The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-03-12


sides, fourteen inches on her forward
and eleven and one-half on her after
barhette, and eight inches on her for
ward and seven and one-half on her aft
turret. Her main battery consists of
two twelve-inch and two ten-inch
rifles, and she has ten small rapid fire
guns and two Gatlings.
OUR STEEL RAM.
A fourth type of our coast defenders
Is represented by the steel ram Katah-
din, of 2,1S3 tons and seventeen knots
speed carrying six inches of arnor on
her sides and dependent for her often
sive power on her steel spur, but hav-
ing small defensive battery of four
siX-pounders.
The Monterey and Monadnock. like
the Oregon, are stationed on the Paci-
tic coast. and would have to be counted
out in the event of hostilities along the
Atlantic scaOoard.
In the matter of unarmored cruisers,
primarily designed as commerce de-
stroyers, this country is far ahead of
Spain. We have sixteen of these ves-
sells. with the splendid 7,35O-ton flyers,
Columbus and Minneapolis at the head,
six-inch and eight four-inch rifles each.
The Olympia, of $500 tons, carries four
eight-inch rifles and ten five-inch rapid
firing guns; the 1900 ton Baltimore has
four eight-inch and six six-inch rifles;
the Charleston, of 1000 tons. has two
eight-inch and six six-inch rifles the
San Francisco, Philadelphia and New
ark, of a little over 1000 tons each
carry twelve six-inch rifles.
The Cincinnati and Raleigh, of 3,1SS
tons, and 10 knots speed, carry main
batteries of one 6-nch and ten 5-inch
rapid-firing guns. The 2,OOO-ton Mont
gomery, Marblehead and Detroit have
nine 5-inCh rapid firing guns each. The
Chicago, of 4,500 tons when remodelled
will carry fourteen guns of the same
type. The Boston and Atlanta, of 5000
TONS have batteries of and 6 6-nch
rifles. Four or five of these cruisers
including the Chicago, Atlanta and
Newark, are now dismantled and under
repairs, but in case of necessity work
| in them could be pushed night and day
| and they could probably he made ready
for service before many weeks.
Several of our best unarmored crui-
sers, the Olympia, Baltimore and Phil
I dutlpHld, dllOUS lHt are VI
the Pacific, but they could, of course
be brought home if they were needed
here.
GUNBOATS.
The United States also has fifteen
unarmored gunboats, which, while, use
full for cruising and general police pur-
poses, can hardly be classed as fightinc
| craft. They are too slow to act as
! torpedo vessels, their speed in most
| cases not exceeding twelve or thirteen
| knots, and their batteries of light rom
id-flring guns are not strong en-
| to make them formidable antagOnis,s -
| for larger vessels. Spain has many
| vessels of about the same class.
In the matter of torpedo boats the
| United States is at present inferior tc
Spain. We could probably, put in ac-
tive service about dozen Of these
craft within thirty days, if necessary
| but none Of them are of the large sea-
going type.
Briefly summing up the situation
then. this country could make available
| on the Atlantic coast ten armOrclads in
| opposition to Spain's ten-asSumins
| that the Spaniards would take the of.
| fensive. Four Of these armUrclads are
| slow, double -turrettcd monitors, in.
| capable of going far to sea, but valuable
| for defending seaports. They are, ir
| fact, floating batteries. Tha ether siH
| armOred vessels are sea-gOing The
| four battleships are greatly superior
| to Spain's armOred cruisers in fighting
| power, but inferior to them in speed
while the New York and Brooklyn may
be fairly considered slightly superior
all-around vessels to the Spanish cruls
| ers.
| Spain could only bring against IL:
some five or six unarmCred cruisers
to which we could readily oppose OF
the Atlantic seaboard at least twice as
many vessels Of the same class.
Taking the two navies as they stand
and taking into account also the proved
skill of American seamen in gunnery
it seems probable that the odds would
be on our side. The loss of the Maine
at this juncture is a serious blow, bu
the government could readily replace
her if congress saw fit to do so by pur'
chasing an armorclad in some foreign
ship yard.
1t should be borne in mind that Spar
has little money or credit with which
! 10 Duy new VESSELS at tHe pTeSen
time. If we should promptly add t
our fleet by purchase an armorclaC
equivalent in fighting power to tht
Maine we should have a superiority
over the Spanish navy which would
be marked.
A vessel like the Iowa or Indiana
could quickly crush an armored crus
er like the Viscaya under the weigh
of her gun fire, if the cruiser were il
a position where she was unable t
escape. Each of our big battleshipi
| carries twelve armor- piercing guns o
large calibre, against the Viscaya's tw,
ll-inch rifles. on the other hand, tn,
Vizcaya and her sister cruisers will
their high speed of twenty knots coulC
readily get away from our fifteen o.
sixteen-knot battleships. So the ques
tion as to which type is most valuabl
in warfare must largely depend on tn,
estimate of the relative Importance o
speed as compared with practically i'm
penetrable armor protection and tre
mendously heavy batteries, such al
those which our big ships carry
AS regards the crews-"the man be
hind the gun"-there is no doubt tina
the Yankee sailors are more formid
| able fighters than tho DonS Cna In bal