The record-union., 1898-06-28

PelayO, the armOred cruiser Carlos ".
and the two new torpedo boat destroy
ers, Audaz and Osada. The others are
auxiliary cruisers and colliers. As
there are only two armored ships in the
lot, Admiral Dewey's fleet of protected
but unarmored ships probably will take
care of this Spanish squadron. With
the Monterey added he could certainly
do so.
The Eastern Squadron which the
United States will now send against
Spain far outranks the Spanish squad
ron, the Iowa and Oregon exceeding the
Pelayo and Carlos V. at every point,
while the other United States vessels
are far superior, ship for ship, to those
of the Spanish squadron, with the sin
gle exception of the two Spanish tor
pedo boat destrOyers.
When the American fleet sails for
Spain it will take with it complete in
formation as to the entire stretch OF
Spanish coast, with detail maps of
every harbor and it's fortihactions. The
War Board had a mass of this infor-
nation before it, and spent most OF
the day studying Spanish charts and
Notifications, with a view of outlining
the series of blows which are to be
delivered to Spain at home.
The Spanish coast line is 2,122 kilo-
meters long of which I69 kilometers
is on the north coast, while 1,302 kilo-
meters is along the Mediterranean and
the Atlantic on the south coast. The
coast is described by naval strategists
as abrupt and mountainous, with SIN
uous inlets and CULTS. In general, the
Notifications of the coast are relics OF
the mediaeval greatness of Spain, and
many of these defenses are tumbling
ruins The Spanish coast is divided In
to three Captain Generalcies. namely:
Ferrol, on the north; Cadiz, on the
south, and Carthagena on the east. At
Ferrol is the naval school and the
school of naval application. At Carthe-
gena is the school of ordnance and tor
pedo school. CadiZ is the point where
most of the fortification guns are made.
Each of the three naval provinces has
certain number of ports and coast
towns under its care.
The total artillery of these ports, un-
der the normal conditions prior to the
war, is as follows: 119 Krupp guns,
fifty-fve Armstrong guns, ninety
OrdoneZ guns, and a large number OF
Hontoria guns. The main reliance IS
on the Ordonez guns, which are espe-
cially for fortification purposes. They
are of 21 24 and 30 centimeters.
A separate division of the coast is
made for the purpose of placing tor
pedoes and submarine mines. This
work is divided into four districts, with
| Ferrol, CadiZ, Carthagena and Mahon
as headquarters. Each town along the
coast is allowed a certain number of
| torpedoes. For instance, the allotment
| for Barcelona is 500 torpedoes.
Many of these ports are connected by
cables, which form an additional feat
ure Of naval attack. A cable runs from
Barcelona to Marseilles. Cadiz has
| three cables, one to the Canaries, an
other to Gibraltar and another to Villa
Real Vigo is the cable station for two
lines
| The information is in minute detail
as to the defenses Of each port. For
| instance, Ferrol is protected on the
| north by series of three batteries and
| two chateaus. the chateaus occupying
points which command passes from the
sea. The Town IS encircled by bastions
and redoubts of ancient pattern, but
recently remodeled. The defences of
Cadiz consist of a circle of eleven pow
erful forts. The other harbors are
similarly defined with detail informa-
ton as to approaches, channels, depth
| of water batteries, etc.
| With this full information at hand
I the nature of the assault upon the
coast of Spain will be pretty we'll out
| lined before the American squadron
sails. At the same time much will be
/ left to the Commander-in-C Chief of this
| squadron.
Some naval authorities believe that
| the Canary Islands will be the first
point of attack. and the next move
ment will be to establish a naval base
I at Ceuta, a point on the African Coast
owned by Spain, and opposite Glib
raltar With this base our ships would
be within easy striking distance of the
! long stretch of Spanish coast.
/! There is no intention of weakening
the Havana blockade by the with
drawal of Commodore Watson with his
flagship. To prevent this, Secretary
| Long has ordered Commodore Howell
to proceed Immediately to the Ameri-
can fleet of Havana to take command
of the post vacated by Commodore
| Watson. Commodore Howell is at
present in command of the coast patrol
fleet. and he will take the entire fleet
with him, that is all of the large ves-
sells. to re-enforce the blockade of the
Cuban coast. He is already on his way
south from the New England coast
and should reach Cuban waters by the
end of the week.
The Naval War Board was in ses-
sion all the forenoon They had before
them confidential kilograms from Ad-
miral Sampson, with whom they had
been in communication by cable for the
last two days.
One short telegram received by Gen
eral Greeley from one of his sigma
| correspondent officers with the army
under Shafter was all that came t
the War Department last night or to-
day. That related entirely to the man
agement of telegraph, and contained
no news as to the movements of thu
military Therefore it is assumed a
the department that General Shafte
is simply carrying out his plans o
bringing forward his troops from th
sea coast and concentrating them a
points of vantage on the nights sur
rounding Santiago. His army is no
to give battle until every precautioi
that prudence can suggest has beer
taken to assure the success Of tn,
movement. for no one better than Gen
eral Shafter appreciates the tre
mendous moral advantage that woult
accrue to Spain from even a tenn
porary check of the American army a
this time.