The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-26
NAVAL LESSONS.

Lord Brassey,s Naval Annual for 1895 has
just come out, having been delayed by the
compilation of parts taken from the Chino
Japanese conflict. This makes the publication
the first official and most accurate account OF
the sea-fghts in the Yellow Sea as yet given,
and most valuable from an historical and scien-
tifc point of view.
The author takes the five-hour battle of the
Yalu as an object-lesson in armor, and states
that as the Chinese ironclads Chen-Yuen and
Ting-Yuen were each hit 200 times near the
water-line and not seriously penetrated, it is
proven that armor is effective against gun fire.
And when it is remembered that those vessels
were not protected by the Harveyized nickel
plate now used by all navies, but by the old
process, and against the most modern guns,
the war student is convinced that the new steel
cruisers need not fear the new rifles of her foe.
Theoretically, the 6-inch and 133-inch guns of
the Japs should have gone through and
through the old armor of these Chinese cruis-
ers, but practically they were q failure.
Passing over the miserable condition of the
China feet without an adequate supply of am
munition, without fairly intelligent officers
and even without complete code of signals
whereby ships could act in concert in fight,
Lord Brassey and his co-writers come down to
the superior speed of the Mikados ships and
the deadly work of their rapid-fre batteries. The
China vessels were without this class ofweapon,
consequently they received from five to eight
shots to the one they were able to fire in re-
turn gun for gun. Tie Japanese were able to
steam around and around the enemy, practi-
cally holding them at their mercy, and had
their gunners been equal to those of Europe
and America in point of craftsmanship their
enemy would never have escaped humiliation |
in the first fight.
The torpedo work on both sides was failure |
and both fleets, though well supplied with these |
effective projectiles, did comparatively nothing
with them in their naval engagements. Another |
practical conclusion arrived at by Lord Brassey |
is the necessity of having the future war vessels
on going into action, totally without boats or |
any infammable material on board.
Hammocks or wooden fittings are almost sure |
to be set on fire by the bursting of shells, thus
endangering the ship from source that need |
not exist. In the matter OF the boats, they are !
doubly useless, for if not splintered or burned |
by shells, they become disabled by the concus-
sion of the heavy guns on their own ship.
One of the few practical lessons learned from !
this woefully unequal conflict is concentration |
of fire upon one ship in feet fight. Grip |
pied vessel in the column is terrible draw |
back to the rest of the squadron and all their |
tactics must be deranged to protect her. The |
japanese had several old ships in their fleet |
which were constant source of weakness to !
the others. The military tops of the vessels of |
which so much was expected were only heard |
were struck by shells, and all of their occu- !
pants killed. Their position up in the air in |
range OF high-fying pro ectiles makes it almost
impossible for them to escape during q hot fire. |
Speaking of "end-on' as against "broadside"
fire, the author believes in the greater efficiency
of the latter.
A ship should of course have an all-round |
fire, but it is the broadside that decides the |
fight. Moreover, ship end-on affords a better |
target, because all the difficulties in shooting |
lie in the range, and shot that would pass |
over ship were she broadside-on would likely |
strike her if end-on, as that position gives, in |
fact, margin of 100 yards more range to the |
shooter.
Reverting again to the gun-fre work Lord |
Brassey says it would be interesting to know
the speed OF the gunners during the three
hours hot action at Yalu. The Japanese ship
Yoshino fred 1900 rounds from her broadside
of seven guns, or 173 rounds each gun-almost
one per minute. The Chinese ironclads Chem
Yuen and Ting-Yuen fred their eight 12-inch
guns each twenty-five times, and their four
6-inch guns each sixty-seven times in the three
hours.
In the general discussion of nayy-building |
the author of the Annual calls attention to the |
pedo-boats-the fght-deciders of ship en-
gagements-and their construction in all the
navies of the world. He also mentions, in a
sort OF grim way, the need of torpedo-boat
destroyers, and the great need of these little
craft to protect the fleet from the almost sure
destruction by their smaller enemy. He
advocates the building by Great Britain of two
ships for every one constructed by her neigh
bors, as by that means only can she maintain
herself on the seas. Lord Brassey strikes the
keynote when he calls for the sail. Ships must.
for purposes of economy as well as in cases of
emergency, have that invaluable auxiliary
the canvas-and in this he is seconded by the |
best experienced men in the United States
naval service.
Summing up his conclusions, the author
holds that the future vessel must be armored
must be speedy, must have quick-fire guns,
smokeless powder, and must be protected bv
tOrpedO-boats and torpedo-hoat destrnrers