New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-04-09
THE SPANISH FLEET.

Daily reports give the impression that Spain
has one of the largest and most powerful navles
I'm the world One day II Is announced that n
number of battle ships have sailed from Carta-
gepa for Cuba The next, that n dozen or per-
hans twenty warships have left Cadz for the
Cape Verd Islands And so II goes, until one
Is reminded OF the Ten Years War in which,,
according to official Spanish reports. the num-
Der Of Cubans killed and wounded and captured
considerably exceeded the entire population OF
the island infants in arms included.
Let US see what some OF these reports really
amount to- few days ago 1t was announced
that formidable Armada was TO proceed forth
with TO the Cape Verd Islands TO escort the
torpedo feet across the ocean. One Of the four
ships named is the Emperador Carlos " II Is
a fine armed and armored cruiser, the best In
the Spanish Navy and the only one protected
with Harveyized steel. 1t Is n vessel that
would do credit to any navy as n cruiser.
though. OF course. 1t is not equal to one Of our
battle-shlps But that ship has only just left
n French shipyard where 1t was being repaired.
and It cannot possibly he made ready for ser
vice inside Of several weeks. Another IS the
Crisobal Colon. fine armored cruiser pur-
chased from Italy some time ago The Spanish
machinery and cannot get it up to anything
like full speed. A third is the fine armored
cruiser Infanta Maria Theresa, which the
Spaniards seem able TO manage. The fourth Is
the cruiser Alfonso XIII. which has no armor
but protective deck and no heavy guns at all.
Evidently these four do not make an invncible
Armada.
Now we are told that a squadron of fifteen
men-of-war Is TO set ont at once. Let MS see
how 1t can be made up. II probably comprises
the three ships named above which are ready
for service Then there are the Cardinal
Csneros and the Princesa de Asurlas ships
similar to the Infanta Maria Theresa. II to
these we add the Numancia and Vioria. anti
auated craft Of eight or ten knots an hour and
armed with old muzzle-loadng guns. we have
exhausted the list of armored ships in the Span
ish Navy, excepting the solitary battle-ship
Pelayo and the cruisers Catalina and Pedro
d'Aragona which are not yet ready for service.
Such cruisers as Spain has been able 10 pur-
chase abroad not yet completed and will
not be for a month or two. The other eight or
ten ships In this feet must therefore be taken
from the list Of unarmored cruisers and gun
boats Of which Spain has number Two or
three Of them have protective decks and one
carries four 7S-lnch guns. The batteries Of
most OF them are composed of ) and 6 inch and
machine guns.
Such ships could do much damage to com
MERGE In a conflict with real battle-ships they
would cut no figure at all. Nor could they en-
ter any harbor which has modern Notifications
about il. AS for the torpedo feet OF Span 1t
is undoubtedly superior to ours. But it is at
the other side Of the ocean, and the task Of
getting it over here, in the face of such n flying
squadron as could be sent to intercept it. would
not be an enviable one. There is no occasion
to sit up O. nights worrying over the latter-day
Spanish Armada.