The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-08-21
(speelal Correspondence.l

1
with big guns and the men who know
how to fight On it, is the one that can
do the business" said Captain Jack
Philip, soon to be Commodore Philip
in his cabin on the famous lighting ma
! chine Texas That is the chief naval
! lesson of the war, or at least so much
| of it as l have seen. Torpedoes, tor
| pedo boats and the small fast craft
which some naval authorities expected
to play so big a part in any war Of the
| present day, have scarcely had a show
! ing. AS for submarine mines, why
/ there is one down on the for'ard deck
that we bumped into at -Guatanamo.
1t had barnacles5 growing on it so thick
. that the firing pins could not operate.
That particular modern invention did
not work exactly as it was intended,
or else it should not be here NOW.
ut is not for me, however, to attempt
TO settle conclusions which naval ex-
perts will probably draw from the sea
! fighting off the Cuban coast. / am not
a naval expert, only a ships captain. i
will say though, that the magnificent
utility of the battleship that can fight
/ and follow, too, the tremendous value
/ of the main battery and the destruct-
! i've force of rapid-fire guns, have been
demonstrated beyond question Above
| all in Importance, the men behind the
guns have justified Anglo-Saxon tradl-
/ ton and have fought with the nerve
and daring that we long since learned
to expect from American seamen. They
are the main reliance, the blood and
/ sinew of the ship. can say for the
men of the Texas that 1 wish never to
! see ships company do their work bet
/ ter or more thoroughly.
1T has been said that the Texas has
been put out of date by the recent I'M
provements in battleship construction
/ and appliances, but II there were any
/ deficiencies of that kind they have
been more than made up by the spirit
| of the men. and think that the record
of the Texas viii stand with that of
any of the other ships that took part
| in the fighting around Cuba.
In regard to such lessons as are to
be drown from the actual test of the
guns or the other appliances on the
ship. Lieutenant Heilner, the navlgat-
! ing officer, and Lieutenant Bristol, the
executive officer, are better qualified to
| speak than I am
SECONDARY BATTERY.
Lieutenant L. c. Heilner, the naviga-
tor of the Texas, was standing by six
pound rapid-fir gun mounted in the
officers mess room. His conversation
soon showed that he is an enthusiastic
believer in the usefulness in action or
considerable secondary battery.
IF there is any one lesson that has
been made more clear than another by
this war; he said, 1T is that our ships
should have plenty of the smaller cal
iber rapid-fire guns in the makeup OF
their armament. 1t was the ralSing,
seething hail of fire poured into the
Spanish ships by the guns of this class
that drove them on the shore at san
tiago. Put a six-pounder shell here,
opening the breech of the Hotchkiss
gun by a dextrons pull at the lever as
he spoke, glance through that breech
sight at the cone just ahead, pull the
trigger here, and the mischief has be
gun. Ten times.a minute these sneils'
each charged With enough explosive
material to set a ship on hre, can De
pumped into the target, aimed with
substantial accuracy to scatter death
and destruction on an enemy's decks.
So great is the saving of time effected
in loading and firing by having the
ammunition in one package-powder,
shell. fuse and primer-that 10 or more
shells can be fired from these guns IN
action in so seconds with hurried ann.
Full accuracy can be obtained with
from six to ten shots in the same per-
iod.
RAPID-FIRE GUNS.
"The effect on the enemy of this
raining of explosives can be imagined.
ONLY the Spaniards can tell exactly
what it is. Splinters flying in all di-
rections. explosions at every turn,
flames starting up in half dozen dlf-
ferent quarters at once-is 1T any Won
der that the Spanish ships of Cervera
burned for three or four days? III the
Spanish ships had been especially con-
structed to receive the most posslpie
damage from our rapid-fire guns. their
arrangement could not have been bet
ter calculated sfWith. their. fine boats
and elaborate woodwork they were
easy food for the flames which the,
small calibre guns started in every
quarter by splintering the woodwork
into kindlings. OF course, American
ships and guns, American sailors and
gunners didn't have the opportunity to
prove what they can do in a good,
square, stand-up fight. The Spanish
have not learned much in the past 400
years. Their gunnery was wretched,
their fine armored. cruisers didn't show
what armored cruisers are really ca.
pable of in sea fight and am afraid
they will not be much of an addition
to our fleet if saved, such was the eff
fectiveness of the American gunnery.
THE BATTLESHIPS HOLD FIRST
HLAOE.
''Still, am of the opinion, in spite of
The fact that the Spanish cruisers were
not the best representatives of their
class, and in spite of the fine work done
by our cruisers that the battleship still
holds the palm. If any changes in the
construction of the battleships are to
result from the experiences of this war,
l should say that there ought to be an
increase of speed power and a strength
ening of the secondary battery. In
this respect Manila and Santiago must
rank together The heaviest guns that
Admiral Dewey had were leight-inch
rifles, and, as insthe case of Cervera's
fleet, the burned and shattered hulks
of Montojo's far more numerous squad
ron lying in the Philippine waters, are
witnesses to the efficiency of the sec
ondary battery"
Lieutenant NJ. L. Bristol, who has
been on Captain Philips staff since the
latter took command of the Texas in
1896, has been a careful and enthu-
siastic observer of his ships perform
ances in the stirring events of the past
few weeks. 1t is to the Improvement
in the fighting appliances of the Texas
made by such men as Lieutenant -Bris-
tol and Lieutenant F. G. Haeseler, who
is associated with him on the captains
staff, that the ship owes much of her
splendid record.
In the corvettes of the old navy a
jackstay, or iron rod. ran round the
sides of the berthdeck, to which were
fastened the black bags CLOTHES bags)
of the crew. 1t was the custom of the
berthdeck cooks to hang their strings
of tin cups to this stay, and it was ow-
ing to this formality that one of the
cooks of the Essex almost tainted with
fright one sunny afternoon. At this
time of day the breeziness of the fore