Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-04-21
THE NEW WARSHIpS.


Fought 49, Danger In Their Strength.
Some of tho Disadvantages.
How will the steel ship fight? Will
her crew, pent in the heart of an eight
day clock" lie safe in the steel prison
and WELD the big guns merrily behind
the metal walls laughing OF shot and
shell, or will the floating fortress DO
hell inside?
The first modern naval engagement
will be such tost Of iron as never has
been made since tho time of Tubal Cain,
and the penalty for failure will be ter
rible. Will armor resist the shock or
will it open wide and crumble, admit
ting the rush of seas into tho iron pot
End dealing death by water below to
them that escape 1t by fro from above?
These are questions whose answer is
hidden from the knowledge of man.
Shot and she'll work strange havoc.
Steam, the white slave of the mailed
ship, can become its awful enemy. A
chance shot that releases it from its
bonds of pipe and boiler may turn the
vessel, unframed though it may be
from without, into place Of death
where the bravest may not stand by
gun or an engine.
The warship Of today carries within
it host of forces for its own destruo-
tion. Its enormous weight, that tends
to drag it down; its huge steam plant,
that stretches 1000 arms into every
portion of the vessel; its powder, gun
cotton and dynamite-all are hrainless
servants ready to turn against their
masters.
1t is science only secondarily that has
made the modern steel ship COMPETE
ton was the real creator Of it, The
fighting instinct is the same today as it
was centuries ago-"up and at them. +"
Men will fight as nearly hand to hand
as they can whenever circumstances
permit it, and probably the fighting
sailors of all nations today would prefer
the old wooden ships, where the ques.
tion Of victory depended on the man,
the gun and the craft in their simplest
forms, -...t
Aside from the weight Of the armor,
which may drag an injured ship to the
bottom, armor has in it another element
OF great danger--a danger which is
caused to an extent by the very strength
| of il. Naval men who may have to an
swer the question with their lives are
asking whether the resistance of the
steel walls will not cause the explosion
Of many impinging shells that might
pass clean through wooden ship with
out doing material damage. This dan
ger Of what is considered generally to
be the safeguard Of the steel ship has
been shown in several engagements be.
tween armored ships in the past 1--WE or
| six years.
A naval fight in the Argentina revo-
luton was marked by disasters that
would not have happened to wooden,
unsheathed vessels.
In the revolution Of 1899 the reyolu-
tionists seized the coast defense armor-
clad Andes. She was an English built
craft, with eight inch armor On her tur-
ret and five inches on her coming tow
err. A barbette ironolsd, the Indepen-
dencis, opened fire on her with nine
inch gun. The first shell struck the
armor belt near the stern, smashed the
steering gear, cut across the ship through
five bulkbeads and exploded finally be.
hind the inner armor on the other side
Of the ship. Another shell passed
lengthwiso through the ship and ex-
| ploded against the coming tower.
1t is the opinion Of all naval experts
that both of these shots, which did
much damage, would have pierced the
vessel had she been unarmored, leaving
only harmless holes above the water
line. Both shots struck her we'll above
the water line, and they would net
Lave entered the body of the ship at all
had they not been DETECTED by the armor.
The resistance Of a wooden ship would
not have been great enough to cause the
explosion Of the shells, as they had
besn set to explode by impact.
When the Huasoar fought the Chilean
squadron, shot that pierced one side
of her turret exploded against the other
and killed ALMOST every man in it. A
second shot did tho same and killed
every men Of tho crew that had been
sent in to replace the first crew. In the
same manner she'll exploded in the
coming tower and smashed it complete.
ly, killing Admiral Grau.-
In all these cases the exploding shells
wet not the only means of destruction
and death. Tho shattered armor killed
many.
Ut course the instances mentioned
need not apply to the great ar1nored
ships of the large nations. What fight.
ing has been done by ships OF modsrn
construction has not been done in cir
cumstances that make their experience
particularly valuable from technical
viewpoint. The ships mentioned did
not carry the weight of armor tina: is
carried by our vessels, but enough was
seen in these fights to show that any.
thing except the best armor is as likely
| to nrnua n daath trn.. ~. ...-L--L.-- =