Evening star., 1898-09-10
SOME LESSONS OF THE WAR.
Faster HattIeships and SmOkeIess
Powder Strongly Advocated

and SmOk eIPSS
Powder Strongly Advocated.
From the Saturday Review
The laval lessons 10 be learned from the
war are of Importance only as regards de-
tails Nothing is taught that has not al
ready been emphasized at the Yalu, and
there is no real information on the points
where evidence is most needed at the pres
| ent time The immense value of armor the
Importance of good shooting and the dan
gers of fire are no new story All these
things have been demonstrated again and
again. The moral difference between the
Spanish and American seamen renders ar
guments based on the Santiago battle, as
to relative efficiency of various types, de-
lusive. AS there was gross mismanage-
ment in Madrid, the gunners of the
Spanish navy proved quite unable, with the
best and newest guns, to hit the target,
and as the Spanish squadrcns were always
oGtmatched to the tune of some 30 per
cent, it is not wonderful that this unlucky
navy has been wiped out The American
management was distinctly good, the
American material in excellent order and
the searnanship and fighting qualities of
the American sailor were rema rka BILE. Gen.
Skaters extraordinary mistakes before
Santiago have lowered the prestige of the
American army, but Admirals Sampson and
Dewey and COmmod Schley have shown
that they know their business, and have
exalted the renown of their country's navy.
Already the somewhat hasty deduction is
being drawn from the American successes
that a British fleet would go through the
russians or French as easily. For the
Russians l cannot speak, but the French
taVy Will never disgrace itself as the Span
ish navy has. The, French do go in fer tar
get practice; they have regular maneuvers.
For instance, While this summer a great
British fleet has been d!ing away its time
in an ainlless tour round the coast, the
French have, with admirable success, been
practicing scouting. coaling at sea, and tor
tn1I ,t,fa.,r \
OF England in discarding combustible fit
tings 1t is, indeed, both amazing and NOR
tifying to examine some of our new cruis-
ers and battieshipS, which are Crammed
from end to end with wood fittings, and
this in spite of the Ialu and all that mas
been written on the danger of fire in the
British technical press. The history of the
French at sea is different from that of the
Spanish The Frenchman generally fights
well, and is a fair seaman. In organiza-
ton, and in the possession of a general
staff and of superior school of tactics and
strategy, our neighbors are again before
US.
The blockade Of Santiago was very
striking achievement on the part of Ad-
consummate skill When the Spanish
squadron rushed out though the Ameri-
cans were taken by surprise, fire was open
ed so rapidly by the latter that Spanish
officers after the battle, stated that they
supposed they had found their enemy at
general quarters. Speed, too, was attained
in the American ships with astonishing
rapldity. The New York for instance in
three hours worked up from eight to six
teen and quarter knots, though at the
outset she had only two boilers lighted.
The Oregon and the Texas engine room
stars showed equal efficiency, and fairly
rushed their ships along, though the suffer-
ing of the stokers in the intense heat was
extreme. At the same time the Spanards
contributed by their inertness to the eff
fectiveness Of the blockade. They had two
destroyers and at least four steam pin
naces, which might have been used for
torpedo attacks; but no torpedo attacks
were made. Again and again the American
ships opened "a wild fire at night, some
times on their own golfers cruisers,
sometimes on rocks or SeaWeed, often on
their own boats. That the latter were not
hit Is at least an argument in favor of
the torpedo boat The strain of the
blockade" writes correspondent with the
American fleet was Intense
Still, the Americans had five good battle
ships. two armored cruisers, six or seven
cruisers, and many armed yachts as
torpedo boats. They had against them four
cruisers of which but one had serious
armor protection, and two destroyers They
outnumbered their enemy in displac cement
by something like seven to three, and in
numbers even more decisively. Ships could
at any time be detached from the blockade
to coal AMI rest at Guantanamo without
any risk of leaving an inadequate force to
watch Santiago. Contrast the condition of
blockade of Brest by a British fleet, with
insuffic lent to maintain the watch. The
fatulty of the Spaniards reached such a
point that they positively permitted a bat
tleship nightly to approach within mile
OF the harbor and to play searchlight
steadily up the channel Not once was the
snip hred upon-a fact which surprised Ad-
miral Sampson, as it well might. 1t is no
slur upon American courage to say that
few 6-inch or even 6-pounder shells would
have sent the battleship hustling out of
range.
The Americans fought throughout with
smoky powder, the British-built New Or
leans alone firing smokeless. The immense
advantages of smokeless powder are now
fully appreciated. 1t is amusing to reflect
upon what might have happened had the
Venezuela affair had serious consequences.
With smoky powder against a British fleet
carrying smokeless, the Americans would
have been terribly handicapped. In some
respects the Washington Navy Department
surpasses the conservatism of Whitehall.
The heavy gun has performed dsap-
polntlngly Throughout the war Everything,
on the other hand, points to the high effi-
cheney in action of moderate rapid
hiring weapons. OF these there were few
in the American feet; at Santiago, for in
stance, only eighteen were in line. But the
intermediate battery OF S-inch guns which
most large American ships carry, though
slow firing, did great execution, and it is
significant that in the design of the new
est American battleships these S-inch pieces
have been reintreduced, after they had
been originally discarded. We may expect
movement toward battleship armored
much as was theg Cristobal Colon, and
equipped wfthTa primary battery of S-inoh
quick firers. Italy, alert as ever. has al
ready designed such ship in the Bene-
detto Brin. England will have to follow
very very remarkable Is the 1eenmg IN favor OF
the American navy. 1t has been said over
here that the failure of the Spanish cruis-
ers to steam fast proves that superiority of
speed is worthless. I wonder that the pun
dts who write thus did not argue that, as
the Spanish guns hurt no one-or only two
men, to be accurate-guns were a useless
incumbrance. It should be noted as sign
of the times that because the Cristobal
Colon was not a British design her perform
ance in the battle has been scarcely no
tieed or disparaged. This willful blindness
is likely to have bad results. Her armor
made common shell useless and took the
whole sting out of the American fire upon
her But the pundits will not see.