Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-07-25
Shown by Examination of Wrecks of
Cervera's Fleet.
CASTS LIGHT ON MAINE EXPLOSION
No Doubt That She Was Blown
Up by Outside Influence.
THE DESTRUCTIVE SHELLS


| Maine was blown up by an outside explosion
has been dissolved by the examination OF
! the destroyed Spanish ships" said a mem
Der of the board of survey that examined
the remnants of Admiral Cervera's fleet.
| of four ships examined three had been
blown up by their magazines" he contin-
ued, and of these, one had every ma ga zine
| exploded and torpedoes in addition, yet on
none of them was there the same effect as
| that produced by the explosion on the
Maine. There was no upheaval of the kee
and little bullying of the plates except in
the immediate vicinity of the explosion
The effect was nearly altogether upward
in some cases the protective deck being
| lifted, but outside of the sprirging of a few
plates the hulls were intact"
| The examination of the wrecks of the
Spanish ships, three of which were burned
| and all their magazines exploded, was
made, first, for the purpose of ascertaining
the effect of America, gunnery, and, sec
| ondy, to find the effect of internal ex-
plosion.
The Awful Effect.
Both subjects bore uron the Maine Incl
| dent as noted above. and the awful effect
| OF well-aimed shots was demonstrated in
| the rapid sinking OF the fleet. When it is
| remembered that the Almirante Oauendo
| anu the lHldHtd MARTA Teresa were DOM
| sunk within forty minutes of the time they
| left the entrance of Santiago harbor the
| work of the American gunners may well be
| considered as remarkable. The Almirante
| OaUendo WAS struck over ffty-five times
| and the Infanta Maria Teresa thirty-seven
| times, but by larger projectiles.
| The record of the damages to these ships
| Is one of great interest The fight started
at range Of 5000 yards. or three miles.
| At 2,0J0 or 300 yards two torpedo boats
| and two cruisers were annihilated. The
| closest fighting was done at !, 100 and 1000
| yards by the Brooklyn and Vizcaya, with
ai-nihlatins effect on the Spanish ship.
| But two projectiles larger than eight-inch
| struck vessel, both of these, either twelve
| or thirteen-inch. being put through the In
| fanta Maria Teresa.
| The eight-inch, six-nch. ive-inch and
siN-pounder projectiles did the bulk of the
| work, and we're frightfully destructive.
| Some idea of the effect can be obtained
| from brief summary of the injuries to
| each ship as found by the examining board.
The board mad upon it such capable men
as Executive officer Rogers of the Iowa,
| Executive officer Mason of the Brooklyn
an expert on the effect of shells on armor;
| Lieut.. HueSSler of the Texas, who has
| made some splendid improvements in gun
| firing on that ship. and Naval Constructor
| Hcbson of Merrimac fame. who has a rep
| utation for knowledge of ship construction.
The Shots That Hit.
| Briefly, these officers found Cristobal Co
| Ion, battle ship first-class with six inches
| of steel for protection not only on the water
| line, but around the six-inch guns. This
| ship was hit with large projectiles but six
| times, it kept out of range nearly the
| whole time, passing behind the other ships
| for protection and finally making run for
| it. The hits were mace by the Brooklyn
| and Oregon. One eight-inch shell went into
the port side of the ward room and left
on the starboard side without exploding.
| but cleaned out everything in the room. A
| five-inch hit just above the armor belt and
| "a six-inch struck her on the bow. None
| of the injuries was sufficient to put her out
| of action serious those received
| by the Brooklyn, at one time her sole an
| tagonst. The assertion that the Brooklyn
was overhauling her and that the Oregons
terrific thirteen-inch guns were shooting
rearer and nearer and that escape was i'm
possible, seems to be the correct solution
CT her surrender.
The Vizcaya, armored cruiser, is of the
same class as the battle ships Texas and
Maine. She carries two 11.5-inch guns and
ten 55-inch guns with projections ten and
twelve inches thick. double and treble that
of the Brooklyn This ship was the special
prey of the Brooklyn and the Oregon, al
though the Texas, after her destructive
work on the Alnirante Oquendo and Teresa,
aided a little at long range.
The NiZcaya, exclusive of one-pounders
and rapid-fire hits which swept her deck,
was hit with large projectiles fourteen
times and by six-pounders eleven times.
The eight-Ech guns of the Brooklyn and
Oregon and the six-inch guns on the Ore
gon and tive-inch on the Brooklyn tore her
structure above the armor belt almost into
shreds, while the six-pounders and one
FOUNDERS made it too warm for men to
stand ct the guns The Texas got in a
few six-inch shots and the Iowa landed a
couple of four-inch shells. No thirteen or
twelve-inch shells struck her.
Fired by the Texas.
The Infanta Maria Teresa, the flagship
of the same build the Vizcaya, was
badly punished, and was the only one of
the four ships hit by twelve or thirteen
inch projectiles. She has two of that size
clean through her. and the position OF one
would tend to demonstrate that 1t was
fired by the Texas An eight-lnch SMELL I'M
doubtedly from the Brooklyn, because she
was the only ship in line with the Maria
Teresas head as she turned west, entered
just forward of the beam on the port slde
and exploding inside cleaned out the uech
with four gun crews.
This is the shot that Cervera SAID came
from the Brooklyn and set fire to the snip
The Teresa's great difficulty, and one tnat
compelled her hurried surrender was that
all her fire mains were cut and she was
unable to extinguish the fires that were
driving her men from the guns.
The Almirante Oquendo, armored cruiser.
same class as Vizcaya and Teresa. went
through the most terrible ordeal of any
of the ships, except the torpedo boats. Her
upper works were one ragged mass OF cut
up steel and her decks were covered with
dead and dying. She was hit on the port
side four times by S-inch shells, three
times by finch shells, probably from the
Iowa, two times by 6-inch shells and forty
two times by 6-pounders. The innumera-
BILE number of 1-pounders that struck her
show that she met the fire of the entire
fleet, as she turned last out of the tor
pedo boats that followed her. and the sec
n6ar hot CHI inf han
hit her. When she turned to the shore it
was in dilapidated condition.
One of the findings of the board of sur
vey was that an S-inch shell had struck
the forward turret just where the gun
opening was, and that every man in the
turret was killed. the officer standing in
the firing hood being still in that posi-
ton. Another fact learned was that the
torpedoes in some of the ships were al
ready loaded in the tubes and prepared
to fire.
Only One William.