The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-23

! rendered useless t-- lighting purposes.
! The repair vessel. unless the engagement
| IS so hot as TO render such movement
/ impractical bic, Will steam up and take the
/ helpless Ship IL ton. pulling her away 10
! q distance and out If reach of the enemys
/ fire. Though not herself lighting craft.
/ the floating machine shop VIII be provid-
/ ed with half a dozen gOod-szed rapid-hre
| guns, so as 10 be able 10 put up some sort
| OF defense in case she is attacked. II
! might be that she would be assaulted by
! torpedo boat, though vessels of this kind
Deing small and unprotected by armor,
| would not be likely 10 take part in general
| heet engagements on the open seas. She
| could keep off such waspish foe by
/ means OF her rapd-fre guns, and her
/ speed-only fast-go.ng steamers VIII be
/ employed for this purpose-win enable her
70 Keep out Of the way OF the big war
ships.
An engagement on the ocean between
| Spanish and American ships will not be
| likely 10 result in the total destruction OF
/ surrender Of one side. Both fleets will
/ suffer very serious injury. and one or both
| VIII draw off for a while before attempting
another action. During the interval as
/ matter of course they viii be as busy
( as possible ia repairing damages and get
| ing ready for another encounter. Obvious
| ~, II the American vessels can put them
selves into shape for further fighting in
! quicker time than the Spaniards, they
will have a great advantage. This, indeed,
| may be considered as an important point
! an favor of the Americans. They are born
mechanics, whereas The Spaniards are sin
| gulary deficient in that way. II is diff
/ cult TO see how the latter viii be able to
! mend their ships when they have been
| damaged in action. The Spauiards may
| be said to know comparatively little about
| the mechanical cons truction of their own
vessels, nearly all of which were built in
| other countries. All of their torpedo
| boats and torpedo boat destroyers for eX-
ample, were constructed by English firms
| When one thinks what an exceedingly del
| icate and complicated piece of machinery
| new-style warship Is it is hard TO see
| how such a nest OF engines is to be ma
nIpulated by Spanish officers so as to be
! efficient in war. once put out Of order,
/ how are they going 90 repair it?
/ The crew of each one Of our repair ships
/ will consist wholly of mechanics-not or
! binary mechanics, but men of the highest
( skill In the different kinds of work which
4 will be required of them. They will be
| men specially trained in the construction
/ OF marine engines, electrical apparatus
/ and other mechanism that go TO make up a
/ fighting vessel. While merely voyaging
/ and not otherwise occupied, they viii know
! how to act as coal beavers and engine
| drivers. Whenever it may be desirable
| they will be transferred temporarily to
! warships that need repairs, going aboard
/ with their portable tools and mending
| whatever is TO be mended. On their own
| craft they Will have FORCES for making
| forgings Of all kinds and sizes. They will
! have cupola for making small castings
/ of iron and brass. Their appartus win in
/ clude suitable tools for patching the sides.
/ Of vessels where they have been torn and
] I NV frr1 he E,~,
/ guns. The repair ship Will even carry
/ armor plates, with which to make patches
| One of the repair ships will be assigned
/ to Commodore Schley's flying squadron
another to the feet in Cuban waters, and
a third to the squadron in the North At
! lantic. Commodore Schley Will probably
! get the Chalmette. because he is likely to
! have the first fighting to do, and this yes.
/ SCI can be made ready very quickly for SER
! vice. Only few days viii be required for
! putting aboard Of her the machine tools
/ and equipping her with cranes and other
requisite apparatus. 1t is understood that
! the other two vessels have already been
| selected, and no time will be lost in pre-
| pairing them for business Some of the
mechanics that will man them will be
taken from the government gunshops and
| navy yards, and they will have expert
| knowledge Of gun-carriages and the gear
| of guns On a warship the guns are
| worked by a variety of complicated me-
| chanical devices, including air compress
sors, hydraulic lifts, steam birmingham.
electric turning-g gear and pneumatic turn
ing-gear.
Such mechanism Is apt to suffer a good
I deal OF injury in naval fighting under
| moderate col dltiCns, and the guns would
| be rendered useless unless their gear could
| be promptly repaired. Goodness only
knows what the Spaniards, ignorant as
they are of such matters. are going to do
| This, as above said, is going to be one of
| our greatest points of vantage over them
The repair Ship viii have no facilities for
the mending Of the guns themselves il
they are seriously injured the only way
| to make them serViceable again will be to
send them back 10 the gun factory Much
of their work will consist in patching and
renewing parts of the numerous and COM
! plicated engines which make up so much
| of the inside works of a battleshlp or
cruiser lighting vessel Of the first
class has about sixty-eight sets of en-
gines, and it's interior is cobwebbed with
| telegraph and telephone wires. Even In
| time of peace the engines are likely to get
out of order and an entering shot will
tear things to pieces in a fearful way. OF
course, the machinery most essential for
the actual working Of the ship is tur-
tle-back of steel dividing the vessel into
an upper story and lower story, so to
speak. The upper story might all be shot
away, and yet the raft would continue to
float, the lower story being covered by the
| protective deck as by a roof. Beneath the
! protective deck are the boilers and other
"vitals" of the ship.
The repair ships will have powerful en-
gnes and good speed. 1t was stated yes
! terday by Commodore Melville, chief of
/ the bureau Of steam engineering of the
navy, that a craft of this kind could do
| wonders with a damaged feet In ten days
| after an engagement, putting it into con-
dtion 10 go into action again. The impor-
lance OF this function, he declared, could
| not be overestimated, inasmuch as the
very life of the feet might depend upon
| it. If the enemy could make their repairs
! before we could make ours, and come
! down upon US ready for another fight
| where ehould we be?. Our business is to
make 1t work just the other way, and to
be ready for the Spanlards before they
| are ready for us. To deliver blow after
blow in quick succession is the way to
| make this war a short one.
/ -r-------e--4t