Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-07-13
Tinder-Box warships.
washington Post)

There "a a curious fact in connection
With the destruction OF the two Spanish
fleets. which appears TO call Tor more az
tention than has been given. AZ the ntNdi
battle of Manila, every one OF the span
ism vessels. and that in very snort uiiio
after tho beginning Of the engagenehl'
is reported TO have burst into names
Exactly the same thing happened 10 the
vessels composing the fleet OF Admlrai
Cervera. and also within short time
every vessel was set on fre.
That our vessels, or some OF them' uiu
not meet with a like fate can De ac-
counted for only by the fact that they
were not struck by the shells OF thc
Spanish vessels In other words, IL was
the bad craftsmanship Of the spanish
g,nners that enabled US to escape posi-
BILE disaster. Our gunners planted thelr
shots where they would do the most
good. while theirs did precisely the oppo-
site. In dealing with the poor gunnery
of the Spaniards we were not hurt buI
suppose we had naval encounter win
first-class power with good gunners "hd'
would happen then?
This is the first war I'm which modern
war vessels have been engaged Whete
their merits could be tested. The chi
nese-Japanese war was too one-slueu ~
furnish a basis on which TO estimate the
effectiveness of the modern warship our
war has shown what we can do. ana mas
at least suggested what can be done TO
us II has not been done TO us. but it is
entirely because of the remarkably poor
gunnery Of the Spaniards. Had they
planted their shots with the same accu-
racy as we did there might have been
a different story 10 tell. Let us be duly
thankful that the story remains untold.
The reason for the confagrations on the
Spanish vessels is not hard to find. IL
can be summed up in few words. There
is too much woodwork on modern war
ship. IL is the woodwork that takes
fire and 1t should not be there. our YES
sells are built very much on the same
plan as those we have destroyed. There
is some difference in details, but the gem
eral plan is about the same. There Is al
together a superluous amount of infam-
mable material on lighting vessels.
The attention Of the naval authorities
10 this faulty construction has been Ill
rected more than once, but without prac-
teal results. There are among our navy
officers men who study the matters re-
lating TO naval warfare. and not few
Of them either and more than once have
they pointed out the danger of too much
wood in the structure Of our war ves-
sells
From the results obtained I'm the two
really serious engagements which have
occurred it would appear that there IS
something in this matter of combustble
material. II seems to be fairly conclu-
slve that large healthy eleven, twelve,
or thrteen-nch she'll exploding on or in
a modern lighting ship. will almost GER
tanly cause a conhagration. We are
liable TO become engaged in controversy
with a frst-class power Not that We
are likely 10 be. but ii Is possible and II
we do there will be some large shells eX-
ploded on our ships. The painted and
vanished woodwork, while IL looks pretty
and attracts the eye IS peculiarly suscep-
tible 70 the fire scattered around by 4
shell, and IL can be confidently expected
that a bursting shell will ignite it, Tn
der such circumstances good and effective
rghting cannot be done.
Much interest has been aroused in Eu-
rope among naval authorities by this
war of ours with Spain. and it can hardly
be expected that the invariable setting
on fire Of the Spanish ships will not be
noticed. The lesson taught is as much
Tor our benefit as for that Of Europe, and
should be taken TO heart.