Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-12-19
MODERN IRON CLADS.
Results of Naval Warfare Anticipated in
Speculative Way.
rba1.bsrg .LllIr71I


CaGHbsT5 J0EraGL
People often wonder what would be the
results OF great naval battle ct the pres
emit tine. Would many ships be destroyed
Would the loss Of life be great2 Let US
try to describe shortly 8 few Of the prob
able features of fight between two fleets
of modern ironclsds. Although two hos.
tile fleets might approach one another in
some tactical formation, this could not be
adhered to for any length Of time, and the
battle would soon become series Of in
dependent duels between individual ships.
This is Ct once apparent when We con-
slider that most, if not all, of the ships
would have rams, and il would therefore
be highly necessary for a captain to have
perfect control over the movements of his
ship, to prevent her being rsuned by an
enemy.
At the outset OF the action the torpedo
boats would probably take q very active
part. and until exterminated, which they
certainly would be in time, would engage
great attention and be effective in sinking
few ships. 1t may be safely concluded
that every ship would be s;ssming fast dur
ing the action, this being necessary to
avoid being rsmmed, to get into favorable
positions for dischsrgiDg torpedos, and to
elude the Ere of sn enemy. Heavy gun
fire would Of course be maintained from
the commencement of the action, and those
ships whose engines got disabled from this
cause would speedily be rammed; and at
this point we consider the gres; loss of life
would take place, for the reason that the
boats Of ship, being always exposed to
machine gun fire, would 81. an early stage
OF the action be riddled and shattered with
shot, and in the incredibly short time in
which ship sinks after being rsmmed it
would be impossible for the crew to impro
wise other means to save themselves from
drowning. No steps seem yet to have been
taken By our admiralty with view OF pro-
viding for this contingency. 1t has been
suggested that a hospital ship bearing the
Geneva cross should accompany a. fleet
into the action to receive the wounded. We
would make further overwhelmingly,
that this ship should be provided with fast
steamipg boats, peculiarly marked to show
lhCAE poCAAS AakuASi ouOhAN PAOSSCA
to the assistance of the crew OF sinking
ship; BY this mears numbers of the men
might be saved who would otherwise
certainly be drowned. 1t is not probable
that the loss OF life from gun FIRE would
be large, as Q great part Of the crew of an
ironclad would be under water, the rest
being inside the armored portions of the
ship. Few ships would be able to get into
favorable positions for dischsrging White
head torpedoes from their tubes; even if
they did 80, the course Of one of these ma
chimes is so errstic when discharged from
q chip in motion, that it would in nearly
every case mics its mark The time for the
use OF Whiteheads would be from the tor
pedo boats at the commencement Of the
fight. To sum up, it is the opinion ofmany
men Of authority that a modern naval bat
tie would only occupy about half the time
of fight in the old Trafalgar DAYS; that
half the ships employed would be sunk and
that most ofthe remainder would be 80 bat
tered as to be unit for further service for
months to come.