The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1898-02-24

An important question arises now as
to the lronclad warship. As the New
York World says it is still undetermin-
ed whether it threatens a greater dan
ger to her country's enemies than the
brave defenders. The World then pro-
Ceeds in very timely fashion to sum
marize the record briefly:
/. The British ironSlad Captain, the
most formidable and the favorite ship
in the British navy, capsized and went
down in the bay of Biscay on Septem-
ber 7, 1871, with loss of nearly 500 men.
Her fate was the result of unssaworthi-
ness pure and simple. She could not
stand an ordinary storm. There are
not many instances, if there are any,
where 500 nen on single ship have
lost their lives in action.
2. The British ship Vanguard was
very greatly rammed by the Iron Duke
on the first of September 1875. She
sank like cracked tea kettle, and only
the calmness of the weather prevented
great loss of life. The incident dem
onstrated the fatal lack of buOyancy in
ships of this character, their inability
to remain afoat for even orief time
when once their ponderous sides are
pierced.
3. This was still more disasterously
demonstrated three years later when,
on the thirty-frst of May, 1878, the
German ironclad Kurfurst was ram
med, at low speed and with engine re-
versed, by sister ship. She sank so
quickly that about 29O Of her crew per-
ished in spite of calm weather and every
possible endeavor ON the part of her
sister ships to save life. Again mere
touch sank the ship, and her sinking
was so sudden that life-saving was i'm
possible.
4. Then came the great Victoria dis
aster to emphasize the lessen anew. On
June %, 1898, in a calm sea, British
feet under direct command of Admiral
Sir George TryOn attempted to ma
noeuvre. In the course of it the Cam
perdown struck the flagship Victoria.
The Camperdown had speed of only
five knots, yet few minutes after the
impact the Victoria went down so sud
denly that in spite of all efforts by the
fleet 321 gallant officers and men were
sacrificed to the sea.
5. Now comes the disaster of the
Maine, involving loss of still un.
counted lives. running up into the hur.
dreds (253). The Maine was lying al
anchor in a quiet, land-locked harbor
An explosion occurred. Whether il
was under the ship or in her is pOint
yet to be discovered. But after the
uniform custom of ironclads she sanl
into the sea, carrying large part O.
her crew with her to their deaths.
The ironclad has never been fully
tested in battle, the Chinese-Japanes'
experience being inconclusive. But tn,
peace history of the ironclad seems t.
suggest, at least
1. That this type Of vessel is incapa
BILE of buffeting heavy seas;
| 2. That it can not endure collision;
3. That explosion, whether of a ma
gazine within the ship or of a TORPEDO
under its bottom is fatal; and,
4. That whenever any disaster over
takes the ship its deficient fotation al
most inevitably involves the loss O
most of the crew.
The problem Of modern naval con
) struction seems as yet to be far fror
satisfactory solution. Who know
but that for sea service at least W
} shall yet have to go back to the live
{ oak Of old times? The question is {
more than merely speculative interest