The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1898-08-26
LESSON OF THE WAR
Admiral Sampson Is interviewed
on What he Has Learned.
WARSHIPS SHOULD Be FIREPROOF
The Big Guns WIN Always BE Needed
WarshIPs Ought Also to Re Provided
with SmOkeIess POWder-GOOd
Condition OF Our Sailors.

Boston, Aug. pa Boston reporter
interviewed Rear Admiral Sampson
on the train for Washington Admiral
Sampson was reminded that Admiral
COlOmb, the English naval authority,
had said that this war had taught nc
lesson IN naval architecture for naval
strategy. Admiral Sampson replied:
II he said that he does not know what he Is
talking about, for the war has taught great
many things For one thing. Il has shown the
necessity Of making ships Of war fire-prOOf
As won't suffice merely to make the woodwork
nFe-proOf, in my opinion for there are Obiec-
tons 30 the process as It involves unnecessary
expense Ships ought TO be built practically
without woodwork at all, and there is no good
reason why this cannot be done After the
way IN which the woodwork Of the Spanish
ships caught IRE, causing the destruction Of
the ships, there can be no question about the
importance OF this change The trouble with
COlOnb may be that he has always been an aL-
TOcate Of torpedo boats
1t was then suggested that we are
not likely to hear so much about
torpedo boats as we used to hear before
the war, and Admiral Sampson said:
Probably not At the same time it must be
remem bered that torpedo boats have never had
. really fair test They have always been
faulty in construction; necessary Qualities
good reason Why q torpedo boat should have a
speed Of more than "A or > miles an hour, but
IL has been thought SO important TO have them
speedy that they have been made too light and
in some instances they are little better than
eggshells- The torpedo boat has its uses, but
1t ought TO be built according to the right
ideas It won't do, either, 20 draw too haSty a
conclusion from the way IN which the GlOuCes-
ter, which was converted yacht did up the
FUrOre and the PiutOn- The Gloucester was
hastily transformed into a torpedo boat de-
strOyer, # is true, but it is not small boat by
any means
The admiral was then asked about
the big guns:
The big guns win always be needed There
is work which they can do and which is out
Of the question for the smaller caIibeTs It
~happened at Santiago that the eight-inch
guns and the rapid-fre guns did great eZeCu-
ton but this was because they could strike
the Spaniards below the belt, as IL were. That
ships were exposed TO their fire At Manila
the Spanish ships were not heavily armOred at
all When II comes to piercing heavy armOE,
the high caIiber guns must be brought into ac-
ton The GrmOr piercing capacity OF the gun
IS almost exactly proportional 70 its Caliber-
For instance an eight-inch gun can pierce
eight-lneh armOr, 12-inch gun I2-inch armOr
and so on Yes, the big guns are needed
Then there is the question Of smOkeless
powder Our ships ought TO be supplied with
smOkelesS powder for several reasons First
and most important Is the great advantage in
velocity. With ordinary powder the velocity
is something like :, 100; with smokeIess powder
It is nearer $500. ships using black powder
are at q disadvantage, too, from the fact that
when one gun has been discharged the gun
next to it must wait until the smoke has cleared
away before the target can be sighted These
are among the reasons why SmOkeless powder
is to be preferred to any other.
Admiral Sampson expressed doubt
as to whether it would be advisable to
raise the Cristobal Colon. He was
afraid it was now too late to accom-
plish anything in that direction and
he described the peculiar position in
which the ship lay. making it seem
ingly impossible to handle her, al
though she was practically uninjured
by our fire He commented on the ex-
cellent physical condition of the men
aboard the fleet and the astonishing
exemption from disease as well as
wounds. He had just been informed
that out Of II, COO men on the feet
there have been only 20 casualties
throughout the war. He remarked:
But we know how to take care Of our men in
the navy You sec, we are always on war
footing That is to-day we handle ourselves
in time OF peace with IS much exactness and
discipline as in time OF war. Our target prac-
tice in time Of peace is carried out with as
much care and precision as IL we had the enemy
constantly in sight In the same way we are
so accustomed TO the distribution OF supplies
and the care Of the SICK from long training in
peace that when war comes we are ready for
anything. The men on most Of the ships in the
feet had been for six months without going
ashore until we reached New York Saturday
mOnOtOnOus existence on shipboard and hot
climate wonderfully well