The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-29
IN WHO STRIKES FIRST
Depends the Result of any
Encounter
WITH SPAIN'S FL0TILlA
Helpless at Sea; All But Irwin
chile in HarbOr.

within twenty-four hours Of Key West.
If these hornets should slip over to that
vicinity some dark night and attack our
feet where it lies it might very well hap
pen that the latter should be utterly de-
stroyed and Spain left in command of the
seas. II we should lose even the Massa-
chusetts and the Iowa 1t would leave
Spain with the preponderance at sea and
with full power to ravase our coasts at
her will.
The navy department has the following
list of the Spanish torpedo fotlla now on
its way to Porto Rico:
Torpedo boat destroyers: Terror, Furor
and Pluton, each of $50 tons and a speed
of IT, enty- eight knots.
Torpedo boats: Azor, 127 tons, twenty
five knots: Ragor 12O tons, twenty-five
knots; Ariste, u Stons, twenty-five knots;
and Cludad de Cadiz, 12O tons and twenty
two knots.
Besides these, there are thirty Of forty
torpedo boats already in Cuban waters.
A torpedo boat destroyer is nothing
more or less than a very large torpedo
boat The ordinary torpedo boat cannot
travel in the open sea with safety. A de-
stroyer is between 210 and 225 feet in
length. It draws only four or five feet
of water, which is about the same that a
torpedo boat draws. 1t has a coal carry
ing capacity sufficient to enable it to
cross the ocean. and it has twin screws
and triple expansion engines, capable of
developing E,0e0-horse power, which in
sures a speed of thirty knots or more an
hour. This is considerably faster than
the ordinary torpedo boats travel.
Torpedo boat destroyers cost between
s30O0O and $780, 900. They are built to carry
five or SIX six-pound guns and one thir-
teen pound quick fire gun. These guns
are sufficient TO destroy any torpedo boat
or to sink an ordinary unprotected gun
boat. They also carry two torpedo tubes.
The United States now has twenty-one
torpedo craft of this character, either
built or under construction. These vessels
range from forty-six tons upward of 800
tons, the large ones partaking Of the char
acteI of torpedo boat destroyers.
Tho smaller boats are intended mainly
for use in harbor defenses, as their d.
mansions will permit of their rapid ingress
and egress from narrow and contracted
channels, and also their navigation
through rivers in order to reach inland
points. Besides these, the United States
has several improvised torpedo boats.
The Spanish fiotilla is excessively dam
gerous. Discussing the matter tonight,
naval officer said:
This fleet of hornets are sea green in
color and almost invisible at a distance
Of two miles even IN daytime. At night
time they cannot be certainly dfstin-
guished at half that distance. They travel
at a speed of twenty or thirty knots. and
thus the extreme interval of time be-
tween their discovery by battleship and
the discharge of their torpedoes can
hardly be more than five minutes.
Given two minutes for the machine
guns crews to get to quarters, only three
remain. Given enough hornets with rea-'
sonable skill in handling them and one
seems certain to plant it's sting in NOR
tai spot.
The probable defense against these
would be an outer circle Of torpedo boats
to act as scouts and give warning of their
approach and intercept them. But the
Key West feet is at present very INSULT
GENTLY supplied with these. and in any
case they are not a safe preventive
against attack.
Of course, in war times, no feet would
lie al anchor in an exposed condition, but
would either remain in a sheltered harbor
or steam silently along without lights,
and if these destroyers succeeded in
reaching Cuba some such plan will prob
ably be adopted by Commodore Samp-
son. 8
But at present ne is handicapped by
the fact that war has not been declared,
and while increasingly vigilant, will nat
urally hesitate longer to open fire on
suspicious craft than he would in war
times. Yet it would be just like the Span
ish TO attack first and declare war after
wards. Most wars begin in this way. For
instance. the British destroyed a Turk
ish feet at Sinope some years ago without
war either before or after. A chivalric
foe gives warning, but Spain would give
none until the day after the battle.
The only hope of naval officers is that
the Spaniards will not be able to use the
boats 10 the best advantage. The success
of a torpedo boat depends as much upon
the ability with which her engines are
managed as upon the commander in the
coming tower.
These tiny vessels are full OF the most
delicate and complicated machinery. and
unless that machinery IS looked after by
r1achinists OF the highest intelligence and
fidelity 70 their tasks il breaks down and
renders the vessel useless.
Our naval officers have a very poor opin-
ion OF the Spanish eng 'neers. L is a
known fact that nearly every Spanish yes
| sci. whether Of home or English construc-
ton. very quickly has trouble in her en-
/ sine rooms, due 20 the incompetence OF
/ the engineers. Naval officers say that I'M
! less the men in the enE;ne-rooms of
/ these torpedo boats are French. English
or Scotch, the chances are that b. the
| time the fotilla reaches these waters
| nearly every vessel Will have her engines
crippled and ,he;r effectiveness CORE
spondingly reduced.
IT OUGHT TO BE STOPPED