Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1898-07-07

far the most serious obstacle tc the
occupation Of Santiago by the Ameri.
can land forces.
Was necessary 20 Success.
During the almost continuous con-
fict Of Friday and Saturday reports
show that the spanish feet did awful
execution Is Smelling the American
troops. 1t is regarded as unlikely that
with the fleet lying in the bay Gen.
Skaters forces would have been able
safely to occupy santiago. After the
reduction and capture Of the outer de-
lenses of the city By Gen Shafter it
became necessary that Admiral Ger
vera's fleet be eliminated from the
equation. its elimination was exc
cuted by Admiral Sampson. thus leav-
ing the way open for the continued adj
vance of Skaters troops upon the city.
No Details.
Details of the destruction Of Ger
yera's feet have not been received at
this writing by either the war or navy
departments. Whether Simpsons
ships entered ths harbor and there at
tackled and annihilated the Spanish
squadron or whether Cervera made a
desperate dash past the sunken Mer-
rimac TO the ocean beyond in the hope
that he might be able to save at least a
part Of his feet, has not been officially
ascertained
AdJt. Gen. Corbin voiced the feelings
OF every one of the officials when he
said: II don't care how the feet was
destroyed. 1t was destroyed. That
is enough for me. II is great news for
the Fourth Of July"
The Destroyed Fleet.
a Admiral Cervera's fleet was one OF the
nnest spain possessed. Three of the yes
sells. the Aimirante Oquendo the Vizcsva
and the ChristObal Colon were modern ar
mored cruisers of the first class The Viz
ehSa, winch visited this country soon after
sne Maine was sent 10 Havana and was in
New YORK harbor when the news OF the
obstruction OF the American battleship
was taken 10 her commander She was ii
iWO tons displacement $40 feet long and
heavily armored, her belt armor being II
inches in thickness ard her deck arTnor
three lnches. Her armament consisted of
Two Linen, ten 5.5-inch Hontoria guns
eight 2.2-inch rapid-fire guns, eight ! +.inch
tap ~. -hre guns ana two mitralleuses. She
ha1 TWO masts with military tops two tur-
rsts, TWO smokestacks and ram bow
she carried six torpedo tubes was capa-
ment was 500 men
Inc Almirante Oquendo was in almost
every respect duplicate of the Vizcaya
The Cristobal Colon had a DISPLACEMENT
OF $50 tons and was s2s feet long ShA had
siA-inch Arnor, both a the wafer line and
a. tue gun position and .9-inch arrnor on
ntf deck Her armament consisted OF two
ten men. ten siX-inch rapid-fire guns. six
4f-inGh, ten 22tnch and ten 4-inch guns
Two mitrelleuses and four torpedo tubes
She ~as capable Of 4 speed OF ~ knots and
cart ed complement OF 40 men or the
remaining vessels Of the fleet, the Furor
AMI terror were torpedo boat destroyers
and the Rlena Mercedes was an old vas
sci that was sunk a short time ago by A
smell from Sampson fleet. The Terror was
posed 10 be at San Juan. Puerto Rico, IN
defgoing repairs made necessary by an
encounter with the 81. PAU a few DAYS
ago.
In addition TO the above mentioned yes
sells, There were two torpedo boats and a
collier in the Spanish fleet originally
whether the collier was a Santiago or not
10 not known