in similarly exposed positions." Even when sealed up in bad weather there have been so many improvements in ventilation that fresh air will be forced to all parts of the ship, while electric lights will add much to the comfort and healthfulness of the monitors.

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The monitor is in many respects the best possible type for a coast defence vessel. The present ships, however, while they will be efficient against the navies of weak powers, will, with the exception of the Puritan," be too vulnerable to withstand the large-calibre high-powered rifles which will pierce their armor. Improvements could be made in future ships. By giving the vessel a single turret its armor may be doubled, and the sides and deck should be much thicker to enable these monitors to come to close quarters and endure safely the heavy plunging fire from the guns of cruising ships. Intended for coast defence, they need carry but little coal and provisions, thus saving space for powerful machinery and every appliance of modern warfare. A rendezvous selected off each port in shoal water could supply coal, the vessels running in whenever necessary. All these improvements, with a more minutely subdivided hull, will render the monitor more invulnerable, and it is probable that the result may be accomplished without greatly increasing the draught of water, which should be as light as possible.

The monitors have only one short mast for signaling purposes, with a mili

mite gun and a 16-inch rifle throwing a shell weighing about a ton, which will pierce more than thirty inches of wrought iron.

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The only armored cruising ships as yet designed for the navy are the Maine," building at the New York Navy Yard, and the "Texas," to be built at Norfolk.

The "Maine" has a displacement of 6,000 tons; length, 310 feet; breadth, 57 feet, and average draught 21 feet. For a distance of 180 feet in the wake of the machinery, there is a belt of steel armor 11 inches thick extending from 3 feet above to 4 feet below the water line. Built across the ship, joining the forward ends of this belt, is an armored bulkhead 6 inches thick for protection when fighting bows on. An armored steel deck, from 2 to 4 inches thick, is worked over the armor belt for additional protection to the machinery, and slopes down from the ends of the belt to 2 feet below the water line at the bow and stern to protect the steering gear and support the ram bow.

carried, there being two 60-foot torpedo boats. The superstructures are cut away abreast the turrets to allow the tur ret guns to fire across the upper deck. There are 174 water-tight compartments in the ship, with all the facilities for ventilation and drainage. Four sets of dynamos run the electric lights throughout the ship, as well as three powerful search lights for use in battle at night. On the central superstructure is an elliptical conning tower composed of 10-inch steel plates, from which the captain will manoeuvre the ship in battle. The ship has three masts, bark rigged, spreading 7,000 square feet of canvas, and she can carry 850 tons of coal, which will enable her to steam a distance of 5,000 miles.

There are to be two 10-inch steel rifles in each turret, having an extreme range of about 9 miles, the charge of powder being 250 pounds and the shell weighing 500 pounds. There are six 6-inch rifles, two mounted under the forward superstructure, firing directly ahead and on each side; two under the after super structure, firing directly astern and on