The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-01
THE TWO sQUADRONs.
The Ships of Cervera and schIey
Compared.

The ships of Cervsra and SchIey
Compared.
The New York Sun in a recent issue thus
summarized and compared the fighting ca
liabilities of the Spanish and American
squadrons at Santiago:
The force of Admiral Cervera consists
chiefly of the four armored cruisers Almi-
rate Oquendo, Infanta Maria Teresa, Viz
caya, and Cristobal Colon, the first three
being sister ships of about 1000 TONS and
the fourth of about $500. The torpedo boat
desiroyers Juror and Pluton, of $50 tons
each, are presumably with him, their mate,
the Terror, being detached while possi-
bly,, he may have picked up one or two
other small craft in Cuban waters. But
the armored ships are mainly to be relied
upon for his strength.
The Oquendo, Vizcaya and Maria Teresa
have each a steel water-line belt 315 feet
long, 81 broad and from 10 TO u inches
thick, and two turIets of 9-nch steel con
tanning their largest guns. The Colon has
a complete nickel steel belt 81 inches
broad and inches thick, and above it a.
The center, for about two-hfths of her
length, another belt of the same thickness,
rising to- ner upper deck. The barbettes
Tor her large guns are inches thick, with
6-inch bul1heads al the base.
Inc main batteries of the Oquendo class
consist of two 11-inch and len 51a-inch ra-
pid-ure guns, the former calibre throwing
an S38-pound shot and The latter a shot of
81 pounds. 1t is thus evident that the to-
TAI weight OF a round from the twelve guns
constituting the main battery of each YES
Sci would be 2,536 pounds, or 1908 pounds
for the three. The Colon carries two, 9.S-
inch, ten 6-inch, and six 47-inch guns,
throwing projectileS of 5O0 100 and A
pounds respectively, or a total of 1882
pounds at a round The aggregate for the
four vessels is $3.50 pounds.
Commodore Schley's squadron consists OF
the battle2hips Iowa, H. 40 tons; Massa-
chusetts, d0,28S tons and Texas, 6,3l5 tons,
the armored cruisers Brooklyn, 9,21 tons;
the unarmored cruiser Marblehcad 2OS9
tons; the gunboat Castine Ito TONS the
torpedo boat Dupont, and the auxiliary
oeslroyers Vixen and Eagle Here The first
point to notice is that Schley's squadron
far surpasses his opponents in displace-
ment, his four armOred ships alone aggre-
eating 1874 tons, against less than % 900
Tor CerveraS four, while the Marblehead,
Castine, Dupont, Vixen and Eagle exceed
his unarmored vessels by several thousand
tons.
In armor our advantage is still more
striking. All Cervera's armored ships sur
pass our Brooklyn in thickness of plat
ing, as she carries only three inches on her
sides, five and one-half on her turrets and
from eight 10 four on her barbettes; but
her protective deck Of six inches on the
slope and three on the fiat is far better
than that of the Oquendo class, with
three inches on the slope and two on the
fiat. Our battleships turn the armor scale
Overwhelmingly. The Massachusetts
has IS inches on her sides, Is on her large
turrets, II on her barbettes; the Iowa, IA
inches on the sides and Is on the large tur-
rets and barbettes; The Texas, y inches
on sides and turrets.
The battery power of the two fleets
shows enormously in our favor The Mas
sachusetts carries four 13-inch guns. eight
S-inch and four 6-nch, throwing projectiles
of 100, $50 and 100 pounds respectively, or
$500 pounds at a round, which is well
toward the aggregate of The three vessels
of the Oquendo class. The Iowa carries
four 12-inch. eight S-inch and six 4-inch
guns, throwing projectiles of $50. 250 and 80
pounds respectively or a total of 5,593
pounds at a round. The Texas carries two
Pinch and six 6-inch guns, throwing 2 800
pounds. The Brooklyn carries eight s.
inch and twelve 5-inch, thelatter throwing
50-pound projectiles, with a total OF $500
pounds. The aggregate, thus, is 17,29S
pounds against Cerveras $3.50 at a single
round. The Marblehead carries nine s.