The silver lance., 1898-05-13

They have s40O. 600 invested in Span
ish securities.-Field and Farm.
-
THEIR RELATIVE STRENGTH.
Detaiisd Inform.eion About spanish asd
American Squadnons.
In case the Spanish feet which left
the Cape Verde Islands should actually
come to this side of the Atlantic it will be
met sooner or later by squadron com
manded by Admiral Sampson, for the
composition of which the flying squad
ron will be drawn upon. The Spanish
fleet made up Of the armored cruisers
Almirante Oquendo, Cristobal, Colon,
Infania Maria Teresa, and the viscaya.
They are Of 1000 each, excepting the
Colon, which is sixty tons short Of the
standard. The Colon carries only two
ten-inch rifles, and ten six-inch rapid fire
guns. Tho other three ships are each
armed with two eleven inch rifles and
ton five and half inch quick FIRE guns.
This gives total Of six eleven inch and
two ten-inch rifles, with ten six inch and
thirty five and half7inch rapid fire.
The weight Of metal in single round
from the Spanish guns would be 5,90e
pounds from the rfiles. and 1850 pounds
from the quick firing guns, making to-
tai Of 9,499 pounds. The fleet which
Sampson will probably have at
his command for actual war pur-
poses will be the battleships Indiana,
Iowa, Massachusetts, and Texas, and the
armored cruisers Brooklyn and New
York. All Of these except the Texas are
Tar superior to the Spaniards in tonnage.
The Indiana and Massachusetts, each
mount four thirteen-inch, eight eight
inch and four six-inch rifles. Tho Iowa
has four 12-inch and eight eightinch
rifles, with six four-inch rapid fire guns.
The Texas has two twelve-inch and six
six-inch rifles. Tho two cruisers carry
eight inch rifles, the Brooklyn mounting
eight with twelve fve-inch rapid fires,
white the New York has six with dozen
four-inch rapid fres. It will thus be
seen that the six ships under Sampson
carry sixty-six heavy rife guns, as CON-
pared with only eight in the Spanish
feet, but the latter have forty rapid fire
guns as against only thirty on tho Amer
ican ships.
Samson's Squadron at each discharge
could throw "a, $50 pounds from its rifles
and 1,194 prounds from its rapid fire,
making a total Of 26,024, or between two
and three times as much weight Of metal
as would come from the Spanish feet.
besides that. the Amirican ships would
have fourteen rifles Of superior caiiber
to the Spaniards and forty-two Of only
slightly smaller caliber. The Spanish
feet is accompanied by the torpedo de-
stroyers Furor, Terror and Pluton.
e The first two have a speed Of % knots
and the later Of thirty knots, while the
Spanish Cruisers are registered at 20
knots. The fastest Of American battle
ships is the Texas, which is registered at
17.8 knots per hour. The Brooklyn and
New York are slightly superior in speed
to the Spanish cruisers, the former reg
istering % and the latter 21 knots. The
four Spaniards would be more than a
match for the Brooklyn and New York.
80 that il they could separate them from
the battleships fight in the open seas
might be disastrous.
With the three torpedo boat distroyers
in calm weather the two fleets might be
fairly well matched, but on the ocean it
is not likely that the destroyers would
be ready for service, and hence the high
speed Of the Spanish cruisers might
be neutralized by the superior caliber Of
the American battleships. 1t is evident
from the figures given, however, that the
six ships mentioned could not run down
the Spaniards, and the Brooklyn and
New York would not care to operate far
from the heavy guns Of the battleships.
Chicago Tribune.