Arizona republican., 1899-03-28
SCHLEY IS EXPOSED
His MiSStdfemenf Reddrdind
 Position of Brooklyn.
stEvery Stage of inc Fighf''-Dis- proved by inc Chart Which lie Cites as Authority.

Washington March 27.-AnOther Of
 Admiral Schley's misstatements in re- gard to the part taken by the Brook i lyn in the battle with CerVera's fleet
 off Santiago is exposed by data collect
 ed by one of the officers present dur | ing the fight and about to be published
 by him. Towards the close of his let
 ter of Feb. IS to the senate committee
 on naval affairs Admiral Schley made
 the following deliberate statement:
 ''The chart of the board of nayiga-
 tors (p. ex. doc. O shows that the
 BroOklyn's position was nearest the
 enemy at the beginning of the com
 bat; she was nearest during every
 stage of the battle, as shown in the va
 rious points of it on this chart. and
 was closest to the Colon when she
 surrendered at 1:15 D. m., when the
 battle ended which practically de-
 strOyed the sea power of Spain this
 side of the Atlantic"
 The following facts prove quite the contrary: Data taken from this same chart which Admiral Schley gives as his authority show that at the be- ginning of the combat three ships, namely, the Texas, Indiana and Glou- cester, were nearer to the enemy than
 was the Brooklyn" The chart fur ther shows that at every stage of the battle after the Fulton came out and until the Viscaya went ashore one or more ships were nearer the enemy than was the Brooklyn. The Brooklyn did happen to be nearer than all when the Pluton came out, but this position was lost-not to be regained-by her turn to the southward away from the enemy-that mysterious maneuver which Schley explained was necessary to prevent his ship from blanketing the fire of the other American vessels, an explanation which ignores the fact that the Brooklyn did not run any risk of getting in the line of fire until she did make this turn, which was toward the line of fire. From the time of making that turn until the battle end ed the Brooklyn kept a course which was outside Of all accompanying yes sels except the Vixen.
 When the Teresa turned to run ashore the Oregon and Iowa were both as near or nearer than the Brooklyn | to the enemy the Oregon being but half as far away as the Brooklyn The | Oregon, Iowa, Indiana and Texas were at this time all much nearer to the l Teresa than was the Brooklyn. When | the Oquendo turned to run ashore the Brooklyn was twice as far from the l vessel as was the Oregon, and again ! the Oregon was nearer to the Oquendo than the Brooklyn to any Spanish | vessel: at the same time the Iowa and Texas also were both nearer than the Brooklyn to the Oquendo.
 To use figures. the distances given | on this chart show that when the Spaniards came out the Brooklyn was 6.000 yards away from the enemy, | whereas the Texas was $500, the h. diana 4,7O0 and the Gloucester only 8 3.000. When the Teresa turned to run ashore the Brooklyn was 2,000 yards 1 away from the nearest enemy and ! 4.700 from the Teresa; the Iowa was 1000 yards away from the nearest | enemy and the same distance from | the Teresa, or more than half as near as the Brooklyn; the Oregon was with in HOO yards of the enemy and 3,1OO | from the Teresa, and the Texas and In diana, distant respectively from the Teresa 2,4O0 and 4,OOO yards, were both nearer than the Brooklyn. When the Oquendo turned to run ashore the Oregon was 300 yards nearer the ene- my than was the Brooklyn, and the | Oregon, the Iowa and the Texas were | all nearer the OqUendo by distances ranging from 750 to 1900 yards