Commander Terry. Has not the plan of separating the vessels of a fleet into groups been adopted in the French navy?
Commodore Parker. Any number of vessels may be called a group; but the peleton, an assemblage of four vessels, to which the English have given the distinctive name of group, was suggested by Admiral Willaune, of the French navy. I do not object to groups, but to detached groups, acting independently of each other.
Rear-Admiral Rodgers. Was not this plan adopted at Key West?
Commodore Parker. At Key West the vessels were separated into groups, in close supporting distance of each other.
Commander Farquhar. Supposing that sails and spars are eventually done away with, how will signals be made—above all, in action? Will a commander-in-chief be obliged to rely entirely on the hand-flag?
Commodore Parker. It win be easy to signal from a flag-polo before going into action. After once getting into action, I consider it useless to signal at all, except to the reserve; the plan of battle should be fully understood before going into action.
Rear-Admiral Rodgers. It was stated in the article that the maximum speed attained by the fleet during the maneuvers was four and a half knots. Was the result due to the slowness of the ships, or was it the fault of the commanding officers?
Commodore Parker. I believe it was entirely owing to the slowness of the vessels. In making the passage to the Bay of Florida signal was made to keep the speed up to five knots. The Shenandoah signaled that it was utterly impossible to do it. The best that the Wabash could do was six and a half knots. The Franklin could be forced up to nine, but could not keep up more than seven.
Rear-Admiral Rogers. I am loath to believe that the maximum speed of any fleet of the United States navy is only four and a half knots. I have commanded several of the vessels that have lately been assembled at Key West, and their speed was certainly much greater than four and a half knots. I cannot allow the statement to go out to the world without expressing my doubt about it. In regard to the use of steam, I agree with the views of Commodore Parker.
Commodore Parker. It is impossible to judge of the speed of a fleet by what can be done by single or detached vessels. All the vessels of a fleet must be possessed of great and permanent speed, or else the faster vessels must reduce their rate of speed to conform to that of the slower ones.
Lieutenant McLean. I have known the Shenandoah to make twelve knots when in good condition. As to doing away with sails, I think it would be very unwise. I have seen a steamer scudding before the wind under reefed topsails, her propeller being almost all the time two-thirds out of water. She would have been in a rather bad situation without her topsails.
Commander McNair. I am sure I have seen times when reefed topsails were very useful. I think it would be unwise to abandon the use of sails entirely.
Commodore Parker. In all my experience I have never seen such a storm as would have made it necessary for a steamer, not borne down by the pressure of the wind on her masts, spars, and rigging, to scud, especially if she were provided with a suitable drag. I would use sails merely as auxiliaries of steam.
Chief-Engineer Baker. The low rate of speed of the fleet assembled at Key West was owing to peculiar circumstances. Much of the machinery built during the late war by inexperienced contractors, at a time when the best material could not always be obtained, had deteriorated even from its original condition by the effects of wear and decay. When the Shenandoah, unable at the Key West fleet maneuvers to make five knots, was new, she was a twelve-knot ship, but her boilers have been worn out in long service. The vessels of the United States navy will in future be able to keep up a greater speed than four and a half knots.
It may be of interest to the Institute to know that one of the vessels lately built by the Navy Department, the Swatara, now employed in the expedition for observing the transit of Venus, has attained a speed of twelve knots, with only eight of her ten boilers in use. This performance was under steam alone, uninfluenced by wind and sea.
A vote of thanks was then tendered to Commodore Parker.
The chair was resumed by Rear Admiral Rodgers, but, there being no further business, the meeting adjourned.
Discussion Of The Paper Read By Lieut. Collins (No. 6).
Commodore Rodgers. Mr. Chairman, the labors of my brother officers in this and in other expeditions for the same purpose have reflected great credit upon the service. I am proud to mention that in the course of a recent conversation with a gentleman who is perhaps the greatest mathematician in this country, he remarked that the naval officers connected with the surveying expeditions across the Isthmus of Darien had rendered their names immortal; that the canal would without doubt be constructed eventually; and that the names of Selfridge, Lull, Shufeldt, and others, would be forever remembered with gratitude and respect. He attributed much of the success of these officers to the excellent education that many of them had received at the Naval Academy.
I think the time has arrived for naval officers to manifest an interest in the great improvements and scientific investigations that are now continually going on.
Commodore F. A. Parker. Mr. Chairman, I think it would be interesting to the members of the Institute to learn how it is proposed to avoid or overcome the obstacle presented by the bar at the mouth of the Atrato River, on which there are, I believe, only three or four feet of water.
Lieutenant Collins. It has been suggested to close up all the mouths of the delta except three, and in this manner increase the depth of water on the bar.
Rear-Admiral John L. Worden. I think the idea a good one. The great force thus added to the current would doubtless in time cut a sufficient channel through the bar.
Commodore Rodgers. Even if that plan should fail, the difficulty could be overcome by constructing a side canal similar to the one proposed at the delta of the Mississippi River.
Commander Greer. What is the width of the bar?
Lieutenant Collins. The width of the bar is about half a mile. After passing the bar, the water is from twenty-five to twenty-eight feet in depth. The river is about two thousand feet in width, and has a good broad channel, even in the dry season. The canal route proposed by Commander Selfridge is about twenty-eight miles in length, and will require three miles of tunneling. The entire cost is estimated at $56,000,000.
Commander Greer. What was the cost of the Suez Canal?
Commander Farquhar. The total cost was about $80,000,000; there are, however, no locks in the Suez Canal.
On motion of Rear-Admiral Worden, the thanks of the Institute were tendered to Lieutenant Collins for his very interesting paper.
The Institute then went into executive session.