The Portland daily press., 1898-02-07

reach bhe southern coast OF Cuba within
three or four hours, and for the entire
n forth Atlantic squadron to be hammer.
ing for admittance at the port of Havana
within six hours. The orders issued by
the department to Rear Admiral Sicard,
commander-in-chi of the North Atlantic
squadron, do not permit him to leave
with his vessels the waters south of Key
West. All maneuvers will be conducted
within the section between Key West and
the coast of Florida. 1t is expected that
the presence of such a large feet will be
a great deterrent to flibustering opera
tions, and the officials consequently look
for decreased number of expeditions
leaving the Florida coast for Cuba.
1t would not be difficult matter for
the squadron to dispose of the sixty-two
in Cuban waters. Practically all of the
Spanish vessels are gunboats of less. than
!, 000. tons. displacement, many of which
are armed with antique cannons. In
the list of Spanish ships number of
steam launches are included. A heavy
inch guns, penetrating the.sides of gun
boat and exploding within the ship,
would be sufficient to destroy lit. Each
shell of this caliber contains 300 pounds
of gunpowder. The return fire of gun
boat could not be disastrous to vessel OF
the Indiana's type, because of the fact
that their projectiles could not enter the
armored sides of the battle-ship. The only
vessels that might suffer as result of an
engagement with the Spanish force would
be cruisers like the Detroit, Montgomery
and Marblehead, and gunboats like the
Wilmington, which might engage with
the two or three cruisers of Spain's naval
force in Cuban waters, or the torpedo
boats. siicials of the department and
nas~S,$ ,ers say that. it would be an easy
ND 9 z the North Atlantic squadron
tof 80 the Spanish naval force and
tn amence the struggle for Havana,
W is defended by heavy guns, some
of which are of modern manufacture.
For many months past the complete
plan Of war with Spain has been loo ked
in drawer of the bureau of naval intel
ligence, ready to serve as primary base
of action in case of an outbreak of HOSTILE
ties The war;. as is we'll recognized,
must be as sea war; the army OF the
United States will play only secondary
part in it. Every step has been deter
mined in advance; the orders for every
ship are ready, and all requisite ammuni-
ton and other supplies are prepared for
immediate embarkation. Each one of
our seaports actually is charted with sub
marine mines and torpedoes, which can
be planted at brief notice for protection
against attack by Spanish fleets.
Operations in Cuban waters, says Rene
Bach, will be brief = and decisive. One
battleshlp- probably the Indiana, which
is reckoned the most powerful floating
fortress in existence-Will do to settle
with MORO castle, accompanied by the
arinored cruiser Brooklyn and the IN
armored Cincinnati and Yorktown. The
Indiana carries, besides weapons Of small
er caliber. four thirteen-inch guns, each
of which is able to deliver every six min
utes steel proJectile that strikes with
smashing energy OF q, 600 foot-tons--a
power that would be Sufficient to raise
the huge vessel herself two feet in the air.
The only difficulty worth mentioning
in the way Of taking Havana will be Off
cred by submarine mines, with which the
harbor will be sown; but this will be
overcome by sinking uorpedoes with time
fuses to explode the enemy's internal ma
chimes. This can be done safely and
speedily, and then our ships will be able
to destroy the city and its defenses by
bombardnent if desired, Meanwhile the
steamships of the Old Do
minion line and other coastwise passenger
carriers will have been pressed into SER
vice as transports for troops, and the rail
ways, with unlimited numbers OF cars,
will have been pouring regulars and mill
tia into our seaport towns. Within ten
days 100, GOO we'll armed and disciplined
soldiers will be landing in Cuba, under
protection Of the guns OF our ships OF war.
Thus far the conflict will be almost
bloodless, but it would besa great mistake
to imagine that the war is to be over
with such comic opera performance.
Spain has never entertained any serious
notion of making Cuba battle ground.
She knows that attempt would be hopeless
and absurd. She believes that she will
probably get licked any way, and she is
9 DING to pat up tremendous hight. For
that she will select her own ground,
namely, the waters OFF her own coast,
w here she will have such advantages as
lie in being near home and in having
her entire navy to back her
up. The fight will take place off Cadiz,
Spain principal port.
American cities on the seacoast are not
by any means undefended. Charleston,
in case war broke.out, would be protect
ed by a system of torpedoes, and she IS
fur Their defended by modern high-power,
guns. Boston has an up-to-date fort in
her harbor capable of repelling fleet. |
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washing
ton are approachable only by narrow
channels, feasily krendered inaccessible. |
New Orleans could not be approached by
large ships for lack of water. Finally,
New York would be effeotually defended
by modern batteries and submarine mines
by some of the old monitors
which, each pro yided with six.inch
gun. would be formidable floating bat
terry.
The Spaniards have had all these mat
tiers figured out for long time. They
realize that their navy is inferior to ours,
and they are not going to send it across
3 600 miles of ocean to fight us in waters
where we would have all the advantage
being close to our own base of supplies.
Their choice will be that we shall do the
voyaging and tackle the difficulties of
coal supply, transportation of troops, etc.
and then near to their own shores, they
will fall l1pon orr fleet with might and