The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-27

turned his ship in order to avoid being
rammed. 1t might be asked why he didn't
do the ramming himself. But, if he had de-
sired to 10 it, and if his ship had been
built for it, he couldn't have managed It
with only half his engine power. He had
steam only in three boilers; of his remain
ing boilers some had water, others were
empty The interesting maneuvers of the
Brooklyn Will be none the less interesting
if il is found on investigation. that stand
ing orders from the bridge to the engine
room had deprived the ship of so much OF
her power that she had to turn on her keel
and keep at a respectable distance from the
After the general alarm was sounded
there was nothing for ii but to fill the
Brooklyns empty boilers with water.
Then the fires had to be laid and started.
Just before the Colon surrendered-that is,
just at the end of the battle-all the Brook
lyns boilers were steaming at maximum
pressure. But the forward engines were, of
course, uncOupled still. There had been no
time to stop or to slow up The engineers
had their hands full with the job of showing
the ship after the Spaniard, then pulling
her away from him, and then running with
him so that the man behind the gun could
pump shells into him. The Brooklyn's
actual running time over the forty-ive
miles from MORO to the stranded Colon
was three hours and nineteen minutes-a
speed of 1906 knots. And her rated speed
under natural draught full power is eight
cen knots. under forced drauSht twenty
two knots
But the Brooklyn was not the only ship
caught undWdreS on that nuStlIng sunday
morning off Santiago bay. Simpsons flag
ship, the New York. was one of the lame
ducks of the fleet. The trifling distance be-
tween her eastward position and the line of
the dash of Cevera was not what kept her
out of the battle. Her Brward engines. by
orders from the bridge. were disconnected.
There were boilers disconnected. empty, and
of course, fireless Three hours after the
New York started on the westward chase
she had steam in all her boilers Her en-
gines are like those in the Brooklyn. Their
a hat morning
precisely similar. The New York running
time. forty-five miles from the MORO to the
speed of 11O6 knots. Her rated speed under
natural draught full power is sixteen to
seventeen knots; under forced draught
twenty-one knots.
THE WORK OF THE OREGON
when the flagship set such seamanlike.
workmanlike. fighting examples, what can
be expected from the rest of the fleet? Chief
ly. at the last minute, dependence on the
fighting engineers to overcome needless OBJ
sacles, put the ships into position, and
hold them there.
Until that morning the Brooklyn had
never been under forced draught since her
contract trial trip. l have said that the
service regulations require forced-draught
trials at least twice year. The regulations
also provide that forced draught shall never
be used except by order of the commanding
officer.
1.-The Iowa, under orders to carry steam
enough to give a seVen-knot speed at night
and a fve-knot speed by day, was bent
chiefly on coal economy. The Oregon passed
her like a racer. Perhaps that is why the
Oregon's cratic chaplain thought the Iowa
going in the opposite direction. The
Indiana was more completely unprepared
than the Brooklyn. if possible; as elabor-
ately as the Iowa.
The Oregon was not favored by position
at $3.50 o'clock that Sunday morning Off
Santiago. She was, If anything, further
harhnF the
of the Spaniards than the other battle ships,
but in the long chase her shells told the
Colon that the game was up. The Colon, in
spite of her poor mechanical condition. was
nearly holding her own with the Brooklyn
But the Oregon, nominally of FIVE knots
less speed, was steadily gaining. Mllllgan
work brought the ship into position where
the man behind the gun could use his big
gest armament. The Oregon was running
at a rate exceeding sixteen knots. Her
shots sent the Vizcaya to the shore in
flames. Her thirteen-inch shells compelled
the Colon to surrender. Every official re-
port paid tribute to her work.
ut is even officially conceded that but Tor
the Oregon the Colon and probably another
Spanish ship would have escaped so mucn
fires burning. Here was a ship after M
teen-thousand-mil run, four months out OF
dock with foul bottom, and increased dis
placement, almost equaling her trial trip
record for speed. And she fought as she
ran. Inside of fifteen minutes after the full
speed signal was given she was making mr.
teen knots. Within an hour she was making
nedrly seventeen.
Mr. Warren tells how, coming down the
Pacific the Oregon had Cardiff coal under
her boilers. When she got into the Atlantic
she had to pick up inferior coal and then
Milligan, who had a few hundred tons OF
Cardiff left shoveled them into the fighting
bunkers for an emergency. On the day OF
the battle NilIigan unlocked the fighting
bunkers and the Cardiff coal helped the ore
gon to make her burst of speed.
THE LOT OF THE ENGINEERS.
'If you were sealed up in a heated iron
tank floating on the sea and hammered at
by missiles which now and then let in day
light and splinters, you would get dim
idea of the lot of the engineers men aboard
a battle ship in action But the engineer
men have to work in the hurly-burly, and
you would go mad in your tank. The en-
emy's shot pounds the ship, but the en-
gineer and his men know not where the en-
envy is or where the ship is heading. And
they can't stop to think about 1t. Keep that
bearing COOL smother it in oil. drown 1t In
water! Keep it cool, or the games up!
1.-The men on deck can let the spllnters lie
where they fall, but the men in the engine
room have to keep the splinters out of the
machinery. Steam pipes are pierced. Mend
'em. Crawl behind the boilers and stop that
steam leak. Impossible to shut off any
thing Scalded? Never mind. It's all in
the days work Don't let the water down.
Pass the coal lively and, while you're about
it, put out that fire in the bunkers. Grimy
men dripping with sweat go about quietly
with clear heads, watching everything.
There's no bawling, no unusual noise, no
confusion.
I'm the lower engine rooms the Their
mometer shows 1876 degrees in front of the
Ventiating blowers; in the upper engine
rooms 1870 degrees. Men dart into the upper
rooms twice an hour or so, look around for
a minute or two and then dart out again.
There on the hot sea on July the tempera-
ture above the boilers of the Texas was
sometimes 200 degrees!
THE fighting engineers! By old-time ira
dition dating from the days when steam
power was merely an auxiliary to wind pow
er, the naval engineers are thought of as
noncombatants. Ships change and duties
change The engineer is now combatant
as truly as the man on the bridge or the
man behind the gun. The modern fighting
ship is a fighting machine; her efficiency de-
pends upon the engineer.
1.-The engineer of the merchant service has
authority which the naval engineer does not
possess 1t is now proposed In the United
States navy to improve on the practice of
the merchant service Enlightened opinion
favors the plan for abolishing the distinc-
ton between line and staff. Engineer Off
GERS are to be officers of the line. All line
officers are to be taught engineering.
"A generation hence the anomalies Of the
present service will have passed away. The
line officer of the future will know the en-
CINE room as well as the Wheelhouse and
the bridge for he will serve below as we'll
as above Meanwhile nothing will be lost
if we remember what the fighting engineers
did to save the day at Santiago"
CHADWICI<'S REPLY.