Arizona republican., 1898-04-06
ANGELS OF SPAIN. The Dreaded Fl0tilla Now
 Cruising SouthWard TERROR, FORoP, FULTON.
The Names of Swift Destroyers
 of Torpedo Boats
A Description of the Fleet Whose Progress has been Guessed at With Anxisty by tho Navy De- partment.

New York, April 1.-The mysterious
 movements of Spain's torpedo fiotilla
 is characteristic of the dread messen-
 gers of war. Ever since the fleet set
 out from Cadiz there has been a feel
 ing of uncertainty as to its where abouts and destination. It has been
 scudding through the waters of the
 Atlantic to a destination that is abso-
 lutely known only to the Spanish au thorities
 The fleet of thirteen torpedo boats
 and torpedo boat destroyers with their two transports constitutes the most deadly collection of war vessels now afloat While in midocean they are harmless, but their awful destructive ness is realized once they reach still
 waters. There their speed capacity is increased, and they are enabled to
 dart back and forth like the tiy-by- nights they are.
 The names they bear are exceeding ly we'll applied. In the first division. which set out from Cadiz the night of
 March 13 under the guardianship of the City of Cadiz, are the Terror, the 1 Furor and the Fulton, first class tor pedo boat destroyers, and the first
 class torpedo boats Azor, Ragor and 1 Ariete. These were followed three l days later by the second division,
 which left the Bay of Cadiz the night | of March IT. On the same day the l commander of the fleet was ordered l not to proceed from the Canaries for 1 Havana until further notice
 ] The latest information of the rela- 1 tive positions of the little ships was
 cabled from Cadiz the night the fleet set out. That was when the first di- vision left the harbor. It was dusk | when the convoy steamed out. The | three torpedo boat destroyers were | close by her side to larboard while the torpedo vessels were smuggling up to her starboard side. The boats of the second division must have taken pO- I sition relatively the same until they joined the first division at the Canar- ies a few days after March IF.
 March A the entire fleet set out 1 from the Canaries for their journey to the west, presumably to Porto Rico From the nature of their destination the fleet is compelled to replenish it's
 coal supply every few hours, so that it's rate of speed, which is calculated to be something like thirty knots an hour is materially lessened in the av- craze distance they can cover in a pre- scribed time. In the high seas this
 rate is far under the average attributed to them, and under the most favorable conditions the fleet was not expected to cover the distance of 2,640 miles between the Canaries and Porto Rico in less than ten or twelve days at the best.
 The difference between the torpedo boats and the torpedo boat destroyers is marked both by their varying equip. ment and the uses for which they are intended. The torpedo beats are light, swift sailing vessels for projecting or
 placing torpedoes. They are unar-
 mored and carry TO guns. The de-
 stroyers, while equally light and
 speedy and also unarmored, are armed
 with rapid-tire guns,. In their con-
 struction everything is sacrificed to
 speed.
 The mission of the destroyers is to prevent the torpedo boats of an enemy
 ipi, hot ships. By quick movements and by rapid dashes on torpedo boats, tog6 6ther with the use of rapid-fire guns, they are calculated to be of great service to fleets of heavier battleships
 In the Spanish f1otilla the Furor and the Terror are sisters. They are built with steel hulls, twin screws, displace- ment 370 tons and with a capacity of 100 tons. Each carries two -4-pounder quick-fire rifles, two 6-pounder rifles, two 1-pounder Maxim machines, and two 14-inch torpedo tubes. These two vessels, as well as the Fulton, are manned by seventy-two men and four officers, all under the command of a | lieutenant. The Rago, Azor and Ar iete are not so large, displacing 120 tons, having on board twenty-six men and two officers each. The Pluton is 1 a sister of the Audaz Osado and Pros perina. The latter two are supposed to be in the second division that left Cadiz, while the former is the vessel that is laid up for repairs at an Irish port, having suffered an injury to her prov either in storm or a collision. These ships are guaranteed a speed of thir5y knots an hour, with an arma- l