The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-07
Our Rnttleships in Action.


When the present war broke out, one of
the chief points of interest it offered to
European naval experts was the prospect
of n fight between modern armorclads.
The fight came off, the other day, and
while 1t was a chase or q running combat,
rather than n close, stand-up grapple,
yet it taught distinctly several things.
One of them is that q good degree of
speed is a valuable elemen in ba~ttleships.
Our detailed account of CERvERA's des-
| perate race shows that the Cristobal
Colon might, perhaps, have escaped, but
for the speed of the Oregon and the Texas,
which kept after her and ahead of our
other bnttleships. h Brooklyn, of
course, easily outran this fastest of
the spaniards and headed her off; but
the Brooklyn had only s-inch guns with
which to attack, where the Oregon
had 13-inch, and 9-inch side armor to pro-
tect her, where the Oregon had 1S-inch.
The Colon would have had q tough job, no
doubt, with the Brooklyn alone as an
tagonist, but there was no chance what
ever for her when the big Oregon was
able to keep abeam and the Texas within
range astern. 1t seems probable that
the hulls of the Spaniards were not in
any sort of condition for their highest
speed and the best condition for speed
could alone have saved them.
A second point is that our traditional
American policy of heavy ornaments is
once more indicated. Again and again,
during the war of 1912, on the same ton
mage we carried more gun power than our
British antagonists, and those odds in our
70 yor halna1 IL 70 UictOry Tho anna
thing was seen in the fight of the Ala
bama and the Kearsarge in the civil war.
ever since the Indiana class was built we
have heard criticisms from British experts
that they were o~ver-gunned, and such
criticisms were repeated at the begin
ming of the present war, the Engineer, if
we rightly remember, urging them strong
ly. But with the easy play of their 49,
inch, S-inch, and 6-inch guns, first In re-
cent tremendous bombardments of LAND
forts and then in the great running
fight that destroyed C~ERvERA's squad
ron, these criticisms nave been silenced.
In q total reversing of opinion. we
now find the London Mail ven saying
that there Is distinct uneasiness in the
highest ranks of the British Navy over the
under-armament of the British warships."
However this may be, we have put to the
ts6t Of war the oft-decried big 13-inch guns,
w~hch form the distinctive calibre of all
our 1lrst-class battleships ave one, and
we are satisfied with the result.
That the Gloucester's fight with the
Pluton and the Furor has greatly de-
stroyed tho prestige of torpedo boats for
day fighting is also clear. The lesson was
the same as that taught by the contest
between the st. Paul and their mate, the
Terror, off San Juan but in this Santiago
fight two destroyers were present and
both were easily destroyed. The capabili-
ties of torpedo fighting remain, but it's
restrictions are shown, and also the con-
ditions needed for a good promise of
success. After this experience, there will
be no more wild panic as to the possibili-
ties of such craft.
OF course the supreme lesson is as to the
great power in battle of the Imam behind
the gun" The Spaniards were impotent
to do us any damage at Santiago because
they could not use properly the fine bat
tcries they had. The contrast between
American craftsmanship and their blum
dering work was as extraordinary there
as it has been anywhere. They never
showed, it is true, a desperate resolu-
ton to do us damage even If sink
ing in the attempt; but even had
they done this, smashing in a body
against one or two ships of ours, in
the determination to carry something
down with them, their lack of gunnery
skill would have lone much to rob them
of revenge. They did not try to ram, and
they could not hit, save by a rare excep-
ton. But on our side, the exhibition was
the same as that of 1912, supreme skill
in and the highest excellence
of gunnery, proving that American sea-
manship is to-day what it was of yore.