Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-02-20
prsrRrr EVENING NEWS. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 90 1902

r EVENING NEWS: III
needed any II one had been made az
considered Admiral Sampson present
and In command From her position the
Indiana took full part I'm the actuhl
fight az the Spanish ships came out oil
the harbor
when they ran 10 the westward the
Indiana fell behind, but continued mr.
Ing al them and at the torpedo boats
until all but the Colon were sunk or
beached. ! saw the Brooklyn turn ana
run out seward, seemingly over mile,
| about the time the rea, one OF the
| Spanish ships turned TO the west, H.
| instead OF making this loop the Brok-
| Ign had stood straight In toward the
Spaniarda. as the other American ships
ala, II seems To me that the hght
would have been settled then, without
need Of the long chase
WHAT WAINWRIGHT SAYS
Following IL Commander VAIN
Wright's statement. "At the outset or
the fight the New York was not much
further away from me IN one dlrec-
ton than the Brooklyn was In the 9th
en- and was In plain sight signal
from Admiral Taylor In connection with
my moving forward 20 attack the tor
pedo boats, was the only signal ! re-
ceivcd ! made one to the New York
lust before the last torpedo boat sank
The New York at that time was com
ing up under the fire of the batteries
and herself fired couple Of shots az
the torpedo boats. OF course, Admiral
Sampson was present ana In command
/ received no signals from the Brook
lyn, and would not have noticed he
at all had 1t not been for the fact that
when the other vessels closed I'm she
made what has been since called the
loop so that my attention was Az
tracted by noticing the Texas. because
she stopped and by noticing the Brook
Ign, because she went to seward
away from the Spanish vessels In
other words, the left or westward part
Of our line was confused, and this at
tracted my attention, because ii seem
ed 10 me from where ] was that this
permitted the Spanish vessels to try
to escape to westward
DAMAGE TO SPANISH SHIPS.
The survey of damages Of the four
Spanish war vessels shows that In adj
alton TO several score hits by the g.
pounded and lpounder guns of the
American feet they were struck 43
times by the larger guns Of 4-inch cali
Der and over The Colon, which came
outside the others and did compar-
atiyely little fighting, received but
three Of these hits The other three
SHIPS, which bore the Orunl Of the ac-
ton received 40 among them. OF those
No. H. according 20 The report Of the
board which examined into them, were
by i-inCh guns, 10 by a-inch guns, four
by either or j-insh (the board could
not determine WHOM, While one was by
either u or 6-nch " We're by S@inch.
and two by 12-lnch guns
"All Of our big ships except the
Texas had S.inch guns. only the Texas
and Iowa had l2-inch guns. The Ore
gon and Indiana had l3-inch guns. and
they and the Texas had 6-lnch guns
The only 4.inch guns were on the Iowa,
the only 5-inoh guns on the Brooklyn.
Therefore, on the three Spanish ships
which aid the bulk Of the fighting. out
Of The 40 large caliber shots that struck
them, II certainly came from the Iowa,
10 certainly came from the Brooklyn,
four from either the Iowa or the
| Brooklyn and two from either the Iowa
or the Texas. or the three which struck
the Colon. two bere 5-inch and must
have come from the Brooklyn, ana one
was either a j-lnch or 6-nch. It must
be remembered that the I and 5-inch
guns were he only quick -hrers above g.
FOUNDERS In our fleet, and they were
not only much more rapidly but much
more surely handled than We're the
larger and slower firing guns,
AMERICAN LOSS TRIVIAL.
"The damage and loss Of the Amerl-
can vessels were trivial. The only loss
suffered was aboard the Brooklyn
where one man was killed and one
", undcd. III damage the cost OF the
| repairs SHOWS that the Iowa suffered
| most and he oregon least, The Amer.
| lean shlps engaged possessed more than
two-fold material superiority over the
| Spanish ships, and the difference IN the
handling Of their guns and THEN en-
| gines was even greater.
we have just cause to be proud OF
| the vigilance and instant readiness our
ships displayed and the workmanllke
| efficiency with which they were ham
| died The most striking act was that
| Of the Gloucester, converted yacht,
which her commander, Wainwright,
| pushed into the tlght through Il hail
! Of Iroiecules, any one of which would
! have sunk ner, in order that he might
do his part In destroying the two tor
pedo boats, each possessing far more
than his own offensive power"
FIGHT CAN BE PLOTTED.
From the statements Of the captains
| above, from the official reports and
! from the testimony before the court of
inquiry. the fight can be plotted with
absolute certainty In It's important
outlines, though there is conflict as to
! minor points. When the four Spanish
| cruisers came out of the harbor the
New York had left her position in the
| boCkading lines 40 or 40 minutes be-
fore. She had hoisted the signal "Ds-
regard the movement of the command
ed-in-chief" but had not hOistel the
signal 10 the second In command to
take charge, which, as appears by the
signal book, was sometimes but not al
ways used when the command was
| transferred. nf
As soon as the engagement began the
New York turned and steamed back,
hosting a signal 10 close In, which.
however, none of the squadron saw.
She was In plain sight and not very
much farther from the easternmost OF
the line. As soon AS the Spanish ships
appeared the FIVE big American block
aders started toward them In accord.
ance with the standing orders Of Adj
miral Sampson.
ACTED ON OWN INITIATIVE.
After this first move, each acted
purey on his own initiative For some
minutes the Spanish and American yes
sells steadily approached one another
and the fighting was at It's hottest.
Then the already damaged Spanish
ships turned to the westward, while
NJ the same time the westernmost
American vessel. the Brooklyn, which
was nearest the Spanish line, turned
to the eastward, making a loop OF a
three-qnarter circle, at the end she
again headed westward, farther on
| from anl foptbat l.abfp.I a., a.