The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-05-16
IN THE THICK OF BATTLE
THE RISKS ATTENDING 4 MODERN
 NAVAL ENGAGEMENT.

Victory to be Decided and Superior
 Marksmanship-Death From Machine
 Gun Fire Shells.
 sent message to the men of the fleet, encouraging them to emulate the ex- ample of Admiral Farragut, since which time several journals have re- ferred to Farragut's famous ascent of the rigging of the Hartford during the passage of the forts at Mobile as pro- ceeding which might with advantage be copied by the commanders of our present ships. The truth is that for any one to expose himself on an open deck in an action between battleships or cruisers is almost certain destruction, and in all vessels in which the plating of the superstructure is not sufficient to keep out machine-gun projectiles the loss of life will probably be greater than has ever happened before in nav- al conflicts. Some vessels, though by no means all are provided with armor; but 1t is not true, as is generally sup posed, that the armor is there prinnar- fly to shield men. Its function is to protect the guns, the motive power and sufficient of the compartments, into which the ship is divided to keep her af1oat, even if all the others are in- | jured.
 In our last war the forts at Mobile and New Orleans used grape and can- ister shot with much effect, against our l attacking fleets; but this was at close range. At long range shells and the flying splinters of wooden vessels were the principal agents of wholesale de- struction. But now the huge shells will begin to come on board from the high power guns when the contending ves- sells are nearly three miles apart. The Z largest guns, twelve and thirteen inch { calibre can be loaded and fired almost once every minutes. At little less than two miles distance the five and six inch rapid-fire guns will begin to pour in their projectiles, and these weapons can be loaded and fired at the rate of from seven to fifteen aimed shots per minute. Then come the six pounder guns, delivering forty shots per minute, the one-pounders, throwing shot per minute, the machine one pounders (Maxim Nordenfeldt), two < hundred shots per minute, and so on Y up to the Gatlings, fed automatically by electric motors and projecting bull s let's at the rate of three thousand per minute. A man might brave storm of grape and bullets with a chance of escape; but the battle of the Yalu river showed that under the quick-fire hail of the Japanese ships the slaughter on the Chinese ships was so frightful that the Chinese with all their stolid con- tempt for death could hardly be kept at their posts So fierce was the storm S of steel around the attacked vessels that the sea was literally lashed into foam by it.
 Of course, there is no place on board < warship in action which is ever reas- onably safe. The marines stationed in the military trops are likely to be quickly swept out by quick fire hail, and the coal pa ssers down in the bunk z CTS or the engineers in the tangle of steam machinery are in as imminent < danger of death through injuries to the boilers and the scalding of escaping steam
 Of all on board, the man who stands in the greatest peril is the captain. In the battleships and cruisers his posi- ton is in cylindrical box of steel placed just under the bridge, we'll for x ward, which is called the coming tower. The arlnor of it is thick enough ordinarily to resist the penetration of heavy projectiles. It contains the < speaking tubes and electrical wires whereby he communicates with the guns, engines and helm, and sometimes apparatus whereby he is enabled to fire the guns himself after they are laid upon the enemy. His field of vision is limited to what he can see through a little horizontal slit on about the level of his eye In point of frightful respon- sibility no situation in the world can compare with that which is occupied by tNe man who stands in that tower and directs the movement of his ship. After the conflict once begins the din about him will be something internal. X Upon him the fire of the enemy will be concentrated, and upon tn exterior of that steel drum in which he is shut up there will be a continuous hail of iron and steel. Shells will burst everywhere around it, and to that babel will be added the roar of the force blast under the engines, the tremendous reports of < the heavy guns, and the din of the quick-fire and machine guns in chorus. In such circumstances as this, aided by X such knowledge as he can get by look ing out through tho little peephole in front of him as well as the smoke will let him, the captain must control the tremendous forces under his command, and his decisions are matters of sec- onds.
 Nobody now belives that a captain who finds his vision through the sits of the tower cut off by smoke will stay thus shut up. It is extremely doubtful If it will be physically possible for him to remain there after the shells begin to hammer it's sides and burst against it; and, in any event. the intense anxi- ety to see and know clearly what the enemy is doing will inevitably lead him to take his chances in the open. Con- ming tower or no conning-tower, his duty is to place himself at whatever point he can manage his ship to the best advantage, and this he will cer- tainly do. Lord Charles Beresford, with grim humor, has suggested that the captains safest place is not in but t,lz