The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-09-24
INCLINED TO BE skEPTrcAL.
American Naval Officers Do Not Take
Kindly to the Recent Storjex.


Kindly to the Recent Stories.
Washington. D. c., Sept. 2S-Few of
the ordinance officials of the navy are
prepared to accept the recent engage
ment between japanese and Chinese
fleets at the Yalu river as a demonstra-
ton of the superiority of fleet I'M
armored cruisers over heavily-protect-
ed but moderate speed battleships.
This is natural in view of the fact
that for many years the officers in this
branch of the service have devoted
their ingenuity to the development of
the passively resistant quality Of ships,
holding that the design was best which
could carry the heaviest armor Thus
they created the battleships, and now
they stand prepared to defend her.
One Of the most distinguished ordnance
officials, in his record Of work accom-
plished, man who had much to do
with designing the guns and armors of
our modern ships, speaking upon the
subject of the Yalu fight today, was
inclined to be skeptical as to the de-
feat of the Chinese battleships. Said
he:
I'VE are still in the dark as to the
details Of the battle, but 1 will venture
the assertion that not one of the Chi
nese battleships was seriously injured,
and that their loss was confined to
! cruisers or only partially protected YES
sells. And even the best of the Chinese
battleShips is not a first-class vessel
The Chen Yuen is a second rate ship,
about like the Maine or Texas. But as
it was, there was only one reason,
| though, that is a very good one, why
the battleship did not speedily destroy
all of the japanese fleet, and that rea-
son is the immense superiority Of the
japanese personnel.
THE Japanese themselves fully un-
derstand the value of battleships, and
have been making strenuous efforts to
purchase some. Lately they have been
trying TO buy the Caption Pratt, the
new armOred vessel built in Europe for
Chilli. A good deal of nonsense has been
said and written about the value of
high speed unarmored cruisers, mainly
by the private builders, who are after
the big premiums paid for speed. L
would rank excessive speed about
tenth in the list of valuable qualities
for a warship. About the only advan-
tage it offers is the opportunity it af-
fords to decline an engagement. 1t will
not help her even to run away If she
is once in action, the difference be-
tween the Is knots of a battleship and
to save the distance Then after once
coming within firing distance, she
could not choose her position, for she
would have to move whenever the
heavy ship came in. When the heavy
ship was brought in during the Crime
an war, naval warfare was revolution
lied. We have percussion shell now that
we can explode with certainty almost
inside Of cruiser and tear her to
lspieces. But these shells will not pene-
trate the armored side of a battleship.
The only projectile that can do that is
the arnaor piercer, and that, while
partly hollow, is never charged with
explosives. An expert commander on
one of the battleships can meet at once
and destroy half a dozen cruisers and
come out of the fight without serious
injury, else all naval opinion is at
fault. and the naval power that seeks
to get along without battleships will
certainly rue its lack of foresight in
time of war"