The Red Cloud chief., 1898-05-27
THE FIRST MA /AL LESSON.
The Ar@orca Cruiser, Prove TO he the
Ideal N~araiiips.

Iu'ai NHrrhlns'
WASHINGTON. May 2i.-As result OF
the mnncuvcrs executed 10y the Span
ish fleet under command of Admiral
tcrvcra, future naval constructors will
give the armOrcd cruiser u prominent
place in the types adopted for offensive
warfare.
This. perhaps, is tho beat lesson
taught up tu this time 10y the war with
Spain. such Is the opinion of naval
experts since ADMIRAL Cervcra, with his
speedy squadron. arrived ten days ago
AT Martinique. II marks the downfall
of the theory SO strongly advocated by
Captain =. I. Goodrich, now in COM
mand of the Yale and formerly profess
sor of the Naval War college, that the
armurcd cruiser had no place in mod
crn navicS.
Captain Goodrich is now probably
convinced Of the value of armorcd
cruisers said n naval officer, sin view
Of the fact that. as commanding officer
OF the Yale. he has been scouting for
the fleet since a few days before its ar
rival at Martinique.
The armorcd cruiser Is nothing
more than a swift sca-going battlcship.
Japan recognizes this fact and is the
only nation that was quick to take ad-
vantage Of such recognition. Her les.
SCI was learned at Ialu, where her
protected cruisers Of great speed and
equipped with rapid firing guns, drove
from the scene of battle the Chinese
battlcships OF slow speed and thick
arnur.
"Ihat the lesson was we'll learned Is
shown Iy the fact that Japan iminc-
diatcly placed contracts with the Arm
stronCs of England for the couStruc-
tion of six battlcahipS of great speed.
In order to get tn" speed desired. Is
knots. with the protection the arma-
mcnt specified hy the mikado's govern
mcnt. il was necessary to make tho
ships of great displacement. Two of
them, the IaShima and Full, which
are now on their way to japan, are of
1850 tons displacement each. The
later ships have II displacement of IA
$50 tons each. On their trials the va
shima and fiii developed speeds OF ls.5
and 1872 knots respectively.
These vessels arc really the develop
ln'ht Oh ,hc "r'hor'u CRUISER 'sPo'
Nlia' W""'" We no" give LOT h""h Wy
N'is "h"'r tue command o hc"r nu,
miral Sampson? Two OF them, with
'h' Ne" 'orh ana nrooh'Sh' Wouio oe
an'' I" destroy Ut of's" away "oihirai
''r''r"s NIu"dr""' ,n"s government
III p"''"'hF '"' i"Na opt''i'" type III
som, respects similar to the armored
cruiser o"' h'r "Peco Is on! 10 Nio'S'
ana u''"'r present CONDITIONS IL Proo'
AMY pnt j." OF ~
''''' ''C var "'R'" We nave oc'u
using ''NN''N i"r purposes ior Which
'h''r 'EP'S "i!s"'''" .n."n' . III
stance 'h' '"u'H''" ana ''"Ssach"se.'s
'r' coast "'''I'' ha't'e sh'ps' leu
,h'E rave "''h Sou u" 81" cruising ior
'he 'l'nhE Wh'h ,h'S were really IN
''ho'" Tor defensive purposes linen
we nave oc'h employing h"rpor aeiehso
monitors ior ~o''eN"n'hg anu
i"r OFFENSIVE warfare '"' result peing
10 grippe the ~fhahc"''rlhs q"anty OF
our nee ana handicap hear hdhiirai
sampson seriously III nus orehs'Ve ena
o''ehAiV' operations our SNIP puiid'
ing Poi'v II an wrong Inc country
mas gone on inc 'h'ory Una Il defehs-
I've navy was al Una was necessary
Inc present war 'eaches that an oifehs'
I'VE navy II absolutely required.
ne Necessity OF target practice In