The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-08-19
ALL OLD MONITORS
Will Be Assigned to Guard Duty in
the West Indies.

New York, Aug. IA special to the
Tribune from Washington, says:
The navy department has decided to
send all the single turreted monitors to
Cuba and Porto Rico for duty as per-
manent guard ships in the chief har-
bOrs of those islands. Preliminary or
ders assigning officers and crews from
the regular navy to the u seawOrthy
vessels of this type are being made out
and several of these formidable YES
sells will start for their new posts in a
week or two. These monitors, which
were built for service in the civil war;
several of them bearing scars of the
conflict after 30 years of disuse, were
restored to excellent condition soon
after the Maine was blown up, some Of
them being equipped with entirely new
water tube boilers and having the ben
eft of extensive improvements.
During the war with Spain they have
been manned by naval militiamen and
constituted the chief source of strength
of the auxiliary naval force guarding
the Atlantic coast. Orders were given
several days ago to place them out of
commission as soon as possible and re-
turn them to the League Island. penn
SylVania) navy yard, until another en-
Urgency necessitated their use.
In the meantime, however, the COM
plicated problems involved in maintain
ing law and order, particularly in Cuba,
led to consideration of the availability
of these vessels as guard ships and the
authorities quickly reached the decis-
ion to utilize them for that purposes.
The vessels selected are the Ajax, the
Canonicus, the MahOpac, the Manhat-
tan, the WyandOtte, the Catskill, the
Jason, the Lehigh, the Montauk, the
Nahant, the Nantucket and the Pas
sale. They draw only u feet of water
and each of them carries two 15-inch
smooth bore guns in it's turret. 1t is
intended that they shall not only pro-
vide for the defense of Cuban harbOrs
against exterior assaults, but their mag
aZineS are to be stored with large guam
titles of grape and canister for the pur-
pose of maintaining order ashore.
There is no cOncealment of the de-
sign on the part of the naval and mil
ltary authorities to use, if necessary,
this grape and canister fire from the
huge guns of the monitors to command
a wholesale respect for United States
authority among the Cuban insurgents
and other ObStreperOuS elements which
will have to be restrained when the
Spanfards evacuate the islands, and the
naval officers, who will be especially Sc
lected for these vessels on account of
their discretion and good judgment, will
have full authority to dispense any
mObS which may come within range.
In each of the ports where monitors
are located, there will be no necessity
for a military garrison.
1t is proposed to locate these single
turreted monitors at Matanzas, Car
aenas, Sagua La Grande Jibara, Nue.
vitas, ManzanilIO, Guantanamo, Trini-
dad, Cienfuegos and Bahia Honda, in
Cuba. and at Ponce, in Porto Rico.
1t is also the intention of the navy de-
partment to send the double turreted
monitors Puritan, Terror, Amphitrite
and MiantonOmOh to Havana, Santiago
and San Juan De Porto Rico, perhaps
two of them being station at Havana.
These vessels while among the most
disagreed BILE in the navy for active
cruising service in tropical waters, are
considered more comfortable than any
other type of vessels when stationary
and are altogether peculiarly fitted to
meet the present necessity.