El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-06-11
why COAL is KING.

why COAL IS KING.
Fuel Is a Tremendous Factor'in Mo
dern Warfare.
(St. Louis Globe DemocratJ
The American navy department hat
been obliged to consider in the pre-
sent war q. factor which was entirely
omitted in the famous struggle Of 1872
and which did not exist before the pre-
sent century. This is briefly the ques
ton of supplying coal to war-ships
Those who are not versed in modern
naval tactics and who are not posted
in nautical affairs cannot realize the
vital necessity of having an ample
supply of fuel on shipboard or the
quantity consumed even by gunboat
running at high speed. With
the exception Of it's Asistic fleet
the United States Is in no danger from
this cause, unless it sends force to
attack the Spanish coast, when
some nice calculating would have to be
done to prevent our vessels from be-
coming useless for lack of coal. Useless
is the word, for fuel is just as neces-
sary as shot, shell and powder. To-
day We have not an inch of sail area
on any of our battls-ships or cruisers.
Only such craft as tho Bancroft, Hele-
ma and others of the gunbOat type car
ry canvas, and the amount ia 60 small
as to give them but a nominal speed.
The quantity Of coal which the fur
naces of a modern steamship "eat up"
is almost incredible. The great liners
running between New York and Eur
ope At q speed of twenty knots and
over per hour are obliged to carry
enough fuel at each trip to fill coal
yard. The supply ranges from 25OO to
$500 tons, aud the expense of cOaling,
not including the price Of the fuel,
alone runs up from 81 900 to 81, 500
each trip. Unless proceeding under
'hurry orders bsttle-ship or cruiser
seldom averages over twelve knots; be-
yond these figures means forced
draught" for the furnaces. In other
words, the intensity of the heat Is in
creased by more air being forced into
the fires, with the result that the coal
consumption increases at a very rapid
neapolis, Columbia and others of our
cruisers can travel at the rate of over
eighteen knots per hour when requir-
ed, but to do this requires the use of
three times Is much fuel as at the
twelve-knot rate although the increase
in speed Is but so per cent. The North
German Lloyd Company made q Sc
express ships q few years ago. 1t WAS
found that the furnaces of this steam
or burned ninety tons of coal per day
when going at the rate of twelve knots
per hour, $50 tons At sixteen knots an
hour and 300 tons 1t twenty knots an
hour.
ENORMOUS COAL EATERS.
If the coal carrying capacity of war
ships was ss large In proportion to
their size as merchant vessels, the fuel
question would not be as important.
But even our largest battleships, such
as the Massachusetts and Oregon, can
not take on more than 1900 to 1850 tons
At one time. From this figure the Ca
pacity is narrowed down to 100 to 200
tons for the gunboats. European po-
wers have followed practically abe |
same estimates in allowing for fuel,
also limited. The principal vessels in
her service on the Atlantic at present |
have q tonnage ranging from 5000 to
10000. Including those reported to be
in dry dock, Spain has nine of these !
chips, while In addition to several OF |
the torpedo boats, which burn petro- |
leum, are eight or ten gunbosts and |
small cruisers varying from 700 to
1900 tons. The Pelayo, her largest |
tons steaming at the rate of ten knots
IN hour across the Atlantic to Porto
Rico, estimating the distance from
Cadiz-which is one of the Spanish
coaling ststions-to Porto Rico at 5000 |
miles. The Alphonso XIII, her 5000
ton cruiser, would require over 500 |
tens covering the same distance at the |
same rate of speed. This Is supposing |
that the vessels have only fair wealth
Av,l o1~I L. -
other conditions to increase their |
speed. If the Alphonso were required
to average fifteen knots per hour she |
would burn 1000 tons and run out of |
coal long before she reached this side |
of the water. Marine experts calculate
that the Spanish feet now in the Allan
tic would require fully 700 tons of coal
TO reach Porto Rico, even at the slow
speed referred to.
each containing several thousand tons |
OF fuel, United States ships can obtain
coal at Q half dozen points on the
South Atlantic and gulf coasts within |
300 miles Of Havana and within 1900 |
from Porto Rico, surprising that these |
points were not captured by our forces. |
COAL IN WEST INDIES.
Not only has Spain the danger of q |
chances of reaching her own bases of |
supplies. This is shown by the num-
Der and location of the coaling stations |
In the West Indies. The four most |
important'are ct Havana; Kingston
Jamaica; San Juan, Porto Rico; and |
St. Thomas, in the Danish West In
dies. The nearest port to Europe
where q vessel can ordinarily obtain |
coal Is at Santa Lucia, which ia near
ly 1900 miles east of Havana. Besides
these places are Mstanzas and Carde-
mas, on the northern coast of Cuba,
both within 100 miles of Havana; Glen
fuegos and San Jago, on the southern
coast. Only small vessels could enter
Cardenas and st. Jago, while, as is
well known, all of the Cuban coast is
80 closely watched that an enemy's
warship could not enter without bat
tie. Spain has no other coaling STA
tion except San Juan and Ponce, on
the Island .of ePorto Rico, the latter
place being too small to be OF q strategic
importance. AS Porto Rico is nearly
600 miles nearer Europe than Havana,
it would be the natural base Of sup
plies, but there is no question that a
1,o 70