nt, ordnance and
munitions manufacture, building of yards, docks, and all sorts of
accessory facilities, the navy before the war had been a month under way
had given contracts for the construction of several hundred
submarine-chasers, having a length of 110 feet and driven by three
220-horse-power gasoline-engines, to thirty-one private firms and six
navy-yards. All of these craft are now in service, and have done
splendidly both in meeting stormy seas and in running down the
submarines. While the British prefer a smaller type of submarine-chaser,
they have no criticism of ours. Many of these 110-footers, built of
wood, crossed the ocean in weather which did considerable damage to
larger craft, and yet were practically unscathed. The French are using
many of them.

Another larger type of chaser, corresponding to the destroyer, is the
patrol-boat of the _Eagle_ class built at the plant of Henry Ford in
Detroit.

The most recent battleships laid down by the navy are the largest ever
attempted. The biggest British battleship of which we have knowledge
displaces 27,500 tons; the largest German, 28,448 metric tons (28,000
American tons), while the largest Japanese battleship displaces 30,600
tons. These may be compared with our _Arizona_ and _Pennsylvania_,
31,400 tons; _Idaho_, _Mississippi_, and _New Mexico_, 32,000 tons;
_California_ and _Tennessee_ 32,300 tons, _Colorado_, _Washington_,
_Maryland_, and _West Virginia_, 32,600 tons, while six new battleships
authorized early in the present year are designed to be 41,500 tons. Our
new battle-cruisers of 35,000 tons and 35 knots speed will be the
swiftest in the world, having a speed equal to the latest and fastest
destroyers. They will also be the largest in the world with the
exception of the four British battle-cruisers of the _Hood_ class, which
are 41,200 tons.

On April 1, 1917, the total number of civilian employees in the nine
principal navy-yards was 29,708. On March 1, 1918, the total number of
employees in the same yards was 58,026. The total number of mechanics
now employed at all navy yards and stations throughout the country is
more than 66,000.

The Navy Powder Factory at Indianapolis, Ind., manufactures powder of
the highest grade for use in the big guns; it employs 1,000 men and
covers a square mile. Additional buildings and machinery, together with
a new generating-plant, are now being installed. The torpedo-station at
Newport, a large plant where to