An examination of _Lloyd’s Universal Register of Shipping_ for 1887 shows that the present condition of European navies may be popularly stated in this manner: England has 6 guns capable of penetrating 36 inches of unbacked iron, and 16 others which can penetrate 28 inches of the same material; Italy has 20 guns which can penetrate 33 inches of iron; France has 14 guns which can pierce 27 inches, and 14 others able to penetrate 25 inches of unbacked iron. Russia has 20 guns and Spain 2 which can pierce 24 inches of iron. No other power has any guns capable of equivalent results. In other words, of guns able to penetrate 24 inches of unbacked iron, France has 28, Italy 20, Russia 20, Spain 2, and Great Britain 22. In war-ships of 20 knots and above, England has 1, France 1, Italy 10, Spain 2, and other European nations 4; of 19 knots speed, England has 11 ships, France 10, Germany 3, Italy 2, and other nations 9; of 18-knot ships, England has 5, France 7, Germany 2, Italy 6, and other nations 6. English supremacy is, however, chiefly seen in 17-knot ships, of which she has 25, mounting 181 guns; France, 4 with 20 guns; Italy, 5 with 40 guns; and other nations 4 with 19 guns. England has 11 ships of 90 guns that can steam 16 knots, whereas France has 3 only of 58 guns. At 15 knots, France has 16 ships of 214 guns, and England 12 ships of 126 guns; and at 14 knots, France has 28 ships of 334 guns, and England 15 ships of 252 guns. Summarizing these figures, it appears that with speeds above 14 knots England has 80 ships of 795 guns, France 69 of 699 guns, Germany 35 of 285 guns, and Italy 41 of 201 guns. Out of a total mercantile tonnage now afloat of 20,943,650, Great Britain and her colonies own 10,539,136. The total steam mercantile tonnage of the world is 10,531,843, and of this Great Britain and her colonies own 6,595,871, or nearly two-thirds of the whole. THE UNITED STATES NAVY. IN TRANSITION. BY REAR-ADMIRAL EDWARD SIMPSON, U.S.N. The condition of the navy of the United States is not such as any citizen of the country would desire. Pride in their navy was one of the earliest sentiments that inspired the hearts of the people when the United States took their place as a nation, and the memory of its deeds has not faded during the subsequent years of the country’s aggrandizement. Time was when that section of the country most remote from the sea-coast was indifferent to it, owing to the more immediate demand on its attention for the development of internal resources; but the rapid settlement of our Western lands, and the annihilation of distance produced by rapid communication, have tended to preserve the unity of interests of the separate sections, and the happy system that obtains through which officers are appointed to the navy keeps it an object of personal concern to all the States of the Union.