VISIT TO THE ARMSTRONG WORKS.
“The officers of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers of the United States with certain officers of the American navy were invited to meet the representative Naval Architects and Marine Engineers of foreign nations and participate in the meetings of the International Congress of these bodies in London during the month of July, 1897.
“After various entertainments under the auspices of the Institute and a visit to and reception by the Queen at Windsor Castle, the party went to Scotland; after visiting Glasgow and stopping at Edinburgh, where Sir Andrew Noble and Philip Watt, of the Armstrong Works, met them; they were to be escorted to the Works in the afternoon. Feeling sure that a visit of that kind to such a shipyard with a great crowd and in such limited time would be very unsatisfactory, and its results necessarily incomplete, I concluded to go on to Newcastle the night before and make an exhaustive visit to the works there before the arrival of the large crowd. This being the greatest shipyard in the world, I desired to examine its new constructions in progress, with regard to their novelties in device and design, in my own way and my own time, without being carried along by a great crowd as in a ‘personally conducted’ tour. I therefore went on to Newcastle the night previous to the projected visit. When I arrived at the hotel in Newcastle, I found a Russian Naval Architect, Mr. Tchernigovsky, in the act of registering, and had gone there for the same reasons that I had, and we concluded to go to the works together. When we arrived at the Armstrong Works and had registered our names and had asked to be conducted through the works, we found that all the principals had gone to Edinburgh, to return with visitors, and, after some hesitation on the part of the official in charge, we were escorted through the works by one of the clerks.
“We found that there were eighteen war vessels on the stocks! a list of which was found in the programme of the visit given us in the afternoon. The destination of the majority of the ships was known, but not indicated in the programme. Before we left Newcastle, I was enabled to locate all of the ships.
“We had not gone far in the shipyard before I saw a 7-inch armor plate suspended on slings ready for hoisting in its place on what appeared at first to be a high-speed, large protected cruiser, but on ascending the brow stage we found it to be an armored cruiser of advanced type and speed and with very heavy armor for that type of vessel.
“When we asked the young man as to the nationality of the ship he could not tell, but stated that was one of the ships building on account of the firm. This was as interesting to Mr. Tchernigovsky as it was to me, and our examination was rather prolonged, no objection being made by the young man who escorted us, who not being a mechanic was indifferent as to our actions. We found before we left the works that there were two or three battleships of advanced type and superior model and three or four armored cruisers, whose destination was unknown to the people at the works outside of the office. There was one thing that we were sure of, that these ships were not building by the company for sale, and that there was an important mystery to be solved.
“By the time we returned to the office, we found that the Edinburgh crowd had arrived, ready for luncheon, after which the whole party went through the works; there was but little time to see what was going on, and the character and the existence of these important ships entirely escaped the notice of the visitors. There were a number of Japanese and Chinese officers present with the visitors.
“We had for some time before this visit secured possession in China of copies of certain plans and specifications for an advanced type of armored cruiser, and after an examination we found that they were proposals of the Thames Iron Works for raising a loan and for building a fleet for the Chinese navy.
“The resemblance between the armored cruisers building and the Chinese plans was so great, that I am sure the Japanese ships were made from copies of the Thames Iron Works drawings. The whole scheme of the Thames Iron Works was excellent and feasible, and the Chinese lost a fine navy by not accepting the offer.
“I thought that the construction of such an advanced type of war vessel under the conditions was of sufficient importance to inform Lieutenant Colwell, our Naval Attaché at the United States Embassy. When I called on him, he seemed surprised to find that I had made the ‘discovery;’ and he stated that he had wired a cipher despatch to Washington describing the ships, and that they were for the Japanese, and that he had been informed of it by the Chinese Naval Attaché, who was a very bright man and whose knowledge of the fact was from an absolutely correct source. Mr. Colwell stated that no one but the Chinese Attaché and himself was aware of it outside of the Armstrong’s and the British government. Of course, the last persons to be suspected of knowing anything about the matter were the Japanese. Mr. Colwell was well posted as to the object of the great enterprise.
“It was easy for Armstrong’s to keep a matter of this kind quiet, as they had built so many war vessels for various countries, and with eighteen on the stocks they would not be noticed; and, besides, they were never without one or two vessels under construction for sale.
“The character of the vessels and the information that I gathered from Mr. Colwell and the Chinese Attaché, and the fact that London was filled with foreign naval officers, diplomats, and others in attendance on the festivities, gave me opportunities to secure much important information as to what was going on behind the scenes. The Japanese in numbers and importance exceeded the delegates of the other nationalities that participated in the Naval Architects’ ceremonies, and they were treated in the most obsequious and deferential manner by all of the British dignitaries, ship-builders, ordnance and armor makers, dealers in supplies, and the English people generally.
“Soon after the Armstrong visit I met a Japanese nobleman, Marquis Ito, or Iendo, at the Lord Mayor’s reception. He was the head and front of the Japanese contingent, judging from the amount of adulation that prominent British dignitaries and ship-builders accorded him. Desiring to be sure of the facts in relation to the Japanese ships at the Armstrong Works I accosted him with an air of knowing all about it and as if there was no use of his denying it,—hurrying along with my description in elaborate detail, giving him no opportunity to reply,—I said: ‘Oh, Marquis Ito! I have just examined your very fine ships at the Armstrong Works. They are superior to anything in any navy, British or any other, and with the speed of twenty knots and 7-inch armor and excellent model, etc.;’ running along without giving him time to reply until I got out of breath and stopped.
“During my talk his face was a study. It was impossible to note or guess at his impressions, and I was extremely doubtful as to the result; but the fact that we were then building a Japanese war vessel, the ‘Kasagi,’ led him to believe that I knew something, particularly as my elaborate description in detail of the qualities of the ships under construction was correct; so, being sure that I was thoroughly posted, he made no denial, but bowed smilingly and with an air of approval. I had no opportunity of discussing the new fleet with Mr. Tchernigovsky after we left the Armstrong Works, but from information I subsequently received I was satisfied that his early visit to Newcastle was not accidental.
“The discovery of the construction of this fleet was the origin of my article on ‘The Coming Sea Power’ in the North American Review of October, 1897.
“I ascertained while in London, from additional sources not to be mentioned here, that the construction of these ships was undertaken in consequence of a secret alliance between Great Britain and Japan to prevent the United States from securing possession of the Sandwich Islands and to head off the Russians in the Pacific, etc.
“The great engineering strike in Great Britain during this time delayed the delivery of the Japanese vessels and the construction of the great fleet of British ships then under way for two or three years, and the whole thing fell through because the favorable opportunity had passed. The delay gave them time to think it over. And, besides, we were beginning to make a show of naval power. It was also at this time that the Germans were beginning to show their practical aspirations in the direction of ‘sea power.’
“The construction of the ships and their object was known also to Captain Gregorovitch, Russian Naval Attaché in London, and that probably accounted for the visit of Mr. Tchernigovsky.
“One interesting circumstance in connection with this strike and its consequences was the fact that under the operations of the strike a very large number of the best English shipyard workmen and engineers went to Germany, and became permanently located there in the shipyards; and while their absence crippled Great Britain, they more than any other cause advanced the construction of the German navy; so that while the leaders of the strike in England gained nothing by it there for the engineers but disaster to themselves and their country, they were conspicuously instrumental in assisting the most powerful rival of England.
“It would be an interesting subject for reflection or discussion as to what might have been the consequences if the strike had not occurred and the Japanese and British fleets had been finished two years before they were.
“At the time these fleets were started there existed throughout the naval world a lull in war-vessel output, particularly so in Russia and the United States, until some time after the announcement of the Japanese policy. The Germans had, however, been much in advance in the way of waking up and realizing the real situation.”
The programme of the visit to the Armstrong Works embraced the following list of war vessels then building there. This programme did not indicate the destination of any of these ships, so far as they were being built for foreign account, and that designation included all of them except one third-class cruiser of 2800 tons displacement building there for the English navy. Therefore the destinations of all war-ships then building at the Armstrong Works which are noted in the margin of the programme are those dropped from other sources of information, all of which turned out to be absolutely true. It should be explained here that the policy of the Armstrong Company in building vessels of war for foreign navies always was to keep their destination secret as long as possible. And here it may be added that Brassey’s “Naval Annual,” the most comprehensive work of its kind that ever existed, did not in its issue for the year 1897 contain the destination of any of these ships building at Armstrong’s for foreign account, and that the same work for the next year did give their destinations based upon the disclosures made by Mr. Cramp in connection with Commander Colwell, our Naval Attaché in London, and the Naval Attaché of the Chinese Legation there. With this explanation, we present a copy of the programme of the visit, with Mr. Cramp’s annotations as noted above.
THROUGH NEW SMITH’S SHOP TO
ELSWICK SHIPYARD.
Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., Limited, have now under construction the following vessels of war:
| Tons. | Speed in Knots. | For | |
|---|---|---|---|
| One armored-clad battleship | 14,800 | 18 | (Japan.) |
| One armored-clad battleship | 12,200 | 18 | (Japan.) |
| Two first-class armored cruisers, each of | 9,600 | 20 | (Japan.) |
| One first-class armored cruiser | 8,500 | 20 | Chile. |
| Two fast protected cruisers | 4,500 | 24 | China. |
| Two fast protected cruisers | 4,300 | 22½ | (Japan.) Portugal. |
| One fast protected cruiser | 4,250 | 21 | Chile. |
| Two armor-clads | 3,800 | 17 | Norway. |
| Three fast protected cruisers, each of | 3,450 | 20 | Brazil. |
| One third-class cruiser | 2,800 | 18 | England. |
| One training ship | 2,500 | 14 | |
| One torpedo-boat destroyer | 300 | 30 | |
| Two first-class armored cruisers, contracted for Besides mercantile vessels at their shipyard at Walker. | 9,750 | 20 | (Japan.) |
By the end of the year 1897, or rather during this year, besides the ships enumerated above for Japan there were in course of construction elsewhere:
One battleship (“Fuji”), in commission.
One battleship, 14,800 tons, building at Thames Iron Works.
One battleship, 14,800 tons, building at Thompson’s.
One battleship, 10,000 tons, under consideration, the Armstrong Works (contract not signed).
One armored cruiser, 9600 tons, ordered at Vulcan Works.
One armored cruiser, 9600 tons, ordered at St. Nazaire.
Four torpedo-boat destroyers of 30 knots, similar to British destroyers of 30 knots, building at Yarrow.
Four torpedo-boat destroyers of 30 knots, similar to British destroyers of 30 knots, building at Thornycroft.
One torpedo-boat destroyer of 30 knots (?), similar to British destroyers of 30 knots, building at Schichau.
Eight torpedo boats of 90 tons, Schichau.
Four torpedo boats of 90 tons, Normand.
The Japanese battleships are named “Yashima,” “Hatzure,” “Mikasa,” “Asahi,” and “Shikisima.”
MEDI-J-IEH IN COMMISSION
Copyright, 1904, by John W. Dawson
The first-class armored cruisers with seven-inch side armor at Armstrong’s were the “Asama,” “Idzumo,” “Iwate,” and “Takima;” at St. Nazaire, France, “Azuma;” and at the Vulcan Iron Works, Stettin, Germany, the “Yakumo.” Five battleships, 6 armored cruisers, and 21 torpedo boats under construction in 1897, in addition to the ships in their own yards.
Soon after his return to America, Mr. Cramp decided that the results of his visits to the Armstrong Works should be given to the public, as there were no obligations of secrecy imposed on him, and particularly as he thought that the United States was, or should be, interested in the matter; besides, he desired to extend the field of the operations of their ship-building works abroad and secure a small portion of the construction of war-ships which England, France, and Germany had monopolized, and for that purpose he prepared a paper, which was printed in the November number of the North American Review for 1897. This paper added a considerable scope of discussion applying directly to the relative naval activity of Russia and Japan, and drawing, or rather pointedly leaving for inference, the conclusion that Russia was not keeping pace with the development of her already great and rapidly growing rival in the Oriental Pacific.
This paper was as follows: