CRUISER FOR SAMOAN WAR. WHAT THE ALAMEDA COULD DO.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 355, 30 March 1889, Page 6

CRUISER FOR SAMOAN WAR. WHAT THE A LAMEDA COULD DO.

The mail- steamers- Aiameda and Mariposa are well known in this^porbj owing periodical visits, with the English, mfuls. They are splendid vessels of 3,000 tons burden and having an average speed-of t l6 knots. ' When the talk, about Samoa was at its highest, . the Alameda} 4 was at San FranciscOj.,- and attention was to-, her to consider how she could be converted into ( a pruiser, if .need,^.be.> The Alameda i& commanded by Captain Morse, whose cpurage apd,capacity, are well 'known,- and, he was interviewed by a San •Francisco reporter on the matter. He, considered'that the Alameda well armed and handled pould "best" any German warship at Samoa, and was of opinion she could, b,e got ready for wartjn six weeks. Asked what he would have done to her, he replied : " Well, ia the first place, all that top hamper would have, to be taken away. Tho deck houses would, be too much in the way to be lefb tl^ere, you know. I wouldn't leave a house on deck. . Th,e guns would be two six-jinch.' rifles ~s*uch, as will, form the broadside' df the Charleston. One would be mounted forward on a swivel and the other aft, the ; "sweep of each being 180deg. Of course- ' the decks 'would have to be.'- specially; strengthened to -sup■port so . much extra > weight. They would have .to* be strengthened fiom^the k'e,el up. ..Then I wpuldj have several garlfag , gjuns for, c]ose, quartets. An iron round-house on deck wou.ld be necessary by which the wheel could be, protected. A great 'man j men would not be necessary. 'The days of boarding are passed away for -aver.-' 1 would, of course, want an extra nuxnben of good firemen, as the vessel would depend'much on her speed.'" " Supposing, Captain, that your vessel was fitted up for .service and you were ordered to Samoa, would you, in case you had to, fight, say the Adler or the Olga, depend altogether on your guns ?" "No, I- would not. My chief object would be to ram my opponent ; run her down in fact. For that purpose I would have the bows specially strengthened before leaving port. It could all be done in the six weeks' time. Tho Alameda is very Sharp, as. sharp almost as a knife. If she hit, one of those German vessels fair and square I really believe she would go right through her without any injury to herself. If we could not ram we would have at least as long range guns as any German vessel there has, and with our very superior speed, could worry an antagonist to death. But, asj I said before, the Alameda would depend chiefly on her ramming powers, and ;she could, the easier be used for such a purpose, as no German warship would imagine for a moment that a merchant steamer would have the temerity to .run against a vessel built specially for war." ' Would there be any difficulty in,getting men ?" "No; none at all. Hundreds could be had at an hour's notice. Then a few good gunners from Mare Island, and everything would be ready. I think it is a mistaken policy on the part ot the Government to neglect their merchant "steamers in the way they are doing. In the event of war such vessels as the Alameda and Mariposa could do a vast amount, of mischief to the enemy's shipping. The Alabama case is proof sufficient of that. The day will come, however, when Uncle Sam-will wake up to the vahie of iris merchant shipping and merchant-seamen, and foster both as Great) Britain is so carefully doing now.'