Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-06-28

sivey repaired, is now swift warship. The
operations before Sampson of a charac-
ter that will admit of the employment to
the best advantage of the big monitors for
bombarding purposes and small cruisers
and gunboats as b!ockading vessels.
The start will be made from off Santiago
just as soon as the squadron can be gotten
ready, and this, fortunately, owing to the
completeness of the naval mobilization, will
be in very short time.
There is no intention of weakening the
Havana blockade by the withdrawal of Com
modore Watson with mis- zip. To prevent
this, Secretary Long has ordered Com
modore Howell to proceed Immediately to
the American fleet off Havana to take COM
mand of the post vacated by Commodore
Watson. Commodore Howell is at present
in command of the coast patrol fleet, and
he will take the entire fleet with him, that
is. all of the larger vessels, to reinforce the
blockade of the Cuban countries. He is
already on his way south from the New
England coast, and should reach Cuban
waters by the end of the week.
Makeup of WntsOn's Squadron.
The naval war board was in session all
the forenoon. They had before them con-
fidential kilograms from Admiral Sampson,
with whom they had been in communca-
ton by telegram and cable for the last
two days. As a result of this conference,
the board was able to announce the COM
position of the Eastern squadron. OF the
whole squadron the best all round ship un-
doubtedly is the battIeship Iowa. She is of
Il, ,296 tons. with speed Of sixteen and one
half knots. Her battery is made up of
forty-six guns altogether, so that she is
floating fortress III herself. Four of these
guns are Pinch caliber, mounted in turrets,
and there are eight S-inch guns in turrets,
six finch quick-firers, twenty 6-pounders,
six 1-pounders and four gatlings. The Iowa
! has splendid armor protection with a belt
of fourteen inch STEEL seven feet, six inches
| broad around her vitals, with cellulose
! backing and coal protection.
The Oregon is sister ship to the Indiana
| and has just earned a worlds record as a
cruising battleship by making the long run
| from San Francisco to Key West. Her
battery is heavier than the Iowa's. in that
! Der, but the Oregon is believed to be in
| ferior in the matter of armor distribution.
The battery in other respects than the big
guns. is similar to the Iowa. Like the lat
| ter she is fitted with torpedo tubes COM
plete.
The Flagship Newark.
| The flagship Newark is what is known as
a protected cruiser, having protected
| deck of arched steel covering the engines
and boilers. She was built in 1890 and
| recent extensive repairs made at Norfolk
| have made her splendid cruiser, with
a speed of about 1914 knots. Her steaming
radius is 1O,7oo miles on $50 tons of coal at
| 10 knots.
| The cruisers Yosemite and Yankee and
| Dixie We're recently three Morgan line
steamers plying between New York and
South American ports. They are all new,
| fast, stanch, steel vessels of 1880 tons
| each. and have been transformed into ex-
| celient cruisers. first by the addition of
| good batteries of ten 5-inch rapid-fire guns.
| and, second. by the addition of belts Of
| laminated armor over the vitais of the
| ship.
The golfers are nothing more than mer-
chant steamers fitted up for coal carry
ing and without armor, but carrying two
| guns each. The Scandia is 5294 tons, the
Abarenda 600 and the Alexander 7,460.
The officers of the Eastern squadron are
| as follows:
Commander-in-chief, Commodore. ]. C.
| Watson; battleship Iowa. Captain r. d.
| Evans; battleship Oregon. Captain Charles
f. Clark; flagship Newark, Captain s.
Barker; cruiser Yosemite, Commander w.
II. Emory: cruiser Yankee, Commodore w.
| III. Brownson; cruiser Dixie, Commander
c. H. Davis; collier Scandia, Commander
E. W. Watson: collier Alexander, Com
marder W. f. Furwell: collier Abarenda,
Lieutenant Commander w. H. Buiord.