Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-11-04
BY TELEGRAPH.
THE NAVAL STRENGTH OF CHILL.


HEtfH FNHS Sdu 4hsSN uibfSs
wAkutssrox, NV 8 When the United
States government, a lev months ago, de-
msnded he surrender OF the Iis,a With It's
e4,go, the Iqaqus Junta vas forced to
submit II prots sssd tat the vessel ought
70 20 o.cx 20 San Diego just - it bad iefs
that pur., Il 1t il, without lis subse quent
sad VI srus; but our government would
listen TO no eonpronise, and so, in the face
OF destruction from the double hostility Of
he Unile4 States and BAlmAcedA, the JuLts
yielded
NV the case has changed The Jun.a
is no longer an insurgent csoAi, but .ha
re gnized goverf ment If Chill; aud we
may fairly presume that the discourtesy
aad defiance with which it has answered ths
1t mperste representations OF cur govern
mens UPON the reeent Gu rage at Va pa,siso
really fl I'd their origin il she cbssria it en-
dured al Iqaque fhe killing aud wound-
ing Of our unarmed and defenceless ssilors
oy the mob it cannot lstity but in stick
il { to iIs unauthorized sssum 3.lon that even
| urea al Iquiq1e it ~as The only lawful
government If Chill, I'D therefore, was
III jdstiy hrmiliated by our conduct, it tries
| to let the American people understand. 10
| their turn. how .nubbing and contemptuous
| indFe.epce feel.
| IN reality, Cbih's available naval strength
Is f. from beicg formidable. She has ID
| III captain Pratt powerful battle ship OF
$500 tons displacement, or shout $50 tons
mJre ths1 the Msine's. This vessel,
| launched shout ten months ago at TouioD,
carries ct the water line a beit Of u inches
| Of s;eeI, yet she has very high speed, for
sn armoic clad. 10 hno's Her heavy bat
ie,y includes four 10 2 inch Camel breech
| leaders aud eight "a inch CAnes rapid
| fire guns.
Tsc other new Toulon ships also of IN
Questionable value are the protected cfuis
| ere ErrszaIiz and Pinto, of 1850 tons dis
| placement, CORE spending, therefore. to tie
| Detroit. which was lsul ched 1t Baltimore
tie other day. Like the latter, too, thsy
are armed .xcusiyely with rapid fire guas,
each carrying iwo 4 3 4 inch and four
inlo Caneis. The Efrszuriz made Is 2 5
knobs ri h induced orsusht ana II 2 8 knots
n, vita usturAi drsught on her trials. Our
navy has st vsrai vessels OF somewhat high
er speed and much more powerful batteries
and It dJes not sppesr that either OF the
| pair is set ia Chiiisn waters, so that thay
misat be .iotsr,eD pied.
I NtAb HANG w NULe4lCI tic 1iuhb
q protected cruiser Of over Is knots, de.
sigasd 10 carry heavy battery, including
tyo 10 il ca guns. Ii Is known, however,
shs. these guns, which are Armst.oI g.,
have NOS worked well. and that it has been
proposed to substitute others. There is
| Loihiog in the E.meralds's speed or battery
which should cause any ore Of our hsif
| dozen largest projected cruisers to hesitate
I IN har ha I runtt nd ths. rnnt.Il
| bulk by the Lairds al BiTkenhe ad, srs very
fast snd excel.nt torpedo vessels, hsviag
| q speed Of perhaps 81 knots and q fine
steamipg radius. Bu. they carry no large
| gun5, bAsi.K only secondary batteries 10
addition 10 lhsir torpedo tubes, and these
| lader, Of course, have range Of only q
tsw huhdrsd yarss.
The dsstruc ion Of the Blanco E1calsda
| leaves Of irauclads now in Chill only the
| AlmiraltG C.chfsne and the Hasscar. The
former. battle ship Of 1850 t,ns, mate
Of the Blaze Encsiads. has a new anna
rDenf, consisting Of six s,inch Armstrong;,
| besides Hotchkiss secondary battery and
| tSo torpedo tubes. One Of the Armstrong
gus however, hss proved defective and
mas been discarded. The Huascar, though
of envishl5 battle record. is slightly pro-
,eciet iron ship OF only 20S2 tons displsce-
ment stdj2 KNOBS speed. she is 8 quarter
Of century old, and her battery, ~ least
IS de. cfioed BONE time ago, pfincipally
eonsi,tsd Of Two lo-iDch muzzle-loading
| Asnstrcngs.
The remaining vessels may be grouped
in COZ sidsration. Perhaps the bes; is the
| fina srmea transport ImpsIiaie, Of 2,700
ttn and IL knots, built only year before
lsot Tor the South American Steam Co
and seized and 6tted Gu: by Balmaceds.
Another armed transport belonging to the
same company is the Maipo, Of 2 295 toas,
built a. Glasgow in 1882 and used by the
| Cong,ess party his year. Then we find
aDot the armed transports our old friend
the Ilsta of 1866 tons, built at Liverpool in
| 1873 sni istgiy reiesst d On bonds from San
| Dr 60; and the Bio-8ia Of 7i3 tons, built at
| Glasgow 10 1888 Two Of The Pacific Steam
Navigation CompsDy's vessels were also
use d As armed transports this year, namely,
the Chloe. of 2 800 tons, and the Aconca-
| qua, of 4, log tons. The latter, which per-
hsIs hss l4A knots average speed, fought
the Ls nch and Cor dell of Caldera, when
they blew up the Bl4nco EDcalsds. Men
tioa may further be made Of the convertees
Cbscsbsco, filcomayo and O'Higsinss.
! OF tie first named If The still etisis, little
has been heard Of late, while the o. Higgins
wac much damaged in al engagement with
the Valparaiso forts. There are also
some email gunbJsts ard torpedo boats.
Among the former is the Msgelianes, .
C mposite gun vessel of $50 IONS, built in
1874, which was damaged in an engage
mt as Chsuaral bsy on the night Of Aprii
| %, ahen she was attacked by the Condell,
LyIc h srd SsIjeuto Aldea. The lsst
named craft, torpedo boat Of 10 tons dis
! place ment, was also much injured 10 that
| tight
While this review Of Chih's naval
strength makes . good numerical showing,
it 10, with the exception Of Captain Pratt,
quite inferior, vessel for vessel, to the
powerful feet, COZ ssipg # the Chicago,
| The Baltimore. the Phiisdelphis, the New
ark. the San Francisco, the Charles ton, the
Atlanta. the Boston, the yorktown, the
Concord, the Bennington, AID the Petrol.
which could withcu. fficulty be assembled
in Gillian waters These IL modern steel
ships carry more than 100 inch and Cir ch
hish-pover breech-loAiers; ard, Of course,
the .cldsr wuoden f'stt night be some
Sci vice, ~ well o. the armorclsd Mianto1-
omoh, primarily interded for harbor de-
fence. and of slow sps ed, but able to go TO
SEES, and carrying four big 10 inch guns in
| her turIets. 1t might be premature to dis
! cuss possible operations against Iquique
sGd Valparaiso. or to speculate upon Chili's
| opportunities for privs'eeYiDg or for employ
log tte Prat and Pinto sgsinst our Atlantic
cities.
THE KITSAP WRECKED.