d it needed little
imagination to prompt recognition of the identity of dignified
movement with that of a swan making its leisurely way by means equally
unseen; no turbulent display of energy, yet suggestive of mysterious
power.

Before the War of Secession, and indeed for twenty years after it, the
United States never inclined to the maintenance of squadrons, properly
so-called. It is true, a dozen fine ships-of-the-line were built
during the sail period, but they never sailed together; and the
essence of the battle-ship, in all eras, is combined action. Our
squadrons, till long after I entered the navy, were simply
aggregations of vessels, no two of which were necessarily of the same
size or class. When a ship-of-the-line went to sea--which never
happened in my time--she went without mates, a palpable paradox; a
ship-of-the-line, which to no line belonged. Ours was a navy of
single, isolated cruisers; and under that condition we had received a
correct tradition that, whatever the nominal class of an American
ship-of-war, she should be somewhat stronger than the corresponding
vessels built by other nations. Each cruiser, therefore, would bring
superior force to any field of battle at all possible to her. This was
a perfectly just military conception, to which in great measure we
owed our successes of 1812. The same rule does not apply to fleets,
which to achieve the like superiority rely upon united action, and
upon tactical facility obtained by the homogeneous qualities of the
several ships, enabling them to combine greater numbers upon a part of
the enemy. Therefore Great Britain, which so long ruled the world by
fleets, attached less importance to size in the particular vessel.
Class for class, her ships were weaker than those of her enemies, but
in fleet action they usually won. At the period of which I am writing,
the screw-propeller, having fairly established its position, prompted
a reconstruction of the navy, with no change of the principles just
mentioned. The cruiser idea dictated the classes of vessels ordered,
and the idea of relative size prescribed their dimensions. There were
to be six steam-frigates of the largest class, six steam-sloops, and
six smaller vessels, a precise title for which I do not know. I myself
have usually called them by the French name corvette, which has a
recognized place in English marine phraseology, and means a
sloop-of-war of the smaller class. A transfer of terms accompanying