The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-04-03

the best searchlight, however does not
reach further than one mile. There
fore, the illumination could not have
been very effective. Moreover, the
shore batteries, by opening fire upon
the lightships, could have compelled
them to change their positions, but.
strange to say, this was never done.
The dark nights at the time of the new
moon, about the middle of June. would
have been best suited for the enter
prise
IF the fleet did not dare attempt a
night sOrtie. and was nevertheless COM
PEELED to leave the harbor in obedience
to orders, then the ships should have
been headed straight at the enemy. All
the weapons, including the torpedo and
the ram, should have been used. A
bold attack in close formation was the
only chance of success against the su-
perior hostile lighting forces. who would
hardly have found time to form their
lines"
The lessons Commander Jacobson de-
rives from the battle. briefly stated,
are: Abolition of all woodwork: no
unprotected torpedo tubes: protection
for all gun crews against shell fire: pro-
lection of the fire eXtnguiShing appa-
ratus against shell fire; smokeless pow
der: greatest possible simplicity in the
service of the guns, and the greatest
possible rapidity of fire: good speed OF
vessels under normal conditions and
thorough training of the crews in all
branches of the service.
Commander Jacobson also gives some
of his observations of the Porto Rican
caispaign. but these contain nothing
of special moment. except an account
of the attack of the Spanish boat Ter
ror and the gunboat Isabel IL. upon the
St. Paul, outside of San Juan harbor.
June %, 1898, concerning which many
conflicting accounts have been pub
lished. This was the only attempt made
during the war to torpedo one of our
vessels
Commander jacobson gives the fol-
| lowing account of the occurrence which
he obtained from the commander of
| the Terror at a. m. "On June %. the
| lookout at the fort signaled a suspic-
| iouS vessel. The commander gave an
order for the Isabel II. to go out to re-
connOiter and the Terror to He ready.
for action. BY 80 o'clock the vessel
had come closer and the Isabel II. went
out. Upon sighting her the hostile
cruiser immedfatel hois,ted her flag
and waited. The Isabel II. opened fire
on the foe. The Destroyer then re-
ceiVed orders to go out and assist the
Isabel II. The Terror which had been
left by her fleet al Martinique had not
been able to recover her guns and am
munition. which during the voyage had
been transferred to the Maria Teresa,
in order to make room for coal. The
Terror, therefore. had no othe weapons
than her tOrpcdoeS and two 57-milime-
ter guns and ammunition. The Isabel
II. fought the ST. Paul at distance
of from 10000 to- 10 900 meters AS the
utmost range of. our guns was only
1900 meters. we could only assist the
! Isabel by going closer to her. there
| fore gave orders to head the Terror
! east, so as not to interfere with the Isa-
| bel firing north on the enemy. When
| we were sutficieNtlyrclear of her and
| had the open sea before us / headed
straight for the st. Paul at a speed of
| from 20 to 21 knots.
The enemy. who hitherto had been fir
| ing on the Isabel, now directed upon
| us the well-aimed fire of both her bat
| teres, the lower one of which appear
| ed to have eight. the upper one 10 to
- Guns. At 1000 meters we opened
| fire with our guns in order to keep up
| the spirits of the crew during the long
| interval between the beginning of the
! hail Of projectiles and the launching
| of the torpedo. Our fire was very ac-
| curate. At the +irst shot we saw the
| shell explode on the stern. Several
! other shots also hit their target and our
men were wild with Joy We had APP
| preached to within 1000 meters and
We're about to launch the torpedo when
| the Terror commenced to Veer to star
| board. | had the helm shifted to port,
| hut the ship kept on turning. Then
| | ordered the DOTt engine stopped and
still the ship continued to turn to star
board. I then learned that a shell had
exploded on deck and destroyed the
| leads to the steering gear and tele-
| graph. that the vessel followed the
| movements Of the screw and was un-
| manageable. The hand steering gear
was at once put in operation, but as
we passed the enemy at close range
several projectles hit us, one bursting
the telegraph on the port side. passing
| into the engine room. The engine room
became flooded and the engine appear
ed to have been disa abled. We Just
managed to steam into the harbor.'
| From an inspection of the Terror. says
Commander Jacobson it appeared that
the fatal shell. ranging obliquely down.
ward, had passed through the ships
side torn off a steam gauge, killed three
men and struck the lower edge of the
mainstem pipe, tearing off it's covering.
| This had DETECTED the shell and it had
passed out through the starboard side.
1t was through this hole made by the
projpctile in passing out that the en-
gine room had been flooded up to the
, lower edge of the steam cylinders, but
the engines continued to run. so that
the Terror, though with gradually
slackened speed. was able to reach the
harbOr under her own steam. The
shortest distance between the Terror
and St Paul had been 800 meters. The
gunboat Isabel H., it was told by her
commander. had not gone closer than
within 5000 meters of the enemy.