The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-04-16
IrOnc;aGI i'm Action.

People often wonder what wOIid be
the result of Il great naval battle at the
present time. Would many ships i,,. de-
stroycd? Would the loss of life bn treat?
Let us try to describe shortly n few OF
the probable features of fight between
two fleets of modern irOncladS. Al
though two hostile fleets might approach
one another i'm some tactical formation,
this could not be adhered 10 for any
length of time. and the battle would
soon become series of independent
duels between individual ships. This is
ut once apparent when we consider that
most, if not all, of the ships would have
rams, and il would therefore be highly
necessary for Il captain to have perfect
control over the movements of his ship,
to prevent her being rammed by an
enemy. At the outset of the action, the
torpedo boats would probably take q
very active part, and until eXterminatcd,
which they certainly would be in time,
would engage great attention and he ef-
fectual in sinking few ships. 1t may
be safely concluded that every ship
would be steaming fast during the ac-
ton. this being necessary to avoid being
rammed, to get into favorable positions
for discharging torpedoes, and to elude
the fire of an 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 get rammed;
and Mt this point we consider that great
loss of life would take place, for the
reason that the boats of ship, being
always exposed to machine gun fire,
would at an early stage of the action be
riddled and shattered with shot; and in
the incredibly short time in which ship
sinks after being rammed it would be
impossible for the crew to improvise
other means to save themselves from
drowning. No steps seem yet to have
been taken by our admiralty with a
view of providing for this contingency.
1t has been suggested that hospital
ship. bearing the Geneva cross. should
accompany fleet into action, to receive
the wounded. We would make a further
overwhelmingly, that this ship
should be provided with fast steaming
boats, peculiarly marked, to show their
pacific nature, which should proceed to
the assistance of the crew of a sinking
ship; by this means numbers of men
mil ht be saved who would certainly be
drowned. 1t is not probable that the
loss of life from gun fire would be large
us the great part of the crew of an iron
clad would be under water, the rest be-
ing inside the armored portions of the
ship. Few ships would be able to get
into favorable positions for discharging
Whitehead torpedoes from their tubes;
even if they did so, the course of one OF
these machines is so cratic when dis
charged from ship in motion that it
would in nearly every case miss its
mark The time for the use of White
heads would be from the torpedo boats
mt the commencement of the fight. To
sum up, it is the opinion of many naval
men of authority that modern naval
battle 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 of the remainder
would be so battered rs TO be unfit for
further service for months to come
Chambers Journal.