The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-13
THE GREAT BATTLE OF JULY 3
CAPT. EULATE'S STORY OF THE DE-
STRUCTION OF CERVERA's FLEET.
Tribute TO the Skill of Commodore
SchIey in Handling His Ship-Lieut.
Usher's Account of the Fight.
Copyright, 1898, by the Associated press.)

Copyright 1898. by the Associated Press)
OFF AGUADORES, July II, 2 p. M, via
Kingston. Jamaica, July IL, 2:10 p. m.-The
United States navy has the following prob
lem presented to it: What is the best man.
ner of effectively bombardng a city dis
tant four and half miles and concealed
from view by a range of hills ESQ feet high
at its lowest part? The problem has been
satisfactorily solved. So if the army here
after never fired shot and merely guarded
the roads, the navy could make Santiago un-
tenable, if. indeed, it did not totally destroy
it, in few days.
Sunday and to-day the sea was calmer
than usual, so the opportunity for good
practice was afforded. In pursuance Of
Gen. Skaters request, Commodore Schley,
Rear Admiral Sampson being absent at
Guantanamo, at o'clock on Sunday after
noon, ranged the Brooklyn, Indiana and
Texas within five hundred yards of the
shore, at point almost due south of the
city of Santiago. distant a little over four
and a half miles. The ships were about a
mile apart. The army signal men were on
the beach opposite the ships, and also on the
crest of hill overlooking both the ships and
the city. These men wigwagged the results
of each shot, telling the gunners If the.shel
was aimed too high or too low or not in
line.
Sundays practice was good, but it was
better to-day, when the firing was opened
by the New York, which returned from
Guantanamo bay during the night. The
New York, Brooklyn and Indiana were the
ships which participated in the shelling this
morning. Each shot was carefully calcu-
lated, and the wigwag signaled from the
shore to the ships where each shell fell,
and notified the gunners if they had the
proper elevation. The ships ran out their
big guns on the side opposite the firing
in order to secure the desired list to port
or to starboard.
General Shafter signaled about noon that
''some of the shells fell in the bay anG some
in the city. The latter do not appear to do
great damage Comment on this subject
was changed Immediately by message
saying: THE last shot struck St. Nicholas
Church, where powder was stored, blowing
up the same and doing great damage"
The bombardment closed for the day at
l p. m. at General Skaters request, as he
was about to send a flag of truce into the
city in order to demand it's surrender for
the third and last time. The whole pro-
ceeding was business-like in the extreme.
The ordinary Vocations on shipboard went
on. punctuated at intervals of five minutes
by the roar of the big guns, the scream of
projectiles and the echoes from the noun
tains in the rear of MORO Castle, plainly
visible to the westward and having the
bombarding ships we'll in range But not a
gun was fired by the Spaniards
The effect of the shells when they did hit
can easily be imagined when it is known
that each of them carries $50 pounds of ex-
plosives and travels 925 feet per second.
When such missile lands at a distance
of four and half miles from the muzzle
to the city it occupies 2214 seconds in it's
flight. -Four shells during the lombard
ment to-day ignited fires in different parts
of the city, proving the feasibility of burn
ing the place by using the guns of the fleet
alone.
1t was strange to see our soldiers repair-
ing locomotive on the railroad track run
ming along the beach. while, like the strokes
of Slow clock, the guns were fired and
sent shells screaming over the men at work
Death must have come to many in the
city by reason of the shelling but it is i'm
possible to do more now than surmise as to
the extent of the mortality.