The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1898-03-08
Our Navy Prepared.

One of our battleships is lost.
We have three others at Tortu
gas, just below the Havana hor-
lion. There are 1900 sailors,
fighting mad, on them, ready to
fire so large sized guns from the
deck. The Indiana has 16 of
these guns. the Iowa, Is, the
Massachusetts Is and the Texas,
now at Galveston, 8. Each of
these ships has crew of about
$50 men. With these battleships,
in Admiral Sicard's squadron,
is the armored cruiser New York,
with 10 guns and nearly 500men.
Within call at the Hampton roads
is the Brooklyn, an improved
New York. foremost in that grade
of warships in all the world, with
90 guns and 500 men.
In commission at Norfolk is
that queen of fighters, the mont
tor Puritan. with her 10 guns,
and at her side is the monitor
Terror, with her a guns. At
Port Royal is the monitor Amph-
itrite, with 6 guns. These three
monitors muster close to 500
men in their crews. The world
has not improved on these ships
in fighting type. Others may
steam faster, may go further,
but none can fight better than
the monitors, and the Puritan
leads them all.
Then at Tortugas is the cruiser
Marblehead, and at Mobile the
cruiser Detroit, unarmored but
strong and sinewy, each with 10
guns and $50 men. These yes
sells might be shot through, and,
although their thin sides would
be as so much paper to the mod
ern projectile, their guns would
make havoc in a bombardment
or on vessels of their own class.
Their engines, the heart of the
warship anatomy, are protected,
and only torpedo's blow would
stop the firing of their guns.
At Tortugas or Havana we
have the torpedo boats Gushing
and Ericsson; at Mobile we have
the new torpedo boats Dupont
and Porter; at Norfolk we have
the torpedo boat Foote, and at
New York is the torpedo boat
Stiletto. On these vessels are
about $50 men. They deal with
the most deadly of modern weap-
ons of war.
In the West Indies, within i'm
mediate reach, we have the
Montgomery with 10 guns and
$50 men, now at Port Antonio,
Jamaica, having left Santiago de
Cuba, perhaps fortunately, on
Feb. Goth. The Nashville is at
Galveston. She has 8 guns and
$50 men. The Newport, 6 guns
and 1876 men, is at Colon; the
Vicksburg, 6 guns and 1876 men,
is at st. Kits; the Wheeling,
guns and 1875 men, is at LaGuay-
ra.
So much for the warships in
commission and within immedi-
ate striking distance. They rep
resent 90 vessels, with nearly
200 high-power guns in the main
batteries, to say nothing of the
secondary batteries and the hun
dred or more torpedoes with
which the vessels are supplied,
and they carry 5000 men, the
bravest, sturdiest fighters in any
navy. sAsff ei4e
This country has still further
strength in ships available.
There are the great scouts, the
Columbia and Minneapolis, lying
at the League island yard in
Philadelphia, ready for work the
instant crews can be raised &c
operate them. Down in Brazil
we have the little Castine and
the stocky Cincinnati under com
mission, and probably tugging
at their chains by this time il
their anxiety to hasten north.
Over at Lisbon, with officers
are the SanFrancisco, the Helena
and Machias. These vessels
would add about 80 guns and
1000 men to our strength.
Our ships have powder and
projectiles. Our plans of fight
ing have been made. Week after
week and far into the nights, the
naval authorities at Washington
have been making arrangements
10 meet any attack from Spain.
If trouble comes it will find the
administration prepared.