The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-16
Lessons From the sea Fights.

a
ter the war with Spain. There is wide
spread demand for a navy commensurate
i'm size with the importance of the coun-
try. If those who make the apprOpria
tons and those who do the recommending
and the planning are wise, they will con-
slider carefully the lessons presented by
the operations OF our navy since the be
ginning of hostihties before making con-
tracts for new vessels and ornaments.
careful survey should be made to ascer-
tain what kinds Of craft we need. and
they should be provided; but there should
be no Ilttering Of the seas with costly but
practically useless vessels merely for the
satisfaction Of making show OF numbers
on the water and on paper.
For some time our government has de-
voted its attention to battleships and tor
pedo boats. Five of the former and
considerable number OF the latter are now
in course of construction. besides the thlr-
~ or more torpedo boats recently author
lied Meantime the cruiser type of vessel
has been neglected The Brooklyn is the
newest and best cruiser in. the service. She
was authorized in 1892. Yet the most ur-
was for fast protected vessels of the cruis-
er type, vessels that could steam swiftly
and at the same time fight hard. The ef-
fectiveness of the cruiser type was amply
illustrated in the Manila fight and again
al Santiago. In the latter case the Brook
lyns work was especially brilliant Except
for her splendid steaming and maneuver-
ing qualities and the power of her batter
les. it seems almost certain that one of
Admiral Cervera's ships, and possibly two
OF them, would have escaped.
The strength OF a navy Is generally cal
cuiated from the number of battieships in
it, The performances of the oregon, Tex
as and Others show that we can build as
good battleshlps as any in the world. The
type is primarily intended for coast de-
Tense work, but we have shown that we
can send our battleships around the world
al high speed, and then put them into ac-
ton at once without having to wait TO
tighten a bolt.
In the matter of guns for the big ships,
there is some difference of opinion wheth-
er the armament should consist of few
great guns or many smaller ones. Some
light may be thrown upon the question by
the recent fights. 1t appears from the
reports which have come from Cuba that
the greatest damage to Cervera's squad
ron was not done by the heaviest guns of
the Americans, but by the comparatively
small calibre rapid fire guns. The Brook
lyn's largest guns are eight inches. These
guns, however, together with her five
inch guns and slx-pounders, poured such
terrific fire into the enemy that the
Spaniards were driven away from their
guns The same sort of firing was going
on aboard the Oregon, Texas and Iowa
meantime. All of the American ships
were working their rapid fire pieces with
such celebrity and precision that the Span
| iards were fairly smothered with the hail
of missiles. Deweys performance at Ma
Mia was in the same line. The fighting
in each case was between 1000 and 5000
yards, at which the rapid fire guns are
not only armor piercers but deck sweep
ers. The eight-inch, the five-inch and
the six-pounder seem to be favorite arms
with the fighters of the navy, and the
| probabilities are that our battleships of
the future viii be plendfully provided
! with them.
In the battles OF Manila and Santiago,
and at Cardenas, il was shown that tor
pedo boats cannot live in range of we'll
handled rapid fire guns The Spanish tor
pedo boats at Santiago night after night
| lay in a harbor that was surrounded by
vessels of their enemy. If cover of dark
ness is what is wanted for the operation
of such craft, there was an abundance OF
opportunities for the Spanish boats to at
tempt to sink the American ships But
they made no successful attempt. On the
morning of the fight. while heavy smoke
| hung around the Americans, the Span
iards had as good an opportunity as will
ever come in daylight to use torpedoes
| but their boats We're riddled and sunk al
most as soon as they got out of the
harbor SO far there has been absolutely
nothing favorable to the torpedo boat de
velopment in the war. Still, our govern
ment has ffty-two of them building and
authorized.
The torpedo itself seems likely to suffer
a loss of popularity as a result of the in
| vesiigations of the experts assigned tC
study the wrecks of the Spanish ships
1t appears that a great deal of the dam
age suffered by the Vizcaya was caused
by one of her own torpedoes, which. was
stored in her hold. It's war head" was in
place and the presumption is that shot
or fragment of shell struck it and explod-
ed the torpedo. The amount of space
given to torpedo tubes and machinery or
a warshlp is very great. Admiral Samp.
sons board rather inclnes to the opinion
that the space could be better employed
than in accommodating an internal ma
chine liable TO commit haTa kari upon it.
self and the ship carrying it al any time
during a fight.
Reasons for Populist Party.
Hon. ]. r, Hogan. the Populist candi
date for Governor. gave quite a number o
/ IN Il Iaet