The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-22

| the harder to discover and fight. 1t was
| found simply impossible to keep fighting
| both the fire and the ship. the gunfire
slackening up Immediately the alarm was
given So clear did this become that when
ever the flame and smoke could be seen
from our fleet it was felt that all was up
with that ship. and the tendency was TO
direct our gunf1re on some other snip. With
out an exception every ship that was on
fire was soon headed in for the beach, 1t is
a fallacy 10 think that fire drill is all a
matter of form on steel ship. So quickly
and rapidly does the fire spread that il
seems that even the steel itself must be
burning. The importance also, of keeping
shown.
There was the greatest difficulty during
all the action in getting messages to and
from the different parts of the ship. The
low OF the use of any kind OF voice tubes
ana messengers are slow and unreliable and
IN danger or being killed. A serious error
was MADE Dy the messengers on one ship.
An order which was intended for the Sec
ondary battery only was taken TO the tur-
ret. Inc messenger told the officer in one
of the twelve-nch turEets to point on the
torpedo boats and a chance at the Colon
was missed. Unless some better means of
communication is invented. officers. shut off
as they are from direct orders. must be left
to act largely at their own discretion. This
at times would be most unfortunate as in
the sighting hoods OF the turrets especially
the view is so limited that ii is often diff
cult to keep even the target in sight. much
less to have the complete range over the
horizon that is so necessary for proper gun
control. Then. too, in case Of accident. some
method of reporting promptly to the captain
The fight probably gave severe blow to
the use of coming towers. So far l can
learn of no case where they were used dur
ing the engagement, the captain preferring
not to cramp himself and be confined in
sucn narrow quarters. where he could see
so little OF what is occurring Every one
has TO rely chiefly on his eyes for a knowl-
edge of how the fight is going. and in the
coming tower the range of view is about
as limited in the sighting b0Od
1t was also shown that practical battle
range-finder has yet to be introduced. Those
IN use are so delicate that they cannot
Withstand the discharge of the guns They
get out of order in action, so that the old
method of angling on the masthead height
or the enemy had to be relied on. Even
the range indicators. simple as they seem
to be. were completely thrown out by the
gun blasts, and every one to a greater or
less extent had to use his own Judgment
in giving the range, and without smokeless
powder the opportunities for a prompt cor
the old fork system of establishing the
range has gone out for good.
A full knowledge. of the nature of the
blasts from the different guns is valuable
to the crew, and to the designers of the
ships it will be all-important. Some of the
rapid-fire guns suffered so from the blasts
of the turret guns that the gun crews were
actually blown away from their stations
In other cases the smoke of the firing was
so great that the gun pointers were blinded
by 1t. The taste and the smell of the gun
powder was so Objectionable that MANY of
tIte gun crews round IL necessary to wrap
towels about their mouths. If this is the
case. with the ordinary old brown cocoa
powder, 1t must be much worse with the
smokeless. Indeed it would be a necessity
to have the fumes from the smokeless DOW
der made harmless in some way otherwise
1t will be impossible to keep any of the guns
manned during a rapid fire. This suggests
the use in the shells of some explosive Civ
ing forth poisonous fumes.
Another interesting thing brought out by
the action was the extremely short time
the Spanish ships were under our fire be-
lore something happened that demoralized
the crews. 1t would show that every man
on the ship must be so trained in his du-
ties that he knows exactly what to do in
case of accident, for there will be no time
10 walt and summon assistance
The value of Golfer dams was conclusively
shown by the swelling up of the celluose
so that 1t closed the six-inch hole. To be
sure the hole was only occasionally sub
merged, and the Golfer dam itself was not
penetrated.
One of the great dangers to be avoided
was shown to be splinters. A great number
OF the wounded were laid out by spIinters
rather than by the fragments of shot or
shell; Steel splinters very bad. IF one
could get a ship that was absolutely spln-
ter proof and fireproof, it would be long
stride in the direction of the ideal-s,ome.
thing unsuitable and unlickable'