The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-06-01

in Cuban waters. But the armored ships
are mainly 10 be relied upon for his
strength.
The Oquendo. Vizcaya and Maria Teresa
have each a steel water-line belt 3l5 feet
long, IL broad and from 10 10 ~ inches
thick. and two turrets Of 9-inch steel con-
tanning their largest guns. The Colon
has a complete nickel steel belt II
inches broad and inches thick and
above it at the centre, for about two
Gfths of her length, another belt OF the
same thickness, rising 10 her upper deck.
The barbettes for her large guns are )
inches thick, with 6-inch bulkheads at
the base +
The main batteries Of the Oquendo
class consist Of two 11-lnch and ten 8 II
inch rapid-hre guns. the former calibre
throwing an S3S-pound shot and the lat
ter a shot Of Sc pounds. 1t is thus evil
dent that the total weight OF a round
from the twelve guns constituting the
main battery of each vessel would be
1886 pounds, or 1905 pounds for the
three. The Colon carries two 9S-inch
ten 6-inch, and six 47-ihch guns, throwing
project!les Of 800. 100. and a pounds re-
spectlyely, or a total OF 2S2 pounds at
a round. The aggregate for the four YES
sells IS $3.50 pounds.
Commodore Schieys squadron consists
of the battleships Iowa, H. 40 tOns Mas
sachu1ctts. 1),2sS tons. and Texas. 6.3l5
tOns the armored cruiser Brooklyn. g27i
tOns the unarmOred cruiser Marblehead
2,0S3 tons. the gunboat Castine Ito tons:
the torpedo boat Dupont, and the auxil-
larry destrOycr5 Vixen and Eagle Here
the first point 10 notice is that Schleys
squadron far surpasses his opponents in
displacement, his four armored ships
alone aggregating 1924 tons, against less
than 5000 for Cervera's four, while the
Marblehead, Castine, Dupont Vixen and
Eagle exceed his unarmOred vessels by
several thousand tons.
In armor our advantage Is still more
striking. All Cervera's armored ships
surpass our Brooklyn in thickness OF plat
ing, as she carries only three inches on
her sides. five and one-half on her tur-
rets and from eight to four on her bar
bettes, but her protective deck of six
inches on the slope and three on the flat
is far better than that OF the OquendO
class with three inches on the slope and
two on the fiat our batticships turn the
armor scale Overwhelmingly The Mas
sachusctts has eighteen inches on her
sides fifteen on her large turrets and
seventeen on her barbettes the Iowa,
fourteen inches on the sides ana fifteen On
the large turrets and barbettes; the Tex
as. twelve inches on sides and turrets.
The battery power Of the two fleets
shows enormously IN our favor The
Massachusetts carries four i3-inch guns.
eight S-inch and four 6-lnch, throwing
projecties Of LOO. 25O and 100 pounds
respectively or $500 pounds az a round.
which is well toward the aggregate OF
the three vessels Of the Oquendo class.
The Iowa carrier four Pinch. eight
S-inch and six 4-nch guns, throwing
projectiles of $50. 25O and 80 pounds re-
specuyely, or e total Of 5.JsS pounds az
a round. The Texas carries two Pinch
ana six G-.nch guns, throwing
800 pounds. The Brooklyn carries eight
S-lnch and twelve 5-inch the latter
throwing 5O-pound projeGies. with a
total of 1900 pounds. Tie aggregate
thus. g. l72sS pounds against ,oryera's
$3.50 at q single round. The MarDieaead
carries nine 5-inch guns and the Castins
eight 4-inch. and they would mako up
our aggregate main battery fire 10
lisp, or more than double. Cerveras
total but they can be LETT aside, with our
three other vessels, as margin for
OyerpOwering his torpedo craft, and any
other unarmored force.
AS for the secondary batteries the ag-
grcgate Of our four armOred vessels, not
10 dwell on details. IS sixty-four C-goun-
ders. twenty l-pounders fourteen Cat
lings and four Hotchkiss cannon. against
Cervera's thirty-fOur 6-pounders. forty l.
Founders. twenty-four Nordenfeldts. and
eight Gatlings.
Taking ali elements together number
Of vessels size. drmor protection. and.
above all. battery power. wholly apart
from superiority Of craftsmanship. II is
clear that Schley's Is much the stronger
squadron Cervera's Is presumably the
faster. when at its best: but the Brook
lyn on trial. record Is faster than any
one Of his cruisers. while the speed OF
all OF the Spanish ships IS not improb-
ably far below their trials.