The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-27
IxDIANA,s nIenrY Guns.
They Made Things Jump when Fired
~ SEE.

.
/ triois who. on muggy days. frequent the
breezy shores on Sta-e1 Island never have
seen nobler Assem- .age o. yankee bat
/ tie ships and cruisers t1egins at their ca
I bies in the upper bay.
There was one ironelad. the double tur-
I ret monitor Amphitrte. al anchor when
| the white ships came il. She became i'm
/ mediately part OF The squadron, which
I arrayed itself in double column, bearing
north and south. Close 70 the Staten Is
/ land shore were thu cruiser Cincinnati.
the Amphitrite. and he cruisers Raleigh
and Newark. OF shore from this quartet
were the stately cruiser Columbia, the
| Daltle snip Indiana. matchless in her
/ class; the flagship New York and the bat
/ tie snip Massachusetrs. which has never
/ before been in these waters Every gilt
/ laced officer and sturdy bluejacket was
weary from the almost uninterrupted Ia
/ Dor OF twenty-five days and the flesh Of
/ every one was sore and red from the nitre
/ In the immense quantities Of powder eX-
| ploded on the cruise. unparalleled in its
results by any other ever undertaken by
/ the new navy.
Rear Admiral Bunce and Capt. Schley
| OF the flagship New York were jublant.
! Ihelr uniforms and those Of all the other
officers were nearly spoiled by the sill
| cate-like precipitation from the vast
u
terry, and the decks of the ships were
SCARED by big powder grains.
barring injuries To hulls and men, the
squadron looked much as it might look
| after engaging real enemies afoat Every
| thing will be put in shipshape and Bristol
| fashion. This week, and when Ii Hung
| Chang comes up the bay on Friday, he
| will see not only the vessels that came in
| yesterday but also the second-class bat
| tleships Texas and Maine the ram Ka-
| tahdln and the dOuhle-turret monitor
| Terror. The twelve vessels will constitute
| the first fleet of steel warships ever gath
cred hereabouts. Heretofore we have had
only squadrons, and a squadron consists
| of less than twelve -battlehips. 1t
| is probable that Ii Hung Chang has not
seen in his continental journeyings any
| finer collection Of war vessels than will
| fill his vision on Friday, when he comes
in on the swift yankee merchantmen.
The squadron, after it steamed down the
| coast on Aug. !, spent nine days in naval
TACTICS abd signalling with flags and
whistles, and at night with the electric
| system of incandescent bulb lights. The
| ships put into Hampton Roads and coaled
and on Aug. Is sailed for this port.
on the way up they INDUCED in squad
ron evolutions and target practice on a
| scale never before attempted by our ships
| The capabilities of the ships and their
officers were tested thoroughly in three
| days of hard drilling. There was not one
| hitch in the manoeuvering. Rear Admiral
Luce says of squadron evouuOns:
Nothing but the school Of actual and
| continued practice will ever enable off,
| GERS to handle their ships so skilfully as
to insure the inyariable success of fleet
| evolution"
| Here Admiral Bunce indorses this senti-
| ment The officers Of the white squadron
never had such excellent training in turn
| ing and forming in line, column, echelon,
and double echeion. The nerves Of officers
and men, their commanders said, were
steadied by this experience, not only in the
movements of the ships, but in their bat
| terry practice the like of which on 50
| large scale had never been attempted
before.
Never were so many thousands Of
pounds of powder shot from the great
| and little guns of our warships. The con-
| cussion aboard the giant sister battle
| ships Indiana and Massachusetts is de-
| scribed by her officers and men as terrific.
The 1000 pound anchor Of the Indiana,
unbent from the cable, was blown from
the port bow and thirty feet into the air
| by the mighty shock caused by the dis
charge of the thirteen-inch gun, fired
! ahead at a triangular canvas target set
| in the sea. The anchor as it struck the
water, we'll under the bows Of the advanc-
ing battle ship, splashed spray on her
deck. The projectile from the gun missed
| the target by few feet.
The target practice was the feature of
| the cruise UP the coast. 1t demonstrated
that the men at the guns and their COM
| manders are a good deal like the yankee
sea warriors of the early days of the re-
| public. The target was about twenty
| five feet high and fifteen feet wide at the
base. The vessels of the squadron passed
and repassed it at a distance of 1900 yards,
running about eleven knots. The New
| York led the column, and, as she got in
range, she blazed away with her forward
| battery, following 1t up with a cannonade
from her waist, and finally from the guns
of her after division. Some of the pro-
Jectiles from the big and little rifles pierre
ed the wings of the canvas target Any
one of them would have hit the huh of an
| ordinary ship.
The Indiana followed the New York, and
! the sea seemed to tremble with the Yibra-
! ton when her main battery let its ponder
! Gus missiles loose Every gun on the
port side barked or roared or thundered at
! the target. 1t was a new sensation to all
| hands, this firing of many guns from the
decks of the greatest of our war vessels.
The awful conclusion made the men at
! the great rifles temporarily deaf; the nj
! tire from the powder blistered their faces,
! and powder grains more than an inch in
! thickness dropped on the decks, freck-
! ling them with holes more than half an
| inch deep.
The 2,0o0-pound anchor flew from the
bow as from a catapault with the thun-
der Of the first gun. Capt. Bob Evans
was too busy to stop to investigate the
| loss of the anchor; besides, the cruiser RAJ
! leigh was steaming at an eleven-knot rata
| Just astern. and, naturally, Capt Bob
| kept right on, shooting off more gunpow-
| der and steel as If nothing out of the or
| binary had happened.
! Every vessel was cleared for action be-
! fore she passed the target. That was the
! signal that futtered in bunting from the
! flagship just before the seven white fight
ers formed in column to shoot at the can
! vas target.
They were in the same condition thew
would be in if engaged in actual battle
/ Most of the shots of the Indiana struck
so near the target that if it had been even