CAB7-4 — Page 582

Page 582

Page 582

Appendix No. 9.

UNITED STATES. State Papers, p. 84.

**Service Journal,” October 8, 1881.

"Service Journal," December 17, 1881.

Report, p. 7, 1880.

"Engineer Report," 1880, p. 59.

Arthur, 1882, p. 9.

554

However strict the blockades, supposing England superior at sea, large fleets have evaded them. The Americans themselves quote two notable instances: the Toulon fleet of 1798 with the Egypt expedition; the Toulon fleet of 1805 evading Nelson.

We must therefore be prepared for a flotilla, perhaps not efficient enough to reach England or Ireland, but able to get as far as Halifax, Bermuda, Nassau, or Jamaica, being prepared in inland waters, and by mere superiority of numbers mastering those depôts unless efficiently defended. It would be of little avail for England if the whole fleet and expedition were subsequently captured by our fleet if the arsenals and stores were in the meantime burnt; the States would not miss their 10,000 or 20,000 men if they gained their end.

Ordnance.

This question is in pretty much the same condition as all other military and naval questions, the military specialist urgent and anxious, the House of Representatives parsimonious and undecided.

The usual Advisory Board, whose advice will not be accepted, has recently sat and reported. The actual present state of affairs is forcibly expressed in an article from the "Boston Adver- tiser'

"

To-day we have not only no great guns, but our Ordnance Department confesses, or at least shows by its misfortunes, that it is entirely unable to make a single gun of the first order.

"

Congress, alive to the urgency of the situation, yet with due caution in initiating a system of defence involving millions of money, determined to build four 12-inch rifled guns, under an appro- priation of 400,000 dollars; last winter the Chief of Ordnance asked for an additional 400,000 dollars; the Senate, suspicious, appointed a Committee of Investigation; Colonel Crispin only escaped exami- nation by the plea of an invincible illness.

"

Meanwhile, the building of the guns proceeded, and a test was lately made of two. The magni- tude of the attendant disaster will be readily seen in the bald statement that one of these guns was shattered at the third round and the other at the eighteenth."

So far as we at present know no really formidable gun is in existence in the United States. There is one 20-inch smooth-bore converted to 11-inch rifle, value doubtful.

The state of affairs which it was proposed to remedy is very clearly stated by the Chief of Engineers:-

"

The only modern guns of which we have any number are 8-inch rifles, carrying a shot of 180 lbs., fired with 35 lbs. of powder, of which there are on hand 110. It is understood that the Ordnance Department are constructing four breech-loading 12-inch rifles on the Krupp plan, which will carry shot of 800 lbs. fired with 300 lbs. of powder (these are the guns that burst), and that that Department will convert the 325 15-inch smooth-bores on hand, which at 1,200 yards are less efficient than the 9-inch rifle, into 11-inch breech-loading rifles carrying 500 lbs. fired with 90 lbs. (it has been decided to let the 15-inch smooth-bores alone, as well as the 10-inch: 'Service Journal,' 2nd June, 1882).

"Such is our condition for arming our coasts.

"

European Governments are rapidly replacing their old armaments by rifled guns of immense calibres,

and they are now making 17-inch rifles which weigh 100 tons and carry 2,000 lbs. fired with 470 lbs. of powder; these are the kind of guns we must mount in batteries against armoured vessels."

Until quite recently, the means for constructing heavy guns did not exist in the United States, but the Boston iron-works have recently got two 90-foot lathes, said to be largest in the world. Guns therefore can be constructed when the right system is found; but we may argue from their conduct in other matters that no great number of guns will be made, a serious matter when it is stated 4,000 are required to arm the coast fortresses efficiently. With the exception of the harbour of New York, to which attention will first be devoted, in all probability the outbreak of war will find the States' ports without efficient guns, unless " they have long enough warning to buy a few guns from Mr. Krupp."

Details of the existing guns are given in "Arthur," 1881, p. 1, and "Jones,” p. 7.

The most formidable are the 20-inch smooth-bore, the 300-pounder" Parrot," and the 8-inch rifle. As regards field artillery, machine guns, and small arms, although there may not be absolute simi- larity of pattern throughout the American army, we may reasonably suppose that, with their immense resources in the iron and small arms trade, there will be guns enough for the troops of all the smaller types, but heavy guns are not made in a day.

Obstructions and Torpedoes.

The extensive use of these forms a part of all the schemes of defence, but, like all other plans, they are at present rendered comparatively nugatory by insufficient appropriations. The very com- plete materials for the obstruction of the Potomac are comparatively useless, the timbers having rotted in store. The details of the system of defence to be adopted is naturally not published, but a recent publication of the United States' Government, by Lieutenant-Colonel Abbot (Int. Br. Library), shows that they are not behind other nations in knowledge of the subject. But the number of skilled men is insufficient, and although 100,000 dollars have been granted by Congress for experiments, further sums of 200,000 dollars, asked for casemates and mining galleries to low-water mark, have been refused.

Upon the whole, we are justified in concluding that in this, as in other preparacions, the United States will be behindhand. One or two harbours may be efficiently prepared, but the remainder will be defended by makeshifts, put down probably by unskilled men. Moreover, it is a well-known axiom that torpedoes are useless unless defended by well-armed works.

Page 582

Page 582

Page 582