The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1898-05-11
WEDNESDAY. j.

ordinary breach loading gun in a
brand, new, up-to date ship of %
knots speed Il is fact. neverthe
less, that out of thirty 6 inch guns
carried IN the United States ships
now under consideration, only six
are quick firing. There is an import
ant difference. too, as regards. speed
and hardness in favor of the Spanish
vessels. the average rate Of her ships
being 1857 knots per hour, against
an average of 1s 63 as ruling in those
of the United States This degrade
tion in the average is due to the CON-
paratively slow steaming of the three
battleships It is difficult to see
where the usefulness of these heavily
armed, floating citadels comes in
except to capture and sink the
Pelayo.
s.The main factors of projectile
weight and fire energy which the
American squadron possesses are due
to the slow firing 13 inch and 8 inch
guns of these battleships. Yet there is
small chance of their ever catching a
glimpse Of the swift and handy ar
mored cruisers of the Vizcaya type,
and still less chance of their getting
an effective shot at them Were
those weapons the rapid firing 8 inch
guns recently perfected by the Els
wick firm, and which, We are delight
ed to say, are to be mounted in our
cruisers Of the Diadem type, it would
be quite another story But they are
not, and we fear that the United
States may find their obstinate de-
termination to arm their new vessels
with guns which are the creation of
their own genius has landed them in
dilemma at this juncture. Span
has wisely copied and purchased
some of the best guns of all nations.
including the productions of Krupp
and Schneider Canet, and she is,
relatively, in a better position now
as regards the armament of her re-
cent vessels than the United States
"The great difficulty for Spain will,
of course, be centred in the fact that
she fights from a base more than
{, 900 miles away. When the coal
supplies in Cuba and Puerto Rico
run ont che must depend upon
GOLFERS which can run into and fron,
blockaded ports and the United
States armed mercantile cruisers
should be able to render this very
perllous little game.
ga great DEAL. too, depends upon
the man behind the gun. The 5000
Swedish sailors who are TO form part
of the complement of the United
States vessels might be excellent ma
terial if fighting in defence of their
OWN hearths and homes; but naval
warfare of the present day is 20 past.
time-it is grim and ghastly real
ity. swiftly executed. and mo hire
lings Of an alien State are likely to
cone wellsout of such terrible or
deal In point of fact. we do not
believe that the Yankees thoroughly
understand the spirit of mischief
that they seem so determed to
evoke I"
In commenting on the last para
graph Of this article, a man vino is
familiar with the makeup of on.
crews said '.The idea that has gone
abroad that the sailors on our men-of
war are mostly foreigners is false.
This bit of fiction, however. has been
allowed to circulate so long without
contradiction that it is generally &C.
cepted as true by foreign writers
who treat of our navy. AS matter
of fact, a very small percentage o1
our sailors are foreigners. IF you
want proof of that look over the lis,
of the Names crew A year ago,
when was aboard the New York,
there were only dozen foreigners
in her crew, and that is fair aver.
age on our beats. Don't make any
mistake about the nationality of the
men behind the guns. They are
Americans, all of them