The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1895-11-11
JAPANESE AS FIGHTERS.
They Are Not So Formidable as Rep.
resented.

The question of fighting Ia a delicate
one to touch on; but l have frequently
discussed it with snrewd officers OF our
navy, and the conclusion universally ar
rived at by ali those to whom L have
spoken is that if the Japanese can tight
their ships as we'll as Europeans can do.
they gave no proof of it in the various en-
gagements during the war with China.
/ have instanced the fight off Fengtao as
illustrative of the incapacity Of the Japa-
nese to obtain good speed results. But it
showed also lack of good fighting
ability. The total tonnage of the three
Japanese cruisers was considerably over
1900 tons, and each was well provided
with quick-hring guns. The three Chi
nese ships had only combined tonnage
of some 1000 tons, and their guns were
not quick Iiring. Yet the disposition of
the Japanese ships was such that the
only Chinese vessel really worth de-
stroylng or capturing was allowed to es-
cape.
The naval battle in the Yaloo Sea offers
still more serious Instance of what l
may term lack of capacity to fight. l do
not, OF course, mean unwillingness or
lack of resolution, but a deficiency in
tactics and gunnery. Admiral Ito, lect-
uring fortnight since before the Ho-
kunkwai, q society of gentlemen in To-
kio, admitted that the form of attack
adopted by his first squadron was due to
misunderstanding in signaling. He
went on to say the mistake resulted hap
PLY. because it brought the enemy be-
tween two fires, and thus distracted at
tention from the dangerous position of
the Saikio, Hiyei and Akagi. These,
through the faulty formation of the Sec
ond squadron, ran the risk of being cut
Off, and two of them ran in the gantlet
of forcing their way through the Chinese
lines. fortunately, the Chinese gunners
were lmpotent, or nothing could have
saved the two Japanese ships. Indeed,
at the close OF the battle, Admiral Ito
thought both We're sunk. The chief
blunder was in allowing TWO Chinese
ironclads, after all the other Chinese ves
sells had been dispersed or sunk, to get
away at all. No European fleet would
have committed such an error. The ia
panese ten cruisers hammered away at
the two battle-ships for four hours, and
yet subsequently permitted them TO go
unmolested to Port Arthur. Three of
the japanese cruisers carried sixty
two-ton gun each, one of the most power
full pieces OF naval ordnance adoat. Those
should have been used to penetrate the
armor OF the ironclads.
The Chem Y uen, which is now in Yoko-
suka, has over four hundred marks of
shot and shell, but no one of missile
from any OF the SlAty-sWo-tOn guns; ana
! am told by an officer who saw her at
Port Arthur that the Inflated Ting Yuen
after the battle bore no evidence of hav-
ing been struck by such a projectile.
That may have meant bad gunnery,
or hesltanoy to come to sufficiently
close quarters TO render the guns effective.
But it was not fighting as Europeans
would fight. Had those two ironclads
been taken or sunk. nothing could have
saved Pekin from capture by the Japa-
nese last autumn, and China to-day
might have have been thoroughly awak
ened instead of being merely slightly dis
turbed in her slumber of centuries.-H,
Tenant In London Spectator.