The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1898-09-02
LESSON OF THE WAR
Admiral Sampson Is Interviewed
on What He Has Learned.
WARSHIPS SHOULD BE FIREPROOF
The Big Guns win Always he Needed
warships Ought Also to he Provided
with smokeIess Pow der-Go6d
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 no
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 hre-proof
II won't suffice merely to make the woodwork
frc-proof. in my opinion. for there are o0jec-
lions to 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 lire. causing the destruction OF
the ships, there can be no question about the
importance " this change. The trouble with
Colomh may be that he mas always been an adj
vocate Of torpedo boats
1t was then suggested that we are
not likely to hear so much about
torpedo boats as we used 20 hear before
the war, and Admiral Sampson said:
Probably not At the same time it must he
remembered that torpedo boats have never had
a really fair test They have always been
have been sacrificed TO speed. There is no
good reason why torpedo boat should have q
speed Of more than "a or - miles an hour, but
IL has been thought so important 70 have them
speedy that they have been made too light and
in some Instances they are little better than
eRrshells The torpedo boat has Us uses, but
IL ought to be built according 20 the right
IDEAS IL won't do either, to draw too hasty q
conclusion from the way in which the GlouceS-
ter, which was a converted yacht. did up the
FuroTe ana the Pluton The gloucester was
hastily transformed into torpedo boat de-
stroyer, 1t is true, but II is not small boat by
any means
The admiral was then asked about
the big guns
The pig guns will al ways DC needed. There
| IS work which they can do and which is out
Of the question for the smaller calibers 1t
happened at Santiago that the eiFht-inch
guns and the rapid-tre guns did great execu-
| ton but this was because they could strike
| the Spani ards below the belt as IL we're That
IS the lightly armored portions OF the Spanish
chips were exposed to their fire. At Manila
| the Spanish ships were not heavily armorcd at
| all When IL comes to piercing heavy armor.
| the nigh caliber guns must be brought INTO ac-
| ton. The armor piercing capacity OF the yum
Is almost exactly proportioned 10 its caliber.
/ For instance, an eiPht-inch gun can pierce
! eiRht-inch armor, a l9-inch gun i2-inch armor
and 80 on Yes, the big guns are needed
| Then there is the question Of smokeleSS
! powder Our ships ought TO ne supplied with
b smokeless powder for several reasons Fir't
and most important is the great advantage In
velocity. With ordinary powder the velocity
is something like ., 100; with smokeless powde-
IL is nearer $500 Ships using black powder
are at disadvantage. too, from the fact that
when one gun has been discharged the gun
next 10 IL 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 IL would be advisable to
raise the Cristobal Colon. He was
afraid IL 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. lie commented on the ex-
cellent physical condition Of the men
| aboard the fleet and the astonishing
exemption from disease as well as
wounds lie had just been informed
that out Of 10000 men on the feet
there have been only 20 casualties
throughout the war. He remarked:
! But we SNOW how to take care Of our men IN
/ the navy You see we are always on war
footing That is, to-day we handle ourselves
In time Of peace with as much exActness ana
! discipline as In time OF war Our target prac-
tice IN time Of peace Is carried out with as
much care anu precision as II we had the enemy
! constantly in sight In the same way we are
20 accustomed 10 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 Ia the
feet had been for six months without going
| ashore until we reached New York Saturday
and they have borne up under the strain Of a
monotonous existence on shipboard and a hot
climate wonderfully we'll