The age-herald., 1898-09-29
THE MARIA TERESA AFLoAT

The Infanta Maria Teresa, Cerveras $ flag ship was the first of the Spanish vessels to succumb to the attack of the American fleet off Santiago on July 3. She headed the Spanish column 1t came out of the har- bor entrance, and barely half an hour later her bow was headed shoreward, the Oquen- do next following, little further to the west; then the ViZcaya, still more to the west, and finally the Cristobal Colon. Ac- cording to the account of one of the Maria Teresas officers it was shell from the Texas that completed her doom. Piercing the side armor it exploded in the engine room, and burst the main steam pipe. signal to the engine room from the bridge brought no response. Every one below had been killed. The vessel struck the rocks a mass of flames, and when later examined it was found that her interior was com plete ruin, magazine bunkers, boilers, and engines showing only as chaos of twisted metal
 Some of the armor plates had been wrenched partly or entirely off, but the shell of the vessel was intact. Wreckers who were sent to save her raised her suf- ficiently to find that her bottom was punct- ured and that she could not be hauled off till the hole was patched and she was raised still higher from the rocks.
 The floating and rehabilitation of the h. fanta Maria Teresa will give to the navy of the United States one of a class of vessels in which it is deficient-that of armored cruisers. The ex-Spaniard is, in fact nearer in it's offensive and defensive features like the second-class battleshp Texas than the armored cruisers Brooklyn and New York, while in speed she about equals the -cruis- CTS.
 The Infanta Maria Teresa was built at Bilboa in 1890. She is twin-screw, steel vessel, 36i feet over all, and S4O feet between perpendiculars. She has beam of 65 feet inches and mean draught of 2 feet inches, with a displacement of 6,S90 tons She is sister ship of the Vizcaya and AL mirante Oquendo, and those who saw the Vizcaya when she visited this port may know how the Maria Teresa appears. She has the same bow, two tunnels, and two masts, each having a military top.
 She is provided with two sets of vertical triple-expansion engines and four-double- ended and two single-ended biilers. Under natural draught her engines develop $500 indicated horse power, giving a speed of 1S5 knots; under forced draught, 13,700 indicated horse power, giving 20.2 knots speed. She has coal capacity of 1,050 tons, which give her steaming radius of 9700 miles at 10 knots speed She has a water line steel armor belt feet inches broad and 315 feet long, from 10 to 12 inches thick. She has two turrets placed forward and aft which are inches thick, and a coming tower F inches thick. Her ammunition tupeS aDu cyIiiuers are protected lth S-lnch armor, and she has protective deck from to inches thick. In each turret is one u-inch gun of the Hontoria type. She has ten 5.5-inch Hontoria rapid-fire guns, five on each beam, the forward and aft ones being sponsoned; eight 6-pounder and ten 1-pounder rapid-fre guns; eight Norden- felt and two Maxim machine guns, and eight torpedo tubes. She is designed to carry a complement of officers and men numbering ASA. Many of her guns were reported to be in good condition after the battle.