The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-07-29


OUR GOOD GUNNER
Careful Aim Of American seamsn
Made Quick Work OF S=s
Spanish Fleet. .
On Santiago de Cuba. July 12.-[ Cor
rsspondence of the Associated Press. r.
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 3 member of the board of survey that
examined the remnants of Admiral Gers
yera's fleet.
"Of four ships examined three had been
blown up by their magazines" he contin-
ued, and of these one had every maga>
zine exploded and torpedoes in addition,
yet on none Of them was there the same
effect as that produced by the explosion
Of the keel and little bnlging of the plates,
except in the Immediate vicinity Of the
explosion. The effect was nearly alto
gether upward, In some cases the prOtec>
tive deck being lifted, but outside of the
springing of a few plates, the hulls We're
intact" ~ St :
Effect of well-Aimed 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 ascertaining the eff
Of "A rao a<rV1n n
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 consid-
cred as remarkable. The Almirante
Oquendo was struck over tifty-fve times
and the Infanta Maria Teresa thirty-seven
times, but by larger projectiles: :.
The record Of damages to these ships ships
at a range Of 5000 yards, or three miles.
At 1000 yards or 25OVyards two torpedo
boats and two cruisers were annihilated.
The closest fighting was done at HOO and
1000 yards, by the Brooklyn and Viz
caya.. with annihilating effect on the
Sgsps9 has shg But s,ot two xt peee ts
Of td'f these. " either i or iseinch, being put
through the Infanta Maria Teresa. The
S-inch, 6-inch, 5-inch and 6-pounder
projectiles did the bulk of the work, and
were frightfully destructive. Some idea
of the effect can be obtained from q
brief summary of the injuries to each
ship as found by the examining board.
The board had Upon i such e esp ,s6 men
Executive Officer Mason of the Brooklyn,
an expert ON the effect Of shells on ar
NOR; Lieut.. Huess1er of the Texas, who
has made some splendid improvements in
gun-firing on that ship, and Naval Con-
structor Hobson of Merrimac fame, who
construction. Briefly, these officers
found:
The CristObal Colon.
Cristobal Colon, battleship, ftst-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 projeetiles but six times, as it kept
out Of range nearly the whole time, pass
ing behind the other ships for protection
and finally making run for it. The hits
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
5-inch hit just above the armor belt, and
a 6-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 ear
ries two 11.5-inch guns and ten 5.5-inch
guns with projections 10 and II inches
thick, double and treble that of the
Brook yn. 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
a little at long range. The sVizcaya, eex-
elusive of one-pounders and rapid-fre hits
which swept her deck, was hit with large
projectiles fourteen times and by 6-pound-
ers eleven times. The 8-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
landed a couple of finch shells. No. Is
or 12-inch shells struck her.
Infanta Maria Teresa. :. a.
The Infanta Maria Teresa, the flagship
of the same build as the Vizcaya, was
the four ships hit by IL 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 un-
doubtedly from the, Brooklyn, because
Maria Teresa's head as 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 Cervera 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 0quendo, armered 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 steer and her decks were covered
WIN dead and dying. She was hit on the
port side four times by S-inch shells.
TIN tire times by finch shells, probably from
two times by 6-pounders. The innumera-
Bile 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 a dilapidated 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 firing
hood being still in that position. Another
fact learned was that the torpedoes in
l SOnon Of fhn Eahit,s vVoro oil Nv l.,