[American.]
ARMY AND NAVY JOURNAL.
April 3, 1897. The Origin of the American Army. Chinese and Japanese Navies.
April 10. Naval Academy Graduates Association. The Heroism of Discipline. Accidents to Men-of-War.
April 17. The Alabama and the Prince George. Our Merchant Marine.
April 24. Education of Cadet Engineers. Why we should not favor Arbitration. Steam Navy of the United States.
May 1. The Genesis of a Great Soldier. The Battle of Chancellorsville. British Opinion of our Navy.
May 8. Efficiency of Monitor Vessels. Greece and Turkey.
May 15. The War with Greece. Revised Firing Regulations. The Six-year Naval Cadets. The Torpedo-boat Porter. The Time Occupied by Trials of Naval Vessels in France.
May 22. Iron Fortifications. Our Defective Dry Docks. New Navy and New Times.
May 29. The Mammoth of Ocean Liners. The New Firing Regulations.
June 5. Reform of Naval General Courts-Martial. New Firing Regulations.
ARMY AND NAVY REGISTER.
April 17, 1897. The Naval Armor Question. The Naval Reserve Fleet.
April 24. The Alabama and the Prince George Justly Compared.
May 1. Tribute to a Hero. Usefulness of Naval Militia.
May 8. The Torpedo-boat Porter. The Army: Its Employment in Time of Peace.
May 15. Russet Leather Horse Equipments. The Brooklyn Dry Docks.
May 22. Firing Regulations Revised. The Army; Its Employment in Time of Peace.
May 29. Army Small-Arms Firing Regulations. The Government is too Poor.
June 5. The Army; Its Employment in Time of Peace. Army Firing Regulations.
June 12. Marines at Ships’ Guns. The Army; Its Employment in Time of Peace.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NAVAL ENGINEERS.
May, 1897. The Construction, Installation and Performance of the Electric Lighting Plant at the Government Hospital for the Insane at Washington, D. C. Contract Trial of the Gresham. Experiments with an Air-Lubricated Journal. The Design and Testing of Centrifugal Fans. On Crank Shafts. The Contract Trials of the U. S. Gunboats Helena and Wilmington. The Application of the Compound Steam Turbine to the Purpose of Marine Propulsion.
JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERING SOCIETIES.
April, 1897. The Use of Electric Motors in Machine Shops. European Boiler Practice.
AMERICAN ELECTRICIAN.
April, 1897. The Insulation of Armature Cores. Thermo-Electric Batteries. Interior Wiring. Fly-Wheel Governors. Calculation of Wiring.
May. Dynamo Characteristics. Electric Pumping Construction of a Galvanometer. Interior Wiring. Steam Engine Economics. Lessons in Practical Electricity.
June. A Modem American Central Station. Central Station of Rouen, France. Central Station of Brighton, England. Multiple Expansion Engines and the Cost Account. Drop in Alternating Current Lines. The Economics of Power Transmission.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING.
June 1, 1897. Some Notes on the Manufacture of Incandescent Lamps. Higher Mathematics.
THE UNITED SERVICE.
March, 1897. The Siege of Hamburg. His Last Appearance. Depreciators of the Nation. The Yacht Gnome. Conversational Arithmetic. The Soldier’s Leisure Hours in a Western Army Post.
April. Washington as a Soldier. The Indian Mutiny in Fiction. The Yacht Gnome (continued). Conversational Arithmetic (continued).
JOURNAL OF THE U. S. CAVALRY ASSOCIATION.
March, 1897. Work of the Cavalry in Protecting Yellowstone National Park. Horse-shoeing. The Shelter Tent. Campaigning in Arizona and New Mexico, 1895-6. Device for Loading and Unloading Cavalry Horses in Movements by Rail. Notes on Feeding Cavalry Horses.
ENGINEERING NEWS AND AMERICAN RAILWAY JOURNAL. April 15, 1897. Compressed Air for Blowing Fog Signals. May 20. The Frames of the Friedrich (illustrated). Leaks in the Brooklyn Dry Docks.
THE ENGINEER.
April 10, 1897. The Rotary Steam Engine. Corrosion and Scale from Feed Waters. Heating Feed Water by Exhaust Steam.
April 24. Marine Propulsion in the Past. The Steam Turbine. Spontaneous Combustion of Coal.
May 22. Coaling War-ships at Sea. The Manufacture of Guns in the United States. Official Trials of the Helena and Wilmington.
June 5. Experiment in Boiler Bracing.
JOURNAL OF THE MILITARY SERVICE INSTITUTION.
May, 1897. Proper Military Instruction. The Present Status of Field Artillery. Ammunition Supply in Foreign Armies. Proposed Uniform Examinations. A Sketching Board.
JOURNAL OF THE UNITED STATES ARTILLERY.
No. 25, March-April, 1897. Field Shrapnel and the Cannon of the Present. Some Notes on our Artillery Target Practice. An Improved Method of Hauling Heavy Guns. The Progressive Development of the Schools for Artillery Practice in Germany. An Experiment with Militia in Heavy Artillery Work. Report on Development of a Photo Retardograph.
THE IRON AGE.
April 22, 1897. A Year’s Shipwrecks. The Armor Question. May 6. Profits on Armor Plate Manufacture. Armor Plate Negotiations.
May 20. Iron Fortifications (illustrated). A Recent Bethlehem Plate (illustrated). The Light House Establishment. Petroleum Fuel for Vessels.
May 27. The Manufacture of the Colt Navy Revolver, Model 1895.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.
April 10, 1897. First-class Battle-ship Iowa. Patents of Naval Officers.
April 17. No Bids for Armor Plate. The Battle-ship Iowa. May 1. Nickel Steel Armor. Large Shipment of Army Cannon.
May 8. Naval Parade, Grant Monument Dedication. The Fastest Vessel Afloat.
May 22. Brooklyn Navy Yard Dry Dock Leak. Inventor of the Automatic Gun. Gun Manufacture in the United States. Brooklyn Navy Yard Dry Dock Leak. Mast Arm Electric Lamp.
June 5. Improved Rapid-fire Guns.
June 19. Two New Atlantic Steamships. Great Steamships’ Engines. Oiling Ships’ Hulls. The Torpedo-boat Porter.
CASSIER’S MAGAZINE.
June, 1897. Steam and Hydraulic Steering Gears. The Evolution of the British Coasting Steamer.
SEABOARD.
April 1, 1897. Speed of Gunboats Wilmington and Helena. Description of Gunboats.
April 8 and 15. Senator Elkins’ Speech for Discriminating Duties. Bonus on the Iowa.
April 22. Senator Elkins’ Speech (continued). Official Report on the Trial of the New Gunboats.
April 29. Senator Elkins’ Speech (continued).
[Foreign.]
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION.
April, 1897. The Relative Advantages of Voluntary and Compulsory Service, both from a Military and a National Point of View. Shorthand in the Army. Swiss Regiments à l’étranger. The Construction and Working of Belleville Boilers. The First Forcing of the Khaibar Pass, 1838-39. Naval and Military Notes. May. The Relative Advantages and Disadvantages of Voluntary and Compulsory Service, both from a Military and a National Point of View. The National Study of Military History. Obok and the Country Bordering on the Gulf of Tajura.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION.
April, 1897. The British Army in the Continent of Europe. Coast Defense.
May. The Science of Frontier Delimitation. Direct and Indirect Fire. Encampments in Hill Warfare on the N. W. Frontier of India.
ENGINEERING.
March 26, 1897. The U. S. Battle-ship Alabama (illustrated). Manning the Navy. The Prevention of the Vibration in Steamships. The Stevens Battery (illustrated).
April 2. New Battle-ship for the Japanese Navy (illustrated). The Growth of a Japanese Steamship Company. The Prevention of the Vibration of Steamships. Maxim’s Testing Apparatus for Smokeless Powder (illustrated).
April 9. Dry-Back Marine Boiler (illustrated). Ascertaining the Stability of Ships (illustrated). Apparatus for Measuring Stellar Photographs (illustrated). Water-tube Boilers in Warships.
April 16. British Sailors and British Ships. Re-arming the Older Ironclads. The Steam Turbine and Marine Propulsion (illustrated). Designing Ship’s Lines. The Accelerity Diagram of the Steam Engine (illustrated).
April 23. The U. S. S. Terror and the Pneumatic System as Applied to the Guns, Turrets and Rudder (illustrated). The Hotchkiss Automatic Gun (illustrated). Automatic Machine Guns.
April 30. Rapson’s Slide as Applied to the Steering of Large Ships. Nickel Steel (illustrated).
May 7. Lyall’s Water-tube Boiler (illustrated). The Accident to H. M. S. Star.
May 21. The Rocket.
June 4. Petroleum as Steam Engine Fuel (illustrated). Rotary vs. Reciprocating Marine Engines (illustrated).
THE ENGINEER.
March 26, 1897. Canal Communication from the Midlands to the Sea (illustrated). Some Great Liners. The New Japanese Battle-ships (illustrated). The Chilian Cruiser Esmeralda (illustrated).
April 2. Aluminum: Its Present and Future, No. 1. The Alabama and the Prince George (illustrated). Behr Lightning Express Railway Carriage. Hamburg-American Liners Pennsylvania and Arabia (illustrated). Marine Propulsion in the Past. The latest Japanese Battle-ship.
April 9. Water-tube Boilers in War-ships. The Steering Gear of the Japanese Battle-ship Fuji (illustrated). Recent Trials of the Cruisers Powerful and Terrible. Mechanical Method of Ascertaining Stability of Ships. British and Foreign Armor and Shot.
April 16. On the Fighting Value of Certain of the Older Ironclads if Re-armed. Sims-Dudley Powder-Pneumatic Gun (illustrated). Hotchkiss Automatic Machine Gun Trial. Navy Boilers. The Use of the Mean Water-Line in Designing the Line of Ships. The Application of the Compound Steam Turbine to the Purpose of Marine Propulsion.
April 23. Aluminum: Its Present and Future, No. 2. Recent Developments in Mercantile Ship Construction. The Cruiser Brooklyn, United States Navy (illustrated). Woolwich Arsenal. H. M. S. Swordfish and Spitfire (illustrated).
April 30. Harvey Nickel Plate Trials (illustrated). Steam Pinnaces for the Admiralty. The French Submarine Cable-Laying and Repairing Steamer Portena (illustrated).
May 7. Recent Developments in Mercantile Ship Construction, No. 2. Army Signaling and its Use in War. A New Chronograph (illustrated). Submarine Telegraphy during War (illustrated). The Augusta Victoria (illustrated). Bigler’s Signal Buoy (illustrated).
May 21. Aluminum: Its Present and Future, No. 3. The Steamship La Grande Duchesse (illustrated).
May 28. Aluminum: Its Present and Future, No. 4. Water- tube Boilers in the Mercantile Marine.
June 4. The Naval Section of the Victorian Exhibition, Crystal Palace. The Birkenhead Destroyers. The French Navy.
MORSKOI SBORNIK.
March, 1897. Discussion of Problems in Naval Tactics. Classification of Fighting Ships. Notes on Ordnance and Armor. Trial of the Machinery of the English Cruiser Terrible. The Dalnometer (range-finder). Meteorology as the Science of Wind Vortices..
Professional Notes: Naval Strength of Foreign Fleets in Cretan Waters. Launches of the English Cruisers Niobe and Doris. Shipbuilding Programmes, England and France.
April. Discussion pf Problems in Naval Tactics. Outline of English Landing Expeditions. The United States Navy, 1895-96. The Price of Armor (Report of the Secretary of the U. S. Navy). Determinate of Astronomical Base in Nova Zembla. Note upon Stoppage of Leaks in the Iron-clad Admiral Greig.
Professional Notes: English Shipbuilding in 1896. English Naval Budget, 1897. Trial of the Jauréguiberry. Spanish Torpedo-boat Destroyers Terror and Furor. A New Portuguese Cruiser. J. B. B.
ANNALEN DER HYDROGRAPHIE UND MARITIMEN METEOROLOGIE.
No. III, 1897. Hydrographic Remarks on the Chusan Archipelago, Woosung, and Mouth of the Yantse. Oil for Quieting the Sea. Determination of Geographic Positions on Land without the Use of Astronomical Instruments.
No. IV. Report on Drift Ice in the Indian Ocean. Mist- poeffers.
Investigation of the mysterious sounds or reports occurring along the Flemish and Dutch coasts, as well as in the interior, especially on sunny days, and designated mist-poeffers.
Hydrographic Researches in the Red Sea.
Appendix I. Middle Distances of Steamer Routes in Sea Miles.
The table gives distances between the principal ports of the world, alphabetically arranged.
MILITÄR WOCHENBLATT.
Nos. 22 to 28, March, 1897. The Attack and Defense of Constantinople from the Land Side. Condition of Greek Navy.
No. 30. American Pneumatic Guns. Effectiveness of Small Calibered Rifles.
No. 32. Increase of French Navy.
No. 37. Military and Naval Manoeuvres, 1897, *n Austria. No. 39. English Field Piece of Mounted Batteries.
DEUTSCHE HEERESZEITUNG.
No. 20, March 13, 1897. The Gunners of Lissa Island.
In memory of the heroic defense of the island by the Austrian artillerymen against the attacking Italian fleet, July 18, 19 and 20, 1866.
Trafalgar and To-day (continued).
Nos. 21 and 22. Trafalgar and To-day (concluded). Italy’s Naval Shipbuilding.
The following ships are under construction, time of completion 1897 to 1899: First-class battle-ship Admiral St. Bon, building at Venice, 345 feet long, 69 feet beam, 13,500 horse-power. The sister ship, Emanuel Philibert, is building at Castellamare di Stabia. Second-class battle-ships Joseph Garibaldi and Varese, the former at Sestri Ponente, the latter at Leghorn, are of 6840 tons displacement, 13,000 horse-power, 330 feet long, 60 feet beam, armed with two 10-inch, ten 6-inch, and six 4.7-inch guns. The Victor Pisani, at Castellamare, of 6500 tons, 325 feet long, 59 feet beam, armed with twelve 6-inch, six 4.7-inch guns and two launching tubes. The Agordat and Coatit, at Castellamare, are 6th class vessels, of 7000 horse-power, 287 feet long, 31 feet beam, armed with four 4.7- inch, eight 57-millimeters and two 37-millimeters rapid-fire guns and 2 launching tubes. A torpedo destroyer, at Sestre Ponenti, of usual Italian type.
No. 23. The First German Torpedo-boat Destroyer.
Nos. 25 and 26. Vessels of the German Navy to be Launched in 1897.
Five, possibly six, ships-of-war will be launched in Germany during the present year. The second-class cruisers K, L and Ersatz Freya will be ready in the spring.
These cruisers are of 6000 tons displacement, and correspond to cruisers 1st class of other navies. They will be fitted with cork cofferdams, three separate engines, water-tube boilers, liquid fuel arrangements, and batteries of rapid-fire guns. The batteries will consist of two 21-cm. guns, one forward, one aft, in revolving turrets, four 15-cm. guns in turrets and four in casemates, ten 8.7-cm., ten 3.7-cm. guns and eight .8-cm. machine-guns.
The other vessels are the armored cruiser Ersatz Leipzig and the battle-ship Ersatz Friedrich der Grosse. The Leipzig is of 10,650 tons displacement, to make 20 knots with 15,000 horse-power. The battery consists of rapid-fire guns, viz. four 24-cm. 40-caliber guns in revolving turrets, twelve 15-cm. and ten 8.7-cm. guns, ten 3.7-cm. machine-guns, and eight Maxims.
The battle-ship of 11,000 tons, three engines, triple screw; armor-belt thickness up to 30 cm.; battery of four 24-cm. guns in barbettes, eighteen 15-cm., twelve 8.7-cm., twenty-four 5-cm. guns, twelve 3.7-cm. machine- guns and some Maxims, making a total armament of 78 guns.
On the Four Panama Canals and their Influence upon Ocean Lines of the World.
No. 27. Shipbuilding Program in the Reichstag for 1897.
Nos. 31 to 37. Modern Artillery Problems Viewed from a Tactical Standpoint. The New German Cruisers.
No. 37. The Squadrons of the Powers in the East Mediterranean in April, 1897. The Italian Cei Rifle.
Nos. 38 and 39. Reorganization of the Technical Troops.
MITTHEILUNGEN AUS DEM GEBIETE DES SEEWESENS.
Vol. XXV, No. 5, 1897. The English Fleet Manoeuvres, 1896. Zanzibar. The Turbinia. Foreign Navies.
No. 6. The New Rules of the Road at Sea. Tests of Face- hardened Nickel-steel Armor Plates.
Test of an 8-inch Creusot plate intended for the turrets of the Danish battle-ship Skjold, and test of two Italian 6-inch plates manufactured at Terni.
England’s Naval Budget, 1897 to ’98. Foreign Navies.
MARINE RUNDSCHAU.
April, 1897. History of the Fleet (continued). Lack of Cruisers and Utility of Cruisers. Two Episodes of the year 1798: 1, Weakness of Nelson’s Fleet in Cruisers in his Pursuit of Bonaparte to Egypt; 2, The Importance of Cruisers in the Destruction of Commodore Bonapart’s Expedition in 1798. Floating the Grounded Russian Cruiser Rossija. Plans for the Rapid and Efficient Ventilation of Coal-bunkers without Removal of Bunker Plates. The Austrian Torpedo-cruiser Magnet, Cheops, Osakku, Jeddo.
May. History of the Fleet (continued). Fighting Values of the Navies of the World. A New Invention for Utilizing the Forces of Waves and Tides. The Murman coast. German Mythology in Connection with the Names given to recent German Naval Vessels. Naval Notes.
June. History of the Fleet (continued). The Struggle for the East Asiatic Trade. Activity of the “Zieten.” France’s Sea Fishery and its Connection with l’lnscription Maritime. Upstarts in the German Sailor Language. Naval Notes.
H. G. D.
UNITED SERVICE GAZETTE.
March 27, 1897. French Aspirations to Sea Power. Our Naval Resources in Time of War.
April 3. The Education and Training of Naval and Military Cadets. The Influence of Public Opinion on the Navy.
May 15. The Entry of Naval Cadets. The Development of the Torpedo-boat.
May 29. The Navy and the Country.
June 5. Our Proposed Standard of Naval Strength.
THE STEAMSHIP.
April, 1897. The Navy Estimates, 1897-98. The New Japanese Battle-ships (illustrated). Liquid Fuel (illustrated). Harrison’s Noiseless Steering Engines (illustrated).
May. Estimation of the Power of Steamships at Sea. A Mechanical Method of Ascertaining the Statical Stability of Ships (illustrated).
June. Martin’s Ship’s Light Indicator (illustrated). Institute of Marine Engineers. Launch of Two British War-ships. New Method of Propelling Steamers (illustrated).
JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 1896.
Reminiscences of the Chitral Campaign. Railways in Warfare. High Explosives and Field Fortifications.
LE YACHT.
March 6, 1897. The Use of Turbines as Motors. The Battleship Masséna.
The Massena, built by the Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, upon plans furnished by M. de Bussy, former naval inspector, has been carefully designed both as to armament and protection. Its speed of 17 knots is considered amply sufficient for a battle-ship. Its radius of action is that pertaining to that class of vessels. Its principal characteristics are: Length, 112.65 m.; breadth, 28.31 m.; draft, aft, 8.16 m.; displacement, 11,924 tons; normal horse-power, 9200; guaranteed speed with natural draft, 17 knots.
Its armament consists of 2 guns of 305 mm., 2 of 274 mm., 8 of 138.6 mm., all in closed turrets of the Creusot manufacture. There are besides in the superstructures 8 guns of 100 mm., protected by simple shields, with numerous 47 and 37 mm. guns. The calibers 138 mm. and under are quick-firing. The 305 mm. and 274 mm. are placed, the first in the axis of the vessel, the second on the sides about amidships, each in a separate closed turret 40 cm. thick in the rotating part and 35 cm. in the fixed part down to the protective deck. The turrets are worked by hydraulic power of the Creusot system. The big guns are provided with the Farcot breech block. The 138 mm. guns are 45 calibers long. The dispositions of the batteries are such that it can fire at once 11 guns, either forward or aft, and the same number broadsides.
The Massena has 4 torpedo tubes, 2 below water and 2 above. The steel hull is double the whole length of the ship, and carefully divided into water-tight compartments. There is no projecting keel.
Two side or bilge keels of teak wood lined over with galvanized sheets 45 cm. wide extend over a part of the ship and contribute to the platform stability. The stem of forged steel has the sharp, slender shape of the cruisers of the Bussy types, favorable to speed, and free the heavy waves forward when going at a rapid rate. The stern-post of cast steel. The armor protection is ample, representing 4000 tons in a 12,000 ton displacement, or one-third the total weight. Above the protective deck extends a continuous line of cofferdams with an outer light plating called the cofferdam plate. Floatability thus seems secured in nearly every case incident to battle. The vitals are protected against the action of powerful explosives, first by the belt of cofferdams, which will cause them to burst outward, and then by the splinter screen deck in case of portions of the main deck being broken off. In short, in regard to the composition and distribution of its armament, the Massena is decidedly an improvement upon all former constructions and has no superior in any navy.
March 13. The Fleets of Greece and Turkey. The Coast- defense Vessel Amiral Trehouart.
March 20. The Navy Estimates in the French Senate.
March 27. The English Naval Budget.
April 3. The Duration of Acceptance Trials in France.
April 10. The Harbor of Bizerta.
April 17. The Appropriatibn for the New Constructions.
The composition of the fighting units in the programme before Parliament to be carried out between now and 1905 is as follows: 6 battleships, 22 cruisers, 7 despatch or station gunboats, 35 despatch torpedo- boats or destroyers, and 150 sea-going or coast defense torpedo-boats.
April 24. The Graeco-Turkish War on the Seas. The Decimal Time (Hour).
May 1. The Accident on Board the Russian Battle-ship Sissoi-Veliky.
May 9. Stability and Floatability during Battle. The Prince George.
May 15. Orientation of the Submarine Boat, with Reference to the Enemy.
Considers the various means of locating the enemy’s vessel from an approaching submarine boat. The optical tube with mirrors; the periscope of Major Daudenart, which takes instantaneous photographs, all present objectionable features. Mirrors become dimmed, they are visible from afar, for their use the boat must be near the surface. The simplest plan and best under these circumstances is to rise to the surface and use the direct vision through the air.
If close to the enemy, the conditions are different, and the best means of steering for him are yet to be solved. Lateral submerged mirrors, capable of adjustment from the interior of the boat, are suggested. The use of oil is advocated for calming the sea above. Visibility under water is under most favorable circumstances very limited. Results of Mr. Herman Fol’s experiments are quoted. As a last resort is suggested a means of locating the exact position by a sounding apparatus, used in connection with the depth registering apparatus, and a chart of the waters operated in, giving in minute details the depths and hydrographic features, so that the boat can feel its way along in the dark, as it were.
Trials of the Turbinia.
May 22. Germany’s Naval Strategy. The Spanish Cruiser Cristobal Colon.
Gives full description with two illustrations.
Merchant Marine.
May 29. Propositions of M. Lockroy with Reference to Naval Program. Industrial Progress of the Arsenals. J. L.
REVUE MARITIME.
January, 1897. Geometry of the Diagrams. Medical Service on Board in Action. Development and Progress of the German Navy. A Note on the Use of Torpedo-boats.
February. A Memoir: Delivery of Toulon to the English in 1793. Aerial Currents; their Courses, and their Utilization by Aerostats. The Atmometer, “an ingenious device for measuring evaporation.”
March. Geometry of Naval Tactics. Study of Budget Specialties. Air Currents, their Direction and Utilization. Method of Indicating Courses Steered at Night by a Steamer.
April. Reports on Macassar collected by the Duguay-Trouin. Air Currents (continued). Study of Budget Specialties (concluded). J. L.
LE MONITEUR DE LA FLOTTE.
March 6, 1897. The Crisis in the Merchant Navy.
Statistics show that for several years past the sea commerce of France has been steadily declining. Time and again laws have been enacted in Congress to check the evil, but they have been powerless in arresting the downward movement.
In 1881 a system of premiums to construction and navigation was established; but the law only covered a period of ten years, and although continued with slight modifications up to the present time, it failed in its ends, owing to the uncertainty of its provisions. The consequences are that the French ship-yards, once so active and prosperous, are now nearly deserted; ship-owners finding it to their advantage to buy their vessels in foreign countries, principally in England.
March 13. Naval Programs.
In 1891, M. Barbey, then Minister of Marine, presented a program which was at first favorably viewed by Congress. But the following year the naval committee cut down the appropriation, and the result of this dilatory policy has been that an extraordinary effort is now made necessary in order to return the navy to its proper standard. If the program of 1891 had been carried out in its integrity, the government would have built or put on the stocks since January 1892 50 fighting units, exclusive of torpedo-boats. Actually it can only reckon on 35, or 15 units less than proposed, to wit; 3 battle-ships, 6 armored cruisers, 6 torpedo-catchers or destroyers, etc. Hence the reason for the enormous appropriation asked for this year for new constructions. It has been decided in the new naval program that the actual, whether afloat or building, shall be increased by 220 new fighting units of various types: 6 battle-ships, 22 cruisers, 7 despatch or station gun-vessels, 35 despatch torpedo-boats or destroyers, and 150 sea-going or coast defense torpedo-boats, construction to begin at once and to be pushed rapidly to obtain the needed units. Eighty millions of francs over and above the yearly appropriation are thus to be distributed over a period of eight years.
April 17. The Composition of the Fleet.
The promulgation of the new naval construction could not fail to awaken, and has as a matter of fact revived in all its bitterness the smouldering discussions and polemics touching the respective value of the units composing a modern fleet. The scoffers and revilers of the armored battle-ship have resumed their criticisms of what they call derisively the “Mastodons” and “Cathedrals” of the sea; once more they have denounced the “folly,” the “stupidity” of those who assume that given certain circumstances, the battle-ship is a weapon of war of no mean value. They proclaim that the cruiser answers every purpose, and should therefore enter alone in the composition of a fleet. On the other hand they have purposely avoided mentioning the tonnage of the cruiser of their choice. Shall it be a large cruiser or a medium size one? Will it be a heavily armored cruiser, a protected cruiser, or simply a commerce destroyer (pirate-cruiser)? They are studiously vague on this, a most important point. It is no part of the discussions of these gentlemen to enter into details, to follow closely the data of the problems. Their rallying cry is, “ Death to the Mastodons, fatal only to their own crews.” They will not listen to other arguments, and after proclaiming the exclusive use in the navy of high speed vessels with great radius of action, they feel confident they have proved their case. What is gall to the champions of the cruiser, what is beyond their comprehension, is that the new building program should contain a proviso for the immediate construction of six battle-ships. They seem to lose sight of the fact that the Triple Alliance have numerous battle-ships afloat and are building many more. They also forget that victory must belong to the one whose power of resistance is most enduring. They make a great ado about end-on attacks in which light plates will offer as much resistance as thick plates. Yet nothing is more problematic than such theory. . . On the other hand, is has been advanced that the monitor (sea-going monitor) might probably supersede with advantage the ordinary type of the modern battle-ship. Such a vessel would possess some striking analogy with the ship designed by M. Bertin, in course of construction at Cherbourg, and named Henri IV.
May 8. The Composition of the Fleet, III. J. L.
REVUE DU CERCLE MILITAIRE.
February 27, 1897. Projected Tactics Regulations for the Russian Infantry. French Military Arts at the Brussels Exposition of 1897. An Historical Account of the Madagascar Expedition.
March 6. The Niger Hydrographic Mission. An Historical Account of the Madagascar Expedition (continued).
March 13. Probable Lines of Operations in the Event of a Conflict between the Franco-Russian Alliance and the Triple Alliance.
A very interesting study.
March 20. The History of the Military Folding Bicycle. An Account of the Expedition to the Island of Madagascar (with photographs).
March 27. Preparatory Military Instruction. A Pocket Field Glass.
April 3. An Expedition into the Heart of Africa. Preparatory Military Instruction (continued).
April 10. The Madagascar Expedition.
April 17. Field Artillery Tactics.
May 1. Military Shelter Cabins in the Swiss Alps.
May 8 and 15. The Irish Brigade in the French Service. German Warfare in East Africa.
May 22 and 29. German Warfare in East Africa (continued). The Landside Defense of Constantinople. Entrance Examinations to Naval School in 1897. J• L.
SOCIÉTÉ DES INGÉNIEURS CIVILS.
January, 1897. A Study of a Type of Navy Marine Boiler.
The boiler must present the following characteristics: 1st, Strong with a least liability to explosion. 2nd, Sufficiently low built to allow of its installation under the armored decks, and compact, in order to take as little space as possible in all directions. 3rd, Capable of supplying at a given moment a considerable quantity of dry steam. 4th, Moderately light so as to permit a greater stowage of fuel and ammunition and an increase of armor protection. 5th, Capable of sustaining without risks the most sudden changes in the rate of steaming. 6th, Easy for handling and repairing with the means on board. 7th, Ready at the shortest notice in cases of emergency, and so constructed that spare pieces may be taken on board. 8th, Saving in fuel. 9th, Moderate in cost.
February. A French Expedition in a Balloon to the North Pole, by M. Surcouf. An Essay on the Determination of the Form of Least Resistance to the Motion of the Submarine Boat.
March. Railroad from Senegal to the Niger. The Manufacture and Industrial Uses of Ozone. J. L.
REVISTA TECNOLOGICO INDUSTRIAL.
February, 1897. A Note on the Starting of a Train and a Means of Facilitating the Operation.
March. Electrical Transmission in Industrial Establishments.
April. The Engines and Boilers of the Emperador Carlos V. (with two plates). Electrical Transmission in Industrial Establishments.
REVISTA MARITIMA BRAZILEIRA.
March, 1897. The Knowledge of a Naval Officer.
La Marine Militaire published some time ago an article under the nom de plume of Jean de la Poulaine, in which the writer pretends to prove that of all naval officers of the European or North American navies, the English are the most deficient in general knowledge. This assertion is based, it must be understood, upon the insufficiency of the scientific education received by the cadets on board the Britannia, and later, as midshipmen on board men-of-war.
April. Organization of the Brazilian Navy. The Obry Apparatus for Regulating Torpedoes. Problems in Naval Strategy.
RIVISTA DI ARTIGLIERIA E GENIO.
April, 1897. Firing Tables. The Defensive System of the Tyrol. Hotchkiss Automatic Gun. New Artillery Firing Instructions. Miscellaneous Notes.
May. The Rifle which does not Kill. Effects of Bullets from Small-calibered Rifles. The Theorem of Least Stress Applied to the Shrinkage of Gun Hoops. How to Compare Firing Exercises, Infantry and Artillery. Carrier Pigeons for Military Uses. Theory of Coast Artillery. Regulating the Fire of a Battery. Miscellaneous Notes.
BOLETIN DEL CENTRO NAVAL.
February and March, 1897. Spontaneous Combustion of Coal Aboard Ships. Official Inspection of the Squadron and Report of the Board. Brief Points on Modern Naval Warfare (continued). New Victory of Gun over Armor. Naval Ordnance in Connection with Old and Modern Powders.
REVIEWERS AND TRANSLATORS.
Prof. Jules Leroux. Lieut. J. B. Bernadou, U. S. Navy.
Lieut. H. G. Dresel, U. S. Navy.