Chapter VII · (continued 2)
Reading edition
But it may be well to add here, the actual supplies voted for the sea-service, and for wear and tear, and the extraordinary expenses in building and repairing of ships from 1800 to 1815.
Year. For the wear and tear of ships. Extra Expences for building, repairing etc. For entire sea service.
1800 £4,350,000 £772,140 £13,619,079
1801 5,850,000 933,900 16,577,037
1802 3,684,000 773,500 11,833,571
1803 3,120,000 901,140 10,211,378
1804 3,900,000 948,520 12,350,606
1805 4,680,000 1,553,690 15,035,630
1806 4,680,000 1,980,830 18,864,341
1807 5,070,000 2,134,903 17,400,337
1808 5,070,000 2,351,188 18,087,544
1809 3,295,500 2,296,030 19,578,467
1810 3,295,500 1,841,107 18,975,120
1811 3,675,750 2,046,200 19,822,000
1812 3,675,750 1,696,621 19,305,759
1813 3,549,000 2,822,031 20,096,709
1814 3,268,000 2,086,274 19,312,070
1815 2,386,500 2,116,710 19,032,700
It appears from this table that the appropriations for the service, during the first fifteen years of the present century, amounted to a little less than ninety millions of dollars per annum; and for the wear and tear of ships, and "the extraordinary expenses in building and repairing ships, &c.," the annual appropriations amounted to near thirty millions.
Our own naval returns are also so imperfect that it is impossible to form any very accurate estimate of the relative cost of construction and repairs of our men-of-war. The following table, compiled from a report of the Secretary of the Navy, in 1841, (Senate Doc. No. 223, 26th Congress,) will afford data for an approximate calculation:—
Name of Ship No. of guns Total cost of building, exclusive of armaments, stores, etc. When completed. Cost of repairs, exclusive of ordnance, etc. Repaired between
Delaware 74 $543,368.00 1820 $354,132.56 1827 and 1838
N. Carolina 74 431,852.00 1825 317,628.92 1824 and 1836
Constitution 44 302,718.84 1797 266,878.34 1833 and 1839
United States 44 299,336.56 1797 571,972.77 1821 and 1841
Brandywine 44 [23]299,218.12 1825 [23]377,665.95 1826 and 1838
Potomac 44 [23]231,013.02 1822 [23] 82,597.03 1829 and 1835
Concord 20 115,325.80 1828 72,796.22 1832 and 1840
Falmouth 20 94,093.27 1827 130,015.43 1828 and 1837
John Adams 20 110,670.69 1829 119,641.93 1834 and 1837
Boston 20 91,973.19 1825 189,264.37 1826 and 1840
St. Louis 20 102,461.95 1828 135,458.75 1834 and 1839
Vincennes 20 111,512.79 1826 178,094.81 1830 and 1838
Vandalia 20 90,977.88 1828 59,181.34 1832 and 1834
Lexington 20? 114,622.35 1826 83,386.52 1827 and 1837
Warren 20? 99,410.01 1826 152,596.03 1830 and 1838
Fairfield 20 100,490.35 1826 65,918.26 1831 and 1837
Natches[24] 20? 106,232.19 1827 129,969.80 1829 and 1836
Boxer 10 30,697.88 1831 28,780.48 1834 and 1840
Enterprise 10 27,938.63 1831 20,716.59 1834 and 1840
Grampus 10 23,627.42 1821 96,086.36 1825 and 1840
Dolphin 10 38,522.62 1836 15,013.35 1839 and 1840
Shark 10 23,627.42 1821 93,395.84 1824 and 1839
[23]
Returns incomplete.
[24]
Broken up in 1840.
It appears from the above table, that the cost of constructing ships of the line is about $6,600 per gun; of frigates, $6,500 per gun; of smaller vessels of war, a little less than $5,000 per gun: making an average cost of vessels of war to be more than six thousand dollars per gun. And the expense of repairs for these vessels is more than seven per cent. per annum on their first cost.
We have as yet had but little experience in the use of war-steamers. The Fulton, four guns, built in 1838-'39, cost three hundred and thirty-three thousand seven hundred and seventy dollars and seventy-seven cents; the Mississippi and Missouri, ten guns each, built in 1841, cost about six hundred thousand dollars a piece; making an average cost for war-steamers of over sixty thousand dollars per gun. The cost of repairs of steam ships will be much greater than those for vessels of war; but we have not yet had sufficient experience to determine the exact amount. It has been estimated, however, by competent judges, that when kept, the expense of repairs will at least equal twelve per cent. of the first cost. The expense of keeping them in commission is enormously great. "Their engines," says the Secretary of the Navy, in his annual report in 1842, "consume so much fuel as to add enormously to their expenses; and the necessity that they should return to port, after short intervals of time, for fresh supplies, renders it impossible to send them on any distant service. They cannot be relied on as cruisers, and are altogether too expensive for service in time of peace. I have therefore determined to take them out of commission, and substitute for them other and less expensive vessels."
The average cost of permanent fortifications is but little more than three thousand dollars per gun. And it must be obvious, from the nature of the materials of which they are constructed, that the expense of their support must be inconsiderable. It is true that for some years past a large item of annual expenditure for fortifications has been under the head of "repairs;" but much of this sum is for alterations and enlargements of temporary and inefficient works, erected anterior to the war of 1812. Some of it, however, has been for actual repairs of decayed or injured portions of the forts; these injuries resulting from the nature of the climate, the foundations, the use of poor materials and poor workmanship, and from neglect and abandonment. But if we include the risk of abandonment at times, it is estimated, upon data drawn from past experience, that one-third of one per cent. per annum, of the first cost, will keep in perfect repair any of our forts that have been constructed since the last war.
But it is unnecessary to further discuss this question We repeat what has already been said, no matter what may be the relative cost of ships and forts, the one, as a general thing, cannot be substituted for the other. Each has its own sphere of action, and each will contribute, in its own way, to the national defence; and any undue increase of one, at the expense of the other, will be attended by a corresponding diminution of national power.[25]
[25]
For further information concerning our system of sea-coast defences, the reader is referred to House Doc. 206, twenty-sixth Congress, second session; Senate Doc. 85, twenty-eighth Congress, second session; and to the annual reports of the Chief Engineer.