The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1898-03-02
OUR NAVY
AND SPANS.
Wherein We Have The Advan-
tage of The
DOns.
SPAIN ExCEls IN FAST CRUISERS.
has Seven Second Class BattIeships
to Our Two Probable Scene Of
Naval Operations IN The
Event OF War.
SPAIN EXCELs IN FAST CRUISERS.
LIVELY FIGHTING EXPECTED.

WASHINGTON, March e.-[Speoial. l.
SPANS navy without shadow Of doubt
Ia much inferior TO that Of the United
States, and In the event Of war this fact,
In the opinion Of our naval officers, would
be quickly demonstrated. There is one
particular, however, In which the Spanish
navy excels that Of the United States. 1t
is In the possession Of a number Of ships
which are known as armored cruisers, but
which are really second class battleships
and Of great speed. Spain has seven of
these fast fighting ships, but 1t is believed
that only. five or perhaps six Of them are
ready for service. They are all Of about
1000 tons, or about the size of the Ill fated
Maine, though one Of them Is much lar
ger, or of 1900 tons displacement. The
Vizcaya, whose visit to New York harbor
will be long remembered, is one Of these
ships.
War vessels possess three main points OF
efficiency. One Of these is the power OF
their guns, the second is their armor OF
their power Of resistance to attack and the
third is speed. OF the three the last named
is much more important than most people
Al has oRood udPoAAO III W ehhe
Of its antagonist, 1t can fight or run, ao-
cording to circumstances. She may refuse
battle with a ship of superior armament
compel any inferior and slower craft to
stand battle.
Our Cruisers.
Against these five or six armored cruis
ers or fast battleships Of Spain we have
only two vessels exactly Of their class.
These are the armored cruisers New York
and Brooklyn, which are fully as power
full as the Spanish ships and Of about the
same speed. In the opinion Of naval ex'
perts the New York and Brooklyn are q
match for any three Of the Spanish ships
OF the same class.
Notwithstanding the advantage which
Spain has In the possession Of these fast
cruisers SO well armored as really to be
second class battleships, our naval author
tiles have no fear of the result Of wal
between the fleets. After all, 1t must be
remembered that ships cannot fight till
they get together, and even II the Spanish
have faster ships Of the first class when the
collision comes numbers and weight Of
metal thrown by the guns are the factors
that count. In the old days ships bruised
about singly or In pairs, looking for the
enemy. Now squadrons 60 together, and
a duel between one or two ships on a side
Is very rare thing. In modern times we
have naval engagements, with fleet pitted
against feet.
American Superiority.
Il Is here that the superiority OF the
American navy over the Spanish Is most
clearly manifest. We excel Spain In mum
Der. OF ships and In offensive and defensive
power.
We have four first class battleships tC
SPANS one.
We have (since the loss Of the Maine.
one second class battleship TO SPANS two
both of which we're built 30 years ago
and, though recently reatted and scanned
are no more than a match for the Texas.
We have six seagoing coast defense iron
clads Of the Terror and Puritan typ'
against SPANS none.
We have dozen nonseagoing coast de
Tense ironclads, such as the Ajax, Canon
ious, Mahopac, eto., against Spain's two
very small gunboats, which, OF course
could not come to these shores, though al
OF our ships Of this class could be used II
defense of our coast cities.
We have one armored ram, the Katah
din, to SPANS mono.
We have % protected cruisers OF steel Il
Spain's 8 Of steel and Of iron. OF the ~
ships Of this class, which include the Min
neapolis, Columbia, Olympia, Philadel
phia, etc., we could put In operation
against Spain at least 10 ships, with ton
mayo averaging about 8, 500 each and arma
ment according to siEe. against not NOR
than by Spain, with an average Tonnage
OF about $500.
Who're the Fighting VIII Re.
II war comes, the naval operations will
be In Cuban waters, off our own Atlantic
coast, and near our principal ports Th'
Spanish fleet will consist OF about six o.
seven ships that may be called first clas
fighting craft, but against them we shall
be able to send out at least 10 vessels o
equal class.
When 10 comes TO collision between tn
reserve fleets, or ships Of the second class
we shall again have the superiority In tn
ratio OF something like two to one. IL tn
enemy breaks through our two lines Of de
Tense out at sea and approaches our har
bors, we shall have TO resist them, In ad
dition 10 the land Notifications, 20 gun
boats and ironclads that have not been y
sea al all.
There is one moro particular In which
the Spanish have little the advantage o
us, and this ID In the torpedo boats. Spail
at present has a larger number Of thes
boats than tho United States, but II wa
should be long delayed her superiority Il
this respect will disappear. The Unite'
States Is now building the first class tor
pedo boats and q number OF these will sol
be ready for commission.
Not One sided War.
Looking over the whole field our nave
authorities agree that war between span
and the United States would not be on
sided affair by any means. We could no
hope 10 esoapewithout dreadful losses. W
have twice as many ships a.. Spain, wilt
fully twice the effectiveness. but she has
fow terrible vessels Of high speed, and 4
her torpedo iiotilla. which Il now On rout
10 this side tho Atlantic, abe possesses a
auxiliary fofoo noe 70 bo dospised.
On tho whole. she advantage II with Chi
| country aud this advantages n Increased b
| thu distance from base at which the Span
| Ish le>N viii have 70 operate and the dil
| 1ool9 vhioh they viii encounter IN go
/ tina new supplies Of coal.