The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-07
SPANS ONE BATTLESHlP
ONE OF THE SPLENDID CRAFT
NOW AFLOkT
Anything to Get Il Crack ut the
PelayO-The Solitary Heavy
weight Craft of the Dons Is Too
Valuable to Be a Target for the
Terrible Marlssmen of Uncle Sam.


Terrible Marlssmen of Uncle Sam.
Correspondence The St. Paul Globe.
NEW YORK, July 21.-The numerous
and humorous dispatches received from
the other side regarding the troubles
and trials of wandering Spanish fleet
which couldn't get through the SueZ
canal without paying toll have made
no mention of one rather remarkable
point regarding the fleet. 1t contains
Spain's only battleship. The one soil
tary heavyweight craft of the boastful
Dons is with the fleet Of Admiral Ca
mara that set out to try and turn the
tables on our Dewey. 1t would have
been far more interesting to the world
at large if this only battleship of
Spain had come over here and engaged
in single combat with one Of our su-
perb craft. Such a duel could doubt
less have been arranged with the Unit
ed States government. Spain might
even have secured a handicap The
United States battleship could have
had one hand tied behind her back, SO
to speak. Any concession would have
been made to Spain for the sake of a
real stand-up fight with her one bat
tleship.
navy is the Pelayo Before the war
began we heard some terrible stories of
her lighting abilities, and some Amer
leans looked upon her as particularly
formidable ship. Divested of the fiction
regarding her powers the Pelayo is a
fine ship, and would be a foeman
worthy of our superb fighters She has
just received a new and powerful ar
mament at La Seyne, where she was
also fitted with new machinery. The
accompanying illustration shows her
character very well. Upon a displace-
ment of $500 tons she has her main
armament disposed on the French sys-
tem-a system, by the way, now ap-
parently abandoned.
The four heavy guns are disposed
singly in barbettes, of which one is
forward, the second aft, and the others
sponsored on each broadside
The advantage claimed for this ar
rangement is that of not putting too
many eggs in one basket in case a tur-
ret should chance to be disabled
When the ship was built she was
armed with 125-inch Hontoria guns
in the principal turrets and II.
inch guns in the others. She is now
armed with the new Canet 94-inch %
ton gun, which will perforate about
thirty inches Of steel st the muzZle,
and is much more powerful than the
heavier predecessor
The ship also mounts a very large
quick firing armament, and is protect
Ell by complete compound belt, with
a maximum thickness of 1T inches,
3.5-inch Ge-k 157-i Oh bulk hea Ids, q I'd
lis inches Of steel on the barbettes.
Admiral CeIvera, the Spanish hero
who SO gallantiy allowed his fleet to be
bottled up in Santiago, is the man who
caused the Pelayo to be built. He
aWoke one day to a knowledge of the
fact that Spain had no battleships, and
ne made such fuss about 1T that the
Pelayo was the outcome This was
ccrding to the best naval ideas of the
time. but, viewed in the light of more
recent Knowledge, she has many weak
neszes. Her coal capacity is limited.
a limitation secord in Importance only
to that of ammunition. Her maximum
SPEED being sixteen knots an hour. She
would be able to steam only 5000 miles
with the coal she can carry in her bun
llers. How important an oversight this
smallness Of the Pelayo's coaE-caTryirg
capacity is can be seen by the difficult
ties already encountel ed by TIE Span 81
fleet in the matter Of obtaining coal to
replace that used on the trip from
Spain.
In spite of these weaknesses the Pc
layo Is the finest boat that Spain owns,
and were 1t not for the fact that she is
manned by Spanish officers and sailors,
and her guns are in the hands of Span
ish n7arksmen, who could hit nothing.
but sea or air, even by accident, she
might give a. good account of herself
in fight with our ships. AS it is the
longer Spain can keep her away and
let us admire her at a distance the bet
ter for the Pelayo and for Spain. With
| the Pelayo at the bottom of the ocean
Spain would be without battleshlp,
| which is a sad fate for a modern ma
| ton