La Junta tribune. (La Junta, Bent County, Colo.) 1881-1939, 1898-08-27

The gun l. still the supreme sea
weapon.
1t Is true that greatest havoc in the
Spanish ships driven ashore OF San
tiago was caused by fire. but this con-
fagration was secondary and not
primary cause.
=. OF the four ships examined and re-
ported upon by the Naval Board three
were wrecked by the explosion of
their magazines. This was also sec
ondary. not determining cause. No.
the main weapon was not the ram nor
she torpedo. but the gun.
1t is impossible yet to state what ef-
feet the American projectiles may have
had upon the submerged parts of the
hulls. but the above water structure
yields convincing evidence OF gun
1 power. The total number of shots
fired in the action has not been made
public, but we have reports of two
ships, and II these be accepted as q
ratio for the others, the ammunition
rained upon the Spaniards must have
been enormous. Captain Evans. OF the
Iowa. states that the following is an
approximation OF the projectiles fred
ssemi-armor piercing shells, with full
charges; 35 S-inch common shells. with
fui! charges; 251 4-inch common shells.
Loss 6-pounder cartridges. common
shells, and 100 1-pounder cartridges,
common shells. Captain Cook, OF the
sBrooklyn, reports that he fired 100
rounds of S-inch shells, 4T3 5-inch.
l.2oO 6-pounder, and 200 1-pounder am
munltion. II the other battleships
made the same average as the Iowa
we viii get. after allowing for the re-
spective differences in caliber, a total
OF about 10000 pounds of metal, or
ninety tons, discharged against the
enemy.
Assuming that about 6,50O shots IN
all were fired, and this approximation
Is fairly close, we find. excluding the
fires from the 6 and ! Founders, that
$500 projectiles of the larger cali
bers were discharged by the Oregon,
Brooklyn, Iowa, Indiana and Texas.
1t will be interesting to note in this
connection the number of direct hits
.made by these shells. This is taken
from the report made by the Examin-
ing Board. convened by Admiral Samp-
son Immediately after the battle:
'Four-inch shells-Fired only by the
aowa-The Infanta Maria Teresa, 1:
the Aimirante Oquendo, s.: the VIZ
caya, 2.
"Five-inch shells-Fired only by the
Booklyn-The 1nfanta Maria Teresa.
S: the vizcaya. 6; the Almirante
Oquendo, 5 Zone OF which exploded q
/,orpedo): the Cristobal Colon. 4.
"Eight-inch shells-F'ired by the
Brooklyn, the Iowa. the Oregon and
he Indiana-The Maria Teresa. 8; the
Almirante Oquendo, 3; the vizcaya, 4.
As the Indiana did not follow the
chase she probably had nothing to do
with the hits on the Vizcaya.
twelve or thirteen inch shells
Only two on the Teresa must be cred
tied to the battleships Oregon, Indiana.
Texas and Iowa, although 1t is quite
Asertain that the Texas fired one.
"All the Spanish ships were riddled
by the rapid FIRE Of the and pound
srs carried by all the American ships"
This total of forty hits applied to
the projectiles fired gives about three
per cent of successful shots. To the
.iayman this may seem small ratio.
nut 1t is very good indeed when the
smoke, distance and the difficulties OF
a running fight are considered. The
engagement started at a range OF six
thousand yards-that is. at distance
Of about three miles. Following out
an approved sea maxim and the espe-
cial Instructions formulated by Rear
Admiral Sampson. the ships closed
|$ gradually. so that both torpedo boats
NH and two OF the armored cruisers were
NJ destroyed when within $500 yards. At
M one time the Vizcaya and the Brook
n lyn were engaged in close order for
modern fighting, the distance estimat-
ed being Just over 1000 yards.
The Spanish statement OF their gun
dre has not been given specifically.
All we know is that they opposed to-
tai Of 146 guns to the 225 mounted on
board the American ships-that Is. II
the batteries OF the Gloucester and
The Vixen be included. Our marked
superiority was In the heavy guns. as
Eve opposed fourteen to their six. but