The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1898-03-03
COAST IS PROTECTED
Vessels of the Navy Within
Easy Reach.
WHAT SPAIN MIGHT EXPECT
In Case Of HOstilities Twenty Warships
Could Be Had on tho Pacific
Coast in Month.

In Case Of Hostilitiss Twenty warships
Could BE Had on tho Pacific
Coast in q Month.
Portland, Or, Feb. 22.-The posi-
bility of war with Spain in the near
future, has, of course, aroused an i'm
mense interest in the fighting strength
of the United States navy, and especi-
ally in this part of the country, what
manner of defense could be made
should an enemy send hostile feet to
the Pacific coast. To great extent,
the immunity of this coast from in
vasion would depend upon the strength
of the navy which Uncle Sam could
muster, at short notice. At the present
time the Pacific coast squadron, under
| the command of Rear-Admiral ]. N.
| Miller, consists of nine warships in &C.
tive commission. The flagship of the
squadron is the armored cruiser Balti-
more. 10 guns, Captain N. M. Dyer
commanding. She is now at Honolulu.
Probably the most effective ship in
time of war is the battle-ship Oregon,
Is guns, under the command of Cap
tain A. H. Mccormick. She is now
in the drydock at Bremerton, WASH.
getting bilge keels put on, but. in case
OF necessity, she could be put in shape
on short notice. Next to the Oregon
is the double-turreted monitor Mon
terey, four guns, Captain G. E. Clark
commanding.
The monitor Monadnock, six guns,
under the command of Captain w. Fl.
Whiting, sailed for Magdalena bay
from San Francisco, January 80. On
her return she will be held at Mare
Island in reserve. The Alert, cruiser
of four guns, under Commander E. H.
G. Leutz, is at San Juan del Sur, Mica
ragua. Commander Leutz February 8
landed force to protect American in
terests during the revolution. Three
gunboats, of six guns each. are scat
tered along the coast. The Benning-
ton, Commander H. E. Nichols, is at
Honolulu. The Marietta, Commander
S. M. Symonds, is at Libertad. and the
Wheeling, Commander U. Sebree, is
cruising in Alaska. The Adams,
training ship of six guns, under the
command of w. c. Gibson, is at
Mare Island, Cal. To this formidable
list must be added the ships at the
Mare Island hayward, which could
all be put in commission inside of two
or three months at the most.
The protected curisers Philadelphia
and Charleston, of 10 guns each, are
the most formidable of these. The
gunboat Ranger is also undergoing
slight repairs. and the wooden frigates
Pensacola and Hartford are being re.
fitted. This makes total Of IA war
ships, which could be available almost
Immediately in case of war.
Besides these, the Asiatic squadron
could make the run home in short
time in case of urgent necessity. The
Asiatic squadron, under the command
of Commodore George Dewey, comprises
six warships. The armored cruiser
Olympia, IA guns, Captain Charles V.
Gridley, commanding, stands at the
head of the vessels of this squadron.
She is the flagship, and is now at
Yokohama, Japan. The cruiser Bos-
ton, eight guns, under the command
of Captain Frank Wildes, is probably
the second in fighting strength. She
is now at Chemulpo, Corea. The
Monocacy, six guns, under the COM
mand of Captain o. W. Farneholt, is
an old gunboat, and will probably be
sold as soon as possible. She is at
Woo Sung, China, and her place will
be taken by the Helena, formerly of
the European station. and under the
command of w. T. Swinburne. At
Canton is the gunboat Petrol, four
gune, under the command of Com
mander E. P. Wood. The cruiser
Raleigh, IL guns, under Captain B.
CogIan, sailed on February 10 from
Singapore to Hong Kong, and will re-
main at the latter place for quite
while.
The gunboat Concord. six guns, Com
mander A. Walker, completes the list
of the Asiatic squadron. These ships
are all available for use on the Pacific
coast and should such heroic measure
become necessary at months notice,
20 warships could get together for de-
fensive purposes This is feet which
Spain could not match without con.
centrating her strength on this coast,
which she is very unlikely to do.
Thus it can be seen that on this side
of the United States there is no spe-
cial cause for fear if wal should break
out. There is not the least danger OF
hostile warship ever getting near
enough inland to do any harm. It
would be an act Of suicide for hostile
vessel to enter the Columbia river, I'M
less her nation had control of the Pa
cific ocean. Otherwise, she would be
caught like rat in trap, and blown
To niacAs at ease