The American Navy in the Pacific.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XXIX, Issue 9020, 22 April 1898, Page 2

The American Navy in the Pacific.

The New York Herald publishes the ■ following respecting the American navy in the Pacific :— It has been decided by the Navy Department to keep on the Pacific coast the full force of. naval vessels now there. Department officials recog nise the fact that the strength of the North Atlantic tquadron would be« greatly increased by attaching the battleship Oregon to Bear-Admiral Sicard's command, but they ajpsrsia'e the importance of defending the ports of the Atlantic coast by vessels of the monitor type. ' ..' \> '. • There are now .stationed on the Pacific .coast the Oregon, the cna&t defence vessels' Monterey.and Momjnock, sud the training-ship Adaiw, The Oregon, whioh is at Puget §cund f

will be, ordered to leave that port and '< proceed to San Francisco harbour, and Ji'er place in Northern waters will be probitrily taken by the Monterey. Thi Department recently directed that thMouarl nock be laid in reserve, bub I liesorders have not yet been carried out. And she will probably be sent to Sai Die<|c. Be. ides these ships the Departing has at Honolulu the ciuiser Baltimore and the gunboat Bennington. Nf orders have been issued for the return of these ..vessels m view of the aspirations of.the.-administration to-bring these islands within Americnn juiis diction. ' . The cruiser Aiertand the gui.bo«i Marietta are in Nicaniguan and Guate maldii waters respectively. These ships will be ordered to San Francisco if an emergency arises, and will hold themselves' in readiness ior active service. The Department does nob anticipate . that a fleet will be sent to the Pacific coast, ,bub there is an expectation that a.detached; armoured cruiser may bp ordered around to the Pacific to make a demonstration, ' Qneof the objects of the Department in securing sufficient men to place the cruisers Columbia and Minneapolis in commission is to attach them to RearAdrairal. Sicard's command at Key 1 West, With these vessels in Southern waters it will be an easy mattf-r to have them joined by the cruisers New •;.. York and Brooklyn, and to send bhem to Spanish waters, probably Cadiz. Authorities say that the Columbia, tho'Minneapolis, the Brooklyn, and the New York will be ideal ships to form 1 a flying squadron. The Columbia and Minneapolis have bunker capacities of 1670 tons of coal each, the Brooklyn 1750, and the New York 1290; Their steaming radius is sufficiently large.to enable them to carry out the programme contemplated by the Department, and so far as obtaining coal on the other side is concerned, the authorities point out ' that although coal was a contraband of war during the rebellion, ships of ', the Union had no difficulty in getting ' from English merchants all they wanted, y • On the Pacific coast the positions of i greatest importance are Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, and; contingent on i the projected improvements, San 1 Pedro Bay. The conditions at the « entrance of the Columbia River are similar to those at Delaware Bay, as ' respects its naval importance. '' Owing ' to the great distances from this coast ( to the ports of any sea power, except f those of Great Britain to the north- r ward, the attack will be an attempt at ■ seizure of one of those' ports,"- ]