Forward turret and bridge of U.S.S. Maryland

We see here one of the "watch dogs" in the United States Navy. Upon this type of warship, and in fact upon the whole naval branch of the service, the American people placed their chief reliance during the trying time through which we have just passed. At the beginning of our war activities Congress passed bills that called for the construction of many more of the various types of warships, such as dreadnoughts, armored cruisers, torpedo boat destroyers and submarines. This close view gives a good idea of the large size of the guns and the officers' bridge. The "jack-tar" present is a fair sample of the men on whom Uncle Sam depended, and who stood by him until victory was won. Until the present shipbuilding plans are completed, it will be hard to determine the naval ranking of the world powers, but it is expected that the United States will stand at the head of the list. Before the war United States stood third. The first eight in order were : Great Britain, Germany, United States, France, Japan, Russia, Italy and Austria-Hungary. The total warship tonnage of Great Britain was 2,713,756 tons of Germany, 1,304,640; of the United States, 1,097,502 tons. Thus it is seen that when war was declared our navy was not far behind the German in size. The same was also true with respect to the total number of officers and men