FRANCE. The success of the French navy hi war has never been proportional to its strength. This has been due to disorganizing forces from without the service which have prevented effi ciency. Since the fall of the Empire the navy has greatly improved, and to be at present highly efficient ; eertainly, the ships, armaments, and equipments are of the best, and the per sonnel of apparently equal excellence. Al present the French navy is second to that of Great Brifain only, but for financial reasons the num ber of new ships now in hand and proposed is insufficient to enable France to maintain her present relative lead, and it is likely that within the next decade her navy will he surpassed by those of both Gerthany and the United States. It seems likely that the French naval authorities have realized the drift of naval matters for sev oral years, and that the special attention that ha, been paid to the development of submarine boats is due to the hope of obtaining a defensive Halal weapon Ndlt(11, at little expense. would ellabIC the French coat, to be adequately pro tected. The French Navy Department is presided 0%er by a of Marine. a civil officer who is a member of the governmental Cabinet. Until 1903 the executive head was the chief of the naval _•ueral 'tall'. but this was changed, and the chiefs of bureaus are direetly subordinate to the Alinkter of the chief of the stall sinking to the level of a bureau oflic•er. The sections or bureaus of the department :a•e: (a) General Staff; (b) office of the Minister of Marine; (c) Personnel: (d) Alaterial: (e) Ord nance ( f ) Subnia rine Defenses : (g) drography; (h) Central Control (financial ) ; ( i ) Accounts ( j ) Pensions. There are in addition six consultation or advisory boards; (a) Superior Naval Council; (b) Board of General Inspectors.; (c) Council of Works; (di Commission on Equipment ; (c•) Commission on Machinery and Plant ; (f) Board to Classify ftfic•ers for Promotion. The principal naval arsenals (see ARSENAL) are located at Cherbourg, Lori:alt. Brest. Rochefort, and Toulon, but there are others at Saigon (Cochin-China). Bizcrta (Africa), Fort de France (West Indies), etc. By far the greater part of the executive officers are graduates of the Naval Academy tit Brest. but many are now obtained from other schools, espe cially those promoted from the enlisted force. The men are enlisted voluntarily or drafted from the conscription nnnrittmu'. The strength of the fleet is shown in the statistical table later in this article.
(:ERMANy• The navy of Germany is of com paratively recent origin. The Prussian navy and that of the North German Confederation were both weak. After the formation of the Empire
a number of armored ships of importance were built. but it is only within the last dozen years that Germany began to take rank as a great naval power. From 1S90 to the present the building of powerful new ships has proceeded steadily. After completing the vessel of sev eral small building programmes, the Government in I898 prepared a 'sexennate" programme. which was approved by Reichstag. This provided for the eonstruction of 7 new battleships, '2. armored cruiser;• and 5 small cruisers, besides re•placing vessels which had become antiquated. The bill laid down the principle that the life of a battleship and of it coast-defense ship should he considered as twenty-five years, that of a large cruiser as twenty years, and of a =mall cruiser as fifteen years; after which times the are to be as antiquated and replaced. In 1900 a innch more comprehensive law was passed. This provided that not later than I the I:erman fleet should eonsist of Its battleships, 2ti large erukers, 4'i small cruisers, and In divisions of torpedo Should the linanees of the Government permit, the programme will be eumplotwi earlier than and it now seems probable that this will he the ease. in 1!M2 the Government also proposed to ask legislative authority to construct two battle. ships, five cruisers. and a 101'1)100 divkion (six boats) in exec,: of the programme provisions. In IWO the administration of the German navy was reorganized: all matters connected personnel. command of the fleet, mobilization, strategy, tactics, were placed under the liberkommainlo, and all matters connected with construction. dockyards. and itiat&ici were put under the Ileieltsinarincanil. The Vbcrkoninzandu tea, presided over by the commanding :Admiral of the navy, and the 1,', ich.snuiriltraml by a vic•e admiral acting as Naval Secretary of State under the Chancellor of the Empire. The two section, were wholly disconnected and were brought into harmony with each other by the Marine Cabinet acting advisory to the Emperor. In 1:499 this organization was ehanged. The title of Ober koninurmlo was changed to .tdmir•olstnb, and the office of ()bcrkont mondani, or commanding officer of the navy, abolished. Additional authority was given the licichstnarinenntt. and the Emperor and his advisers in the Naval Cabinet exercised direct control of naval affairs.
The Imperial naval arsenal- are at Kid. \Vil lielinshavn, and Danzig; the Naval School and Naval Academy are at Kiel. The of the fleet i- given in the c•ornparative tables further on.