The evening times., 1898-05-14
SHIP BUILDER cRAMP.
He Gives His Opinion of the Spanish

a.aH- Navy.
Charles II. Cramp, president and di-
recting mind of the great Philadelphia
firm OF ship constructors. talking to a
reporter about the latest move of the
Spanish fleet. said:
''The Spaniards knew that to send
fleet to Porto Rico or any other part of
the American side of the Atlantic would
be to send it into the lions mouth,
where it would surely be doomed. They
knew that there was no possible chance
for it 10 escape. Yet they send it over
because they are desperate. The
Americans. the English or the Ger
mans might be reasoned with in the
matter of retreat. where an advance
would mean the certain loss of the
fleet. But the Latin peoples, and espe-
cially the Spaniards. would never toler-
ate a captain or an admiral who refused
to enter action because he wished to
save his ship from certain destruction"
But can they carry coal enough?''
was the question.
BY referring to Cloues' Naval An
nual." said Mr.. Cramp. you will see
what the radius of action of each of
these ships is. The radius of action of
a warship is the distance 1t can go at
fresh supply of coal. The, three cruisers
-Vizcaya, Oauendo and = Teresa-are
officially set down as having a radius
of action of 1900 miles at ten knots
/ am sure that this is a large over
estimate. BY making all allowances
they can certainly cross the Atlantic
and. il not Immediately engaged. can
cruise about for a few days without
coaling.
ssIt must ha rap,a,,hara5 .ho. .,.... &c =,
warship is not moving. but is merely at
anchor. she still uses about ten tons of
coal a day. All the machinery for fore
ing water into the ship or out of it, for
carrying away the refuse for lighting.
etc. Is at work day and night. whether
the ship is moving or at anchor. Then
there are the torpedo boats or destroyers
They can carry enough coal to bring them
across. True. they are small. but that
makes the amount of coal necessary to
drive them ten knots an hour very small
also.
Porto Rico becomes a very important
factor in this war. With that in our pos
session. the Spanish fleet would soon be
cut off from coal''
What do you think of the Spanisb
navy as a whole?'
They have some very good cruisers
The three mentioned are the best. and
in themselves. but well equipped and well
manned. The best battleship in the Span
ish navy is the Pelayo. She is old-fash-
Toned but good, having just had her boil
ers renovated. But she could not carry
enough coal to take her across the ATTAIN
tic and back. The Cristobal Colon is
about like our New York and BROOKLYN
but they are little better than she is in
armor and In guns
Would II be safe for a ship, even Of
the heaviest cruiser type, to attack a
batteship?'
An officer who was once captain of the
New York told me that he would NOT
avoid fighting a battieship One lucky
shot. he. might do wonders You see
no one knows, no one can guess what
ehect an eight-inch projectile would have
upon the unprotected parts of a battle
ship.
But to continue with the Spanish navy.
The one part of 1t that has excited appre-
hension is the small craft-the so-called
torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroy
ers. Now. maintain that the value of
those boats has been much exaggerated.
They are not of the slightest use outside
nothing In the open sea. Once hostile
might possibly accomplish something
But nothing of that sort is likely to &C.
cur in this war. So that there is no real
danger from these torpedo boats.
There is a type Of small boat. a sort Of
Of the torpedo boat and the
gunboat, which think would be effective
in other than harbor defense service.
But no boat of that description has been
built vet" -