The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-12-13
THE MODERN SHIP OF WAR.

S0,UUv every yonl'
THE MODERN SHIP OF WAR.
Observations and Conclusions of a Distin-
uished officer of the Navy.
Commodore Francis j. Higginson in
the independently
In a modern battleship the Captain Is
condemned to imprisonment during acuion
in steel coming tower ten inches thloA
and six feet ten inches in diameter, COM
pared with which the prison OF the Man
with the Iron Mask was palace.
| tried the coming tower in the Mas
sachusetts during the. first bombardment OF
Santiago, but soon abandoned 1t for the
bridge. finding it difficult to grasp all the
varying conditions of the action from the
narrow peephoIes often blanketed by
, thick smoke. One did not feel really in
touch with the action or with his own
| ship in such position, and the move
| ments of the men were controlled by an
unseen spirit. OF course, when in close
action with another ship and a hailstorm
of rapid-tre and machine guns is falling
upon your vessel, it would be unwise not
to seek its shelter, bur from great gun
fire alone prefer to do as we did in the
civil war and to take my chances on the
bridge in the open. Other commanding
officers thought the same way, and at the
bombardnent of San Juan Capt. Taylor
sat upon the bridge OF the Indiana calmly
smoking cigar.
Today the majority of men in battle
ship are shut up in tight steel box in
which are immense boilers heating the
atmosphere to a sitting temperature and
where they can only hear but cannot see
They work away in their floating dun
geon, without any inspiring vision to
tighten their labors.
1t is related that during the destruction
of Cervera' s feet, when there was iull
in the firing ON board the Oregon, the
chief engineer came up from the ire room
and said to Capt. Clarke: "Hor Gods
sake, Captain. ire another gun SO as to
keep up the spirits Of my men," These
devoted souls, far down in the depths the
ship, facing the fiery furnaces, knew only
by the sound of the guns OF the battle
raging above them and the heavier tie
IRE the harder they worked In order to
realize the exhausting condition under
which men fight in modern battleship
it Is only necessary to see them, when the
matches are opened after action, pour up
from below, perspiTing and half naked,
to see with what relief they breathe the
fresh air and how eagerly they run to
have a look at the battery or ship which
hos Hf,o7 a.xrxn ead vi
all it's tremendous resources and increase
of power, has not lightened the conditions
under which men labor during action.
[ doubt if blockade running can be sue
cessfully conducted since the introduction
of saarehlights and certainly nothing
could have got in or out of Santiago ex-
cept in fog. This was shown by the
sinking of the Spanish cruiser Reina
III srcetes in the channel of Santiago by
the Mass ,chusetts and Toxas on the night
of july f. This vessel was seen the
moment she entered the channel and,
with the aid of the searchlight, was sunk
before she had proceeded u thousand
yards. 1t is said she intended to place
herself across the channel SO as to prevent
SIMPSONS fleet from entering, but under
the fire of our guns she was prevented
from doing this 1t is singular that the
two attempts to obstruct the channel at
Santiago, Que by ourselves with the Mer-
rimac, and one blythe Spanish with the
Reina Mercedes, Were both frustrated by
the fire of the enemy's guns. II the first
attempt had succeeded the operations
would have been much prolonged, and
in the latter case the army would have
been Obliged to re-embark at Slboney
under great disadvantages.
In regard TO the personnel, | think the
crews of the ships of the present day are
much superior in intelligence and morale
to those OF the civil war. Our apprentice
system and schools of instruction for sea-
men at the Washington gun foundry, the
torpedo station at NeWpOrb. and the gum
merry course recently established, have
given us petty officers of fine character
and ability, who have raised the stand
ard of intelligence in the navy far above
that of the civil war.
Sailors get very much attached to the
guns and after good shot will pay them
affectionately ana say. "Good Boy" On
board the Massachusetts the sailors chris
tened the guns in the forward turret
g Ben Butler and John l. Sullivan,
as representing the fighting qualities of
that State.
A beautiful bronze statue of Victory
given to the battleship by the State of
Massachusetts was fastened on the for
ward turret between the two 13-inch
guns, and before going into action she
was freshly decorated with coat of oil,
making mel moving ropes gllSbenlng the
sunlight This Victory guarded by John
L. sullivan on the right and Ben Butler
on the left, the Quick and the Dead =
was certainly an edifying spectacle, cal
culated to strike terror into the heart of
an enemy. During the war, however,
Victory struck out more with her right
than with her lett, the record of shots
fired showing for Sullivan twenty -one
shots, and for Ben Butler nineteen.
Colonies without sufficient sea power to
hold them are sources of weakness and
possible humiliation, and it therefore be-
nooves this country TO double our present
naval force within the next ten years. 10
do this a building programme should be
adopted by the present Congress, to bs
com pleted in 1908, which would place the
country in q position to hold our new