Seventh—That the United States should have a larger navy, with speedier battleships and fast armored cruisers, and with coaling stations in different sections of the globe, where men-of-war can procure supplies and make repairs if necessary.
Captain Charles O'Neil, chief of the bureau of ordnance, gave his opinion as follows:
"I do not think the battle off Santiago de Cuba demonstrated that we should abandon the heavy calibres of guns. Serious injury to an enemy's thickly-armored battleships can be inflicted only by large-calibre guns.
"It is possible that with rapid-fire guns you may shoot away the lightly armored superstructure, but as long as the vitals are protected and the turret armor is intact the guns in the turret will be able to do execution, and large-calibred guns will be necessary to perforate the armor and disable those weapons. Even with her 12-inch guns the Texas can fire at the rate of one round per minute, and this record is as good as that made by any foreign ships. Rapid fire consists in good facilities for handling ammunition and loading the gun with a quick working breech mechanism.
"We are now building at the Washington gun factory an experimental 6-inch rapid-fire gun, different from the rapid-fire guns we have now in service, which are supplied with what is termed fixed ammunition. The powder and projectile to be used in the experimental gun will be separate, and two operations consequently will have to be employed in loading. This can be done so quickly that it is expected that a very rapid fire will be obtained.
"It is the policy of the Department to have our ships a little ahead of those of any other nation, to have them equipped with armor of greater resistive power, and guns capable of doing more execution. The 13-inch gun, as at present designed, is a more destructive gun than a 12-inch ordinarily, and its energy is very much greater, the result naturally being that it has superior armor-piercing powers.
"I think we should keep the 13-inch gun on board of our battleships. On account of the light armor which protected the Spanish men-of-war, it is difficult to compare the ships and the effect of their fire, or to draw conclusions. We would have learned more if the Spanish fleet had been made up of battleships, and the fire of their gunners had been more accurate. As it is, the value of the secondary battery was certainly demonstrated.
"The necessity of eliminating wood to the greatest extent possible and fireproofing what remains, was shown by the destruction of the Spanish men-of-war. Fire mains should be kept below the protective deck. The battle proved that ships moving rapidly can attack other vessels also under way and inflict serious injury.
"The excellent gunnery of the American sailors is entirely due to the practice which they had undergone, but the target fired at was stationary, while their ship was moving. The conditions were different in action. The Spanish were under way, yet the American gunners fired as well as if they were merely practising."
The New York Herald speaks as follows of our naval victories: