Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-07-06
VICTORIA AS A BATTLE SHIP.
Uncle Sam Has Smaller Vessels Which COul
Easily Have Beaten Her In a light.

Uncle Sam Has Smaller Vessels Which Could
Easily Have Beaten Her In F light.
"The Victoria was great battle ship, but
not up to the highest mark fighting ma
chine" said q commodore in the navy to a
writer for The STAR. ~ would not hesitate to
attack two vessels like her with one like our new
built Massachusetts,. Though slightly smaller
the Massachusetts, is faster by a knot, and she
has an armor belt all around. Her armament
Of guns is superior for purposes Of war. The
110-ton guns carried by the Victoria repre-
sented type Of weapon too tremendous to be
useful Those in control of them we're afraid
to fire them. Each Of them had a life Of only
twenty rounds. as it is reckoned. In other
words, after it had fired that number of shots
it became worthless. A faster ship with smaller
guns would simply have to badger such vessel
as the Victoria until her guns should be rem
dered no longer available by being fired few
times and then close with her.
ABSURD TACTICS.
''Such tactics as those in which the British
feet was engaged when the Victoria was rammed
are absurd and stupid. because they are Of no
use in actual warfare. The French are much
better tacticians than the English. You never
hear of their ships ramming each other. Be-
Sides the French vessels are faster than those
of the English-navy. 1t is my opinion that the
French could whip the British on the seas now
if there was a fight between the two nations.
However. France cannot afford to get into a
row with England or with any body else. so long
as Germany menacing her. The British held
supremacy on the ocean as long ships were
managed with sails. Whether thew can keep it
now that revolution in such matters has taken
place and vessels of war are hardly more than
floating forts propelled by machinery is to my
mind a serious question.
A FATAL MISTAKE.
"If had been in command of the Camper
down at the time of the disaster would have
held my ram in the side Of the Victoria instead
Of Withdrawing it. To pull it out was fatal
mistake. 1t was like extracting knife from a
wound which Is certain to bleed the patient to
death as quickly AS the weapon is withdrawn
The ram served the purpose of stopping the
hole to a certain extent II what l suggest had
been done it would not have been difficult to
take off all the. people in safety before the
doomed ship sank As for Vice Admiral Tryon,
his action in refusing to save himself was moth
ing more nor less than heroic suicide He
folded his arms and went down with his vessel
because that was the only thing he could grace
fully do under the circumstances. He had COM
mitted frightfui and objectionable error and
to survive was from bis point Of view impos-
sible.
Capt. Bourke might as well have done the
same thing, so far az his future prospects are
concerned. The disaster not due to his
fault. but he must suffer for his ill luck. He is
a fine fellow, one Of the Youngest post captains
in the British navy and an exceedingly able
commander. but he has been unlucky. That
is fault not to be forgiven, from the point OF
view Of the British admiralty. When he ran
his ship ashore a while ago he was exonerated
from blame by the authorities but the damage
was something like 100000. Probably he will
never get another important command"