The age-herald., 1898-05-22

What is the American Asiatic squadron? While the whole world is ringing with the great victory won in the Philippine islands people are asking this question and are turning to each other to know what this fleet may be and of what it is com- posed.
 Up to this time the general public has heard very little of the Asiatic squadron and many persons good loyal citizens, have been almost Ignorant of it's existence.
 It is that portion of the United States navy which is selected by the navy depart ment to lie in the Pacific ocean and protect the interests of the United States there. The Asiatic squadron looks after Ameri- can missionaries in Hong Kong, and pro- tects them in all eastern ports. It upholds the rights of merchantmen and communi- cates with our government through China, in case of enfringement or usurpation.
 The Asatic squadron has never been called upon to do fierce duty since it's for nation and some doubt existed in the minds of the naval authorities of it's efi- ciency. Its commanders were crack naval men and it's ships were good armored cruis- CTS, but just how 1t would act under for eign fire in a strange sea was something to be determined
 To be sure, it's commander, Rear Admiral George Dewey, was positive of his ability to conquer the whole eastern world with his fleet, but then Admiral Dewey Is a born fighter and has seen constant fighting for years. Besides, the Asiatic squadron be-- longed to him and he would naturally be. prejudiced in its favor.
 ONLY SIX SHIPS.
 When Rear Admiral Dewey lined up the American Asiatc squadron in front of the Philippine Islands it was composed of six steel ships besides the store ship Narstan, upon which were extra supplies for the crew of the cruisers, and the collier Zalfiro which contained food for the ships engines. The war ships were the protected cruisers Olympia, commanded by Captain Charles " Gridley; the cruiser Boston, commanded by Captain Frank Wildes; the Raleigh, commanded by Captain Joseph B. Coghlan, and the Baltimore, commanded by Captain Nehemiah M. Dyer.
 The gunboats were the Concord and the Petrel. The Concord commanded by Asa Walker and the Petrel commanded by Ed- ward F. Wood.
 THE FLAGSHIP.
 The flagship of the squadron is the Olym- pia which is one of the finest ships in the navy. The Olympia ranks next to the Columbia and the Mneapolis in speed and is the third longest ship in the navy. The Olympia has been in the Asiatfc squadron almost constantly since her launching, and first attracted attention on her way to Yokohama when she was caught in a tre- mendous storm. Throughout the storm she made great speed and went about her business undisturbed, at the rate of twenty knots an hour while all the other ships in the Pacific were disabled The Olympia was launched in San Francisco in 1892. She is a twin screw vessel, Of steel, with two covered barbettes and two military masts, with fore and aft rig. Her length is $40 feet, her beam 53 feet and her mean draught 2 feet 6 inches.
 She has a tonnage of $500 and a coal car rying capacity of 1900 tons. Her speed is PIP knots. She carries two sets of vertical engines, with inverted cylinders, triple ex- pansion, and six boilers, two single ended and two double ended. It has forty fur naceS.
 Her armor consists of steel deck plates from two to four and seven-tenths inches in thickness. Her barbettes and hoods are covered with four inches of steel, and her two coming towers are five inches and her 5-inch gun shields with four inches of steel. She has cellulose belt 33 inches thick and feet inches broad.
 Her armament includes four 8-nch breech loading guns ten 5-inch quick fire