Page:The Development of Navies During the Last Half-Century.djvu/195

 more numerous crew than the original design contained. This usually accounts for the vessel drawing more water than was intended.

If in a war with a powerful maritime state the patrol of the seas must require a large number of cruisers, the demand for swift vessels for other services will be equally pressing. Endeavours have been made from time to time to lay down the proportion that should exist between such craft and a battle squadron of given strength. Such calculations are futile, because no commander is likely to be satisfied when the time comes with the number allotted to him, in view of demands from all sides which cannot be neglected. Moreover, sufficiency will depend on the work to be done more than on the number of battle ships. But if hostile fleets are to be watched, as they often were of old, by a squadron of frigates, while the main force was out of sight but within speedy communication, the number of vessels required for this work in future will be very great. The coaling question then comes in. Formerly only shortness of fresh water drove ships into port. Their supply was usually sufficient to last for three months. To have some convenient locality where ships could water was an important matter in the old blockading days. Distillation of salt water now renders us independent of this consideration, but it is another demand on the coal supply, which is the measure of a steamer's capacity to remain at sea at the present time. It is difficult to estimate this endurance under the varying conditions of blockade. If position is maintained