Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-01-13

hul III III y o. tue OplulOn Iu4b utu huelT
ships oesn manned by tho forces Of any
Of the recon zsd navai pow rs OF the
world, they would have sunk the. wlO.e
JspaDese feet inside of two hours. or,
at least. such OF thsir SHIPS az didn't
succeed 10 getting away.
sUBALTERNS COULD WIN.
"Indeed, I believe that had their ships
been manned by the Annapolis cadets
they would nave " ped out the Japanese
4 ct 10 short order. Mt only were
vessels Of superior class 10 thosa OF
The japanese, and some OF them In Il
very marked dsGree, 0ut the Japanese
in addition made a tactical error in the
very beginning, and OF sucn grave
character thatit should have resulted In
their speedy defeat. Their error was
that in moving up to the Chinese TO
open the battle they divided their fleet
lnbo two parts, one swinging around tho
rghs 81 the Chinese line. and the
other moving down in front OF the
Chinesa line from the lstter's left. Now,
what the latter should hiVa done vas
30 nave ina ned iately moved up In double
line and enVe.Oped this part OF the
japanese feet. and with Their superior
vessels and anything like eiilcint hand
ling Of them, they should have de-
| s,roysd thi, portion Of the japanese
feet in short ordsr, and before the
other portion YOU have been able to
have rendered any effective aid 10 II.
Then they could nave turued their at
ssntiOn to the remaining portion, II IL
hadu't In the meantime run away, and
IL would not nave been a very difficult
task 30 have finished 10. In other
words they should have attacked the
TWO parts OF the feet in detail, and Il
wasa grave tactical error on the part
OF tho Japanese to present such opDor-
tunity TO them.
Again the Japanese seem to have
shown a strange apathy 10 not follow
| ing up their victory more closely, and
| In permitting the remnants or the Chi
nese feet to escape, aud especially so II
they sustained no more damage than
they claim 10 have done. With the OPP
portunlty at hand OF effectually destroy
| ing the ChiDese feet, they seem to have
Withdrawn and permitted the latter to
mako its escape. can only explain Is
on the ground of serious error OF
Judgment on their part, or that
their feet suffered much
greater damage than they
were willing to admit. But so far az
any Deductions OF value with reference
so the comparative merits OF different
Kind Of war ships, l don't think that
any have been made. II has been
claimed bs some that the battle was
substantial victory for the lighter class
Of war vessels or cruisers, as compared
With the heavier ones, or battle SHIPS,
but have. heard Of no authenticated
fact. ju.sIfylng any such conclusion.
The simple fact is that the Chinese
| fought their ships so misersoly that no
one is justified 10 forming any opinion
.s 10 the merits Of their ships from
the rssults which they obtained with
them
roRPEDoEs ovERRATED.
"There is, however, one deduction
vhich think will be apt 10 be drawn
from she battle, and that is that the
ornedo is not the effective weapon In
nryal warfare which has been claimed
Tor n lis probably true that some
allowances should De made Tor the gem
eraIine ficlency OF the ChiLese, Although
ms Understood that 10 some instances
less, foreign officers directed their
firing. but when one considers the snort
,.nosa and the numbers which were dis
.h,rsed and the comparatively 1T
RE damage which was dons by them,
{, q dIfficult to avoid the conclusion