The San Francisco call., 1899-05-21
LESSONS FROM
FIGHTS At SEA
Views of Noted Officers
on Recent War.
Special Dispatch to The Call.
Call Headquarters, Wellington Hotel,
Washington. MAY 20.

Call Headquarters, Wellington Hotel,
Washington, May 20.
Much curiosity has naturally been man
ifested by naval men in this country as
to the manner in which Brassey's Annual
would treat the Spanish-American war,
and the volume, copies of which have
Just reached here, is not disappointing in
this respect, as Colonel Sir George Clarke
has a chapter of fifty-two pages and sew
eral maps reviewing it. The whole story
is practically a condensation of official re-
ports, with comments giving due credit
without fulsome praise, and closing with
deductions and lessons drawn from re-
suits. OF the battle of Manila the re-
viewer says:
'The absolute failure of the Spanish
coast batteries at Cavite, as elsewhere
during the war, is amply explained by
the want of training of the gunners, COM
bined with technical deficiencies of every
kind. While the action in Manila Bay
was thus a foregone conclusion, convey
ing only lessons of an obvious character,
Commodore Dewey's proceedings on May
1 merit the highest commentator"
Of the &C. running fght off Santiago on
this part of the action the most signifi-
cant feature is the eagerness of all the
American captains to press on so long
abled Thus the performance of the Ore
gon, which passed the Texas and the
Iowa and took up the chase of the Colon
at sixteen knots, is remarkable. The eff
feet of her long voyage in securing full
steaming efficiency was clearly shown.
The experience gained by the engineers
and stokers was Strikingly asserted, and
the moral is indisputable.
Lieutenant Beehler, U. S. N, contrib
utes a chapter on the United States navy
and private shipbuilding yards. Cramps
yard is claimed to be the leading estab-
| iishment of the country" followed by the
Union Iron Works and the Newport News
| t1o LOT fnn I.ft
serts is one of the largest and best
equipped in the world
| In a tabulated comparison of the fire
energy per minute of the latest battle
| ships the new Maine is last in efficiency
of eight battleships of the British,
French, Italian, German, Russian and
Kaiser Friederich III of 1854 tons is cred
tied with 76,5SS foot tons of gun fire, or
5264 per ton displacement; while the
Maine Of 1850 tons shows 90 an energy OF
placement. The British, Italian and Jap
| anese battleships have a high efficiency
| in heavy gun fire, much greater than the
| Maine.
In the usual tables of ships of the sew
eral navies that of Spain. still contains
the names of the armored cruisers and
! other ships lost or destroyed at Santiago
| and Manila, and although foot notes ex-
plain the fate of each ship there would
seem to be no good reason for filling UP
a table with vessels that have ceased to
exist Some of the captured Spanish yes
sells are duly placed in the list of United
States naval vessels.
| A brief but interesting description is
| given of the two torpedo boats building
| by Parsons at NewcaStle-on-Tyne. They
! are 320 tons displacement and with tur-
| bine motors developing $4,000 horsepower
are expected to make thirty-five knots; tsc
! Their machinery, boilers, etc, weigh lou
tons against 144 tons weight OF the mo-
five power for the torpedo boat destroyers
Of 3s6 tons now building, and which de,
velop only 5000 horsepower and speed OF
| thirty knots.