Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-05-09

this side OF the Atlantic Is made up OF
Maria Teresa, Almirante Oquendo, Wis
caya. and Cristobal Colon. and the three
torpedo boat destroyers, Pluton. Terror
and Furor. The first three of the
cruisers have displacement each OF
| 1000 tons and an armament of 30 guns:
the Cristobal Colon is OF 6,SiO tons and
carries 40 guns. The destroyers are
all of the same displacement, $50 tons,
and guns.
Interest now centers in the question
whether this naval force Is sent out to
| fight Admiral Sampson or whether its
mission is to intercept the oregon
| somewhere on the Brazilian coast.
This battleship has touched at Rio de
Janelro and at Bahia and is therefore
well advised of the possible intention
of the Spanish vessels. She will be ON
the lookut for the enemy as she is near
ing the post Of danger and will not be
taken by surprise. She is first
class battleship with a tonnage near
ly so per cent greater than either OF the
armored. while her sixteen guns are
capable of doing good execution on the
more lightly armored cruisers. The
Marietta is modern gunboat Of com
posite build. OF 1854 tons and carries
six guns. These two vessels art
therefore quite capable Of giving the
enemy great deal Of trouble. should
an encounter take place.
II would certainly be great ndvan-
tage to the Spaniards to capture or
sink t:e Oregon. as 1t would reklndle
the hope among the people and fire
them with .,esire for further ex-
plolts. but there is some probability
nevertheless that the Spanish squad
ron Will not turn up on this side at ALL
Spain undoubtedly realizes that she
can do nothing for her colonies here |
and It Is also believed that the United |
States cannot safely invade them un-
til her supremacy upon the sen has |
been established by the destruction OF |
the enemys naval forces. And If It
is Indispensable for our fleet to find the |
Spanish ships and destroy them. or
render them lmpotent before undertake
ing any other operations OF import
ance, Spalns best strategy would as a
matter OF fact be to keep her squad
rons out of sight, or concentrate them
nearer home, as far as possible out OF
the range of the American guns. And
this Is precisely what she seems to
have been doing so far. It would there
fore be a genuine surprise to learn that
Spain had scattered her forces, par
ticularly ms the Cape Verde squadron
Is no match for the American fleet.
Commodore Schley alone has two bat
tleships and three armored or protect
ed cruisers, against the Spaniard's four
cruisers and three destroyers. The to-
tai tonnage OF the American ships is
1858 tons, against the Spanish total
Of 2s.9S0. In number of guns the Span
Ish squadron exceeds the American,
having l4S against the American sixty
six guns. but the American guns are
more powerful and the ships more
heavily armored. and the aggregate
greater.
The opinion Of prominent Spaniard
Is quoted to the effect that II decisive
naval battle Is to occur at all. 1t will be
near the coast OF Spain, where the ad-
would be all on one side. This
view Is confirmed by dispatch stat
Ing that Spanish squadron, presum-
ably the much-talked-of Cape Verde
force. has been sighted on the Portu-
guese coast, evidently homeward
bound. In the meantime important
developments are expected in Cuba,
Porto Rico and the Philippines.