CURRENT LITERATURE.
The Naval Annual. Edited by T. A. Brassey. (J. Griffin and Co., Portsmouth). — For the better understanding of the approaching naval manoeuvres, The Naval Annual is, as usual, invaluable. It gives the status of all naval questions of moment, from the estimates voted by different Powers, to the last trials of the new torpedo-boat destroyers up to the beginning of May, and there is no question of interest either in regard to ships, guns, engines, crews, or naval policy, which is not stated clearly, and followed almost to the date of the book going to press. Mr. J. R. Thursfield contributes two papers on the British and French naval manoeuvres of 1893 ; Mr. Laird Clowes repeats at greater length his experiences of Toulon, and observations of the growth of the French arsenal, which first appeared in the Times, and stimulated a growing desire for a further increase of the Navy, after the completion of the vessels building under the Naval Defence Act. Lord Brassey's own opinion is that " if we abandon the Mediterranean, we cease to be a first-class Power in Europe; for by our naval strength in the Mediterranean we can sustain any Continental Power with whom we may be allied." He advocates the further strengthening of Gibraltar, a view which Lord Spencer has seconded ; at the same time he deprecates any attempt to keep a fleet in the inland sea to outmatch the French fleet there quartered. It will be sufficient to keep the Channel squadron strong, and draught ships into the Mediterranean when necessary, without wounding French susceptibilities by what amounts to a menace opposite their coast. An interesting historical review of the system of convoy as practised since the days of the Stuarts, is contri- buted by Professor Langton, who concludes that in a future naval war fleets of slow steamers will require convoy, but that for the protection of the channel traffic, constant patrols by cruisers will be the only efficient protection ; while on the ocean- trade routes powerful ships will be stationed at known intervals as " refuges " for merchant vessels chased by the enemy. The main advance in the constructive department is the sudden con- version of the Admiralty to the system of water-tube boilers, which has been advocated in the Spectator for some years. Nearly all the new " destroyers " are fitted with these boilers of different types, but the same in principle, and the record speeds of 28 knots and 29 knots have been reached by the Yarrow and Thornycroft boats respectively. The huge cruisers Powerful' and Terrible' are also to have water-tube boilers, though of an old-fashioned French type which has for many years been in use in the steamers of the " Messageries Maritimes." The adoption of modern machinery will probably load to a general rise of from 4 to 5 knots in speed of all the larger class of cruisers ; while torpedo-boat destroyers will soon average from 26 to 30 knots per hour.
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