Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-07-27
OUR GOOD GUNNERY.
Careful Aim Of American Seamen
Made Quick Work Of
Spanish Fleet.

reSpOndence of the Associated Press. i
ANY doubt that may have existed that
the Maine was blown up by an outside
explosion has been dissolved by the exam
nation of the destroyed Spanish ships"
said a member of the board of survey that
| examined the remnants of Admiral Ger
yera's fleet.
''Of four ships examined three had been
blown up by their magazines" he cOntin-
ued ''and Of these one had every maya
zine exploded and torpedoes in addition,
yet on none of them was there the same
effect as that produced by the explosion
on the Maine. There was no upheaval
of the keel and little bulging of the plates,
| except in the immediate vicinity of the
explosion. The effect was nearly alto
geJher upward, in some cases the protec~
tive deck being lifted, but outside of the
springing of a few plates, the hulls We're
intact"
| Effect of Well A lined Shots.
The examination of the wrecks of the
| Spanish ships, three of which are burned
and all magazines exploded, was made,
| first for the purpose of ascertalnlng the eff
| feet of American gunnery, and secondly to
| find the effect of internal explosion. Both
| subjects bore upon the Maine incident as
noted above, and the awful effect of we'll
| aimed shots was demonstrated in the rap
id sinking of the fleet. When it is remem-
| bered that the Almirante Oquendo and the
| Infanta Maria Teresa We're both sunk
| within forty minutes of the time they left
! the entrance of Santiago harbor, the work
| of American gunners may well be consld-
| cred as remarkable. The Almlrante
! Oquendo was struck over ffty-6ve times
and the Infanta Maria Teresa thirty seven
times, but by larger projectiles.
| The record of damages to these ships
is one of great interest. The fight started
at range of 5000 yards, or three miles.
At 1000 yards or 2500-yards two torpedo
| boats and two cruisers were annihlated.
! The closest fighting was done at 100 and
1000 yards, by the Brooklyn and Viz
caya. with annihilating effect on the
larger than S-inch struck a vessel, both
of these, either II or 13-inch, being put
| through the Infanta Maria Teresa. The
S-inch, 6-inch, 5-inch and 6-pounder
projectles did the bulk of the work, and
were frightfully destructive. Some idea
of the effect can be obtained from a
brief summary of the injuries to each
ship as found by the examining board.
| The board had upon it such capable men
as Executive Officer Rogers of the Iowa,
Executive Officer Mason of the Brooklyn,
an expert on the effect of shells on ar
! NOR; Lieut.. Huessler of the Texas, who
has made some splendid improvements in
gun-tiring on that ship, and Naval Con-
structor HObsOn Of Merrimac fame, who
has reputation for knowledge of ship
! construction. Briefly, these officers
! found:
The Cristoba1 Colon.
CristObal Colon. battleshp, frst-class,
with six inches Of steel for protection
| not only on the water line, but around
| the 6-inch guns-ThiS ship was hit with
large projectiles but six times, as it kept
out of range nearly the whole time, pass
| and finally making u run for it, The hits
were made by the Brooklyn and Ore
gon. One S-inch shell went into the
port side of the wardrOOm and left on the
starboard side without exploding, but
cleaned out everything in the room. A
! 0-inch hit just above the armor belt, and
G-inch struck her on the bow. None of
the injuries was sufficient to put her out
| of action nor as serious as those re-
ceived by the Brooklyn, at one time her
sole antagonist. The assertion that the
| Brooklyn was overhauling her and the
! Oregon's terrific 13-inch guns We're shoot
| ing nearer and nearer and that escape
| was impossible seems to be the correct
solution of her surrender
Vizcaya was of Maine Type.
The Vizcaya is of the same class as the
battleships Texas and Maine. She car
! ries two 11.0-inch guns and ten 5.5-inch
! guns with projections 10 and y inches
thick, double and treble that of the
| Brooklyn. This ship was the special prey
of the Brooklyn and the Oregon, although
the Texas, after her destructive work on
the Almirante OquendO and Teresa added
| Il little at long range. The NiZcaya. eN-
elusive of One-pounders and rapid-fire hits
which swept her deck, was hit with large
| prOjectiles fourteen times and by 6-pOund-
ers eleven times. The S-inch guns of the
Brooklyn and Oregon and the 6-inch guns
on the Oregon and 5-inch on the Brooklyn
tore her structure above the armor belt
almost into shreds, while the 6-pounders
and 1-pounders made it too warm for
! men to stand at the guns. The Texas
got in few 6-inch shots and the Iowa
landed q couple of 4-inch shells. No. 13
or 12-inch shells struck her.
| Infanta Maria Teresa.
The Infanta Maria Teresa, the flagship
i of the same build as the Vizcaya. was
badly punished and was the only one of
the four ships hit by II or 13-inch projec-
tiles. She has two of that size clean
through her and the position of one
would tend to demonstrate that it was
fired by the Texas. An S-inch shell I'M
doubtedly from the, Brooklyn, because
she was the only ship in line with the
Maria Teresa's head she turned west,
entered just forward of the beam on the
port side, and exploding inside, cleaned
out the deck, with four gun crews. This
| is the shot that Ceryera said same from
the Brooklyn and set fire to the ship.
| The Teresa'S difficulty. and one that
compelled her hurried surrender, was
that all her fire mains were cut and she
was unable to extinguish the fires that
were driving her men from the guns.
| Almirante Oquendo.
The Almirante sOquendo, armored cruis-
er, same class as the Vizcaya and Teresa,
went through the most terrible ordeal Of
any of the ships, except the torpedo-boats.
Her upper decks were one rugged mass of
cut-up steGl and her decks were covered
WIN Gead and dying. She was hit on the
port side four times by S-inch shells,
tire times by 4-inch shells, probably from
the Iowa, two times by 6-inch and forty
two times by 6-pounders. The innumera-
bic number of 1-pounders that struck her
show that she met the fire of the entire
! fleet as she turned last out of the harbor.
The torpedo-boats followed her and the
secondary battery shots intended for them
hit her. When she returned to the shore
| it was in diapidated condition. One of
the findings of the board of survey was
! that an S-inch shell had struck the for
ward turret just where the gun opening
was, and that every man in the turret
| was killed, the officer standing in the firm q