The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-17
THE OREGON As A FIGHTER.
stronger Than the Four Cruisers OF
the Cape Verde Fleet.

Stronger Than the Four Cruisers of
the Cape Verde Fleet.
From the Scientific American.
Leaving out OF consideration the I'M
armored and unprotected Marietta and
Buffalo. which would only invite destruc-
ton by coming within range OF the H-ineh
guns of the Spanish cruisers. we think
that the tremendous offensive ana defen-
sive powers of the Oregon should enable
her to sink one or two of the enemy and
seriously cripple the others before she
was sent to The bottom, for it goes with
out saying that no American flag will ever
be struck in the present war!
The Spanish fleet consists of four cruis-
ers' The Cristobal Colon. Oquendo. Maria
Teresa and Vizcaya The first sh,p is we
think, the best Of The fourVAand taken all
round, is perhaps the moAt formidable.
though BY no means the largest, in the
Spanish navy She is an Italian bunt shin
OF $50 tons and twenty knots speed. and
carries complete belt from stem to stern
of 6-inch Harveyized steel. while above
this is q continuous armored redoubt Of
6-inch Harveyized Steel which ptotects a
battery of ten 6-inch rapid-fire gurs Above
TINS again is another battery of six Al
'ANf Aufid-hiS suns protected with .-{nGb
plates and revolving shields The hcaviea,
armament consists Of two 1O-inch artnor-
piercing guns in 6-inch bar bettes There
IS a secondary battery of ten 6-pounders
and ten l-pounders. The three others are
sister SHIPS. Two of them are familiar 10,
the residents of New York. the Maria
Teresa having lain in the North river
during the Grant dedication and the viz
caya visiting this port shortly after the
Maine was destroyed. Each ship is of 1000
tons displacement and twenty knots apaed
WIN S-inch deck, 12-inch waterHne belt
and ten and one-half inches of steel nro-
tecting the heavy guns Each x armed
with two 11-inch guns, ten 6Ie-inch quick
fire guns, and fourteen 6-po,nders and /
FOUNDERS, The three destroyers are of
about 400 tons displacement ana tbIrtv
knots speed
Now, what has the Oregon to opDose
TO the four cruisers 1--WE will suppose tnat
the Buffalo and the Marietta can
take care of the destroyers) In battle
upon the high seas? To the two f0-inch
ana SIX ll-inch armor-piercing guns. whose
total energy is $4,000 foot-tons. she could
reply with four 13-inch armor-piercing
guns, with a total energy of 1874. 500 foot
tons. In addition to this, IL the attack
ing SHIPS ranged on one side Of the Ore
gon, she could reply with four S-lnch
guns of 1000 foot-tons energy. and ~ ,,n
two sides she could reply with eight g.
inch guns of $4,000 foot-tons combined
energy. In ability to pierce the vitals of
the enemy, 1t will be seen our shin has
an advantage of "a, 500 foot-tons over the
combined Spanish fleet. In respect of pro-
lection the Oregon is even stronger
than she is in heavy gun fire. To reach
her 13-inch guns. the 11-inch shells of the
enemy must penetrate at least fifteen
inches of face-hardened Harveylzed steel.
To get into the engine or boiler rooms
they must pass through eighteen inches
of the same protection. Now. the Span
ish ll-inch gun is barely able to penetrate
fifteen inches of common steel at 1900
yards (the probable fighting range, and
it can do this only II 1t strikes at right
angles to the surface of the target and
if the steel plate Is of the ordinary quail
ity. The Oregons steel armor, how
ever, is face-hardened and would easily
break up or resist complete perforatiou by
such few shells as might strike normal
| TO the surface. We are now speaking of
Nhe vitals and the main gun positions.
and, turning to the Spanish cruisers, we
| find that they have only l0lh and 10 inches
| of an inferior grade of armor e. e., in
ferior to our Harveyized steeD to oppose
| to our 13-inch guns, which are capable
1900 yards. Now, these guns, because of
their excellent protection, could fight for
| hours with little likelihood of being dis
| abled, and the question arises what would
| become of the Spanish barbettes and wa
| ter-line belts in the meantime? Under
| the excellent Workmanship which char
acterizes our gunners, Il is safe to say
that in stand-up fight of any duration
the Oregon would disable every heavy
i er.4. ,Nf h.
! shells in the vitals of every cruiser.
There are other elements of strength
and weakness, however, which must be
| considered. In the matter of heavy rapid
| fire guns, the advantage would be the
| other way, the cruisers being able to
! open fire from one broadsde with five G.
inch, fifteen 51s-inch and three 47-inch
rapid-firers. To this we could oppose
from one broadslde two 6-inch .slow-fres.
| Taking the average assumed speed of fire
| per minute for each type of gun, the en-
ergy of the metal thrown by the cruisers
| In one minute would be about 100000 foot
| tons against 10000 foot-tons for the slow
| flrers of the Oregon. The effect of this
| awful hail of bursting shells would de-
pend upon the accuracy of the Spanish
! gunners and the part or parts of the Ore
| gon against which 1t was directed. 1t
| would be harmless against the Finch bar
bettes, the 15-inch turrets or the 1S-nch
belt. If it we're directed against the thin
! plating beneath the S-inch gun barbettes
the guns would, of course, be put out of
| action. The real danger would be that
1t would be aimed at the unarmored ends
of the vessel beyond the amor belt, which
would be blown away and admit water
| above the protective deck, throwing the
| ship off an even keel and interfering with
| the working of the main guns.
The greatest danger, however, to the
! Oregon would be from the RAM and il is
probable that the swift cruisers would
close in from opposite sides In the effort
! to deliver the fatal blow before they had
themselves received mortal blow from
her powerful guns. Il Is certain she could
| be sunk by these tactics, but IL is more
| than probable that she would cripple all
| of her antagonists and eventually take
one or more of them with her to the bot
| tom.
| ALBERT, dear, while looking through
| some Of your old clothes, l made such a
l tbat I ordarad a revu draco