The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-02-20

@eE Rrookyn was WAS TO 10 the wes,ward After the vis
saSa nS me to- to tRe Of the
harbor to prevent any other Spanish ship from
ceived no signals of any Kind from the Brooklyn.
All had to do was to close in on the Spanish
snce to the = orders II Admiral sampson. and
then, when the heaviest fighting was over and
west. to follow thein-and Of course there was no
signal necessary to tell us to follow fleeing
The machinery, Of the Iowa was not in con. con.
dition to get the best speed. though evsrv effort
had not been of FOR more than six months. owing
to the service she was performing. Her bottom
period Of -Ss seventeen months The indiana was
unayodasly in even , worse se shape ,Sg h,osrr limo
nying the signal Disregard the movements pf
the MN I h Ffa' abn enrs ee
II did not transfer the command. No signal was
made for the second II command to assume @ T., con,
Gommander-n chief before reaching the limit Of
signal distance when he proposed r2p n Teahn be
next ranking officer"
NO ROOM FOR DOUBT
on ANY IMPORTANT POINT.
The Spanish vessels had straehtGned te s;T out IN IN
the others and gradually forging AHEAD Of them.
Sss;. Shsh mafh RsG oawea them
harbor. were now destroyed by the IRE or tae
Of tS, hs sas ssh a for
navine no more heed to their quick-fire guns
than to the heavy artillery of the forts tc which
sif In the runnnr fight which followed until 'l1e
the Indiana gradually dropped behind. althouGh
she continued TO fire until the last OF the tAtee
The Brookiyn was ahead of any of the other
American vessels on a course outside the,rs I-a Tha
eson Gas iowa and Texas were ali close together
and actively engaged throughout ts ,,ond uSnnF .s
some distance by the Texas. theu continued In
chase tie coon whiG went vent neSray neors thirty
During ts shose # as Gon T the eTs facts as set
tSsy obov no Fhtts IN tse o the
and elsewhere in their official repCrts and testi- ST
mo-y. They leave No room for doubt on any I'M
NEITHER ADMJRALS' FIRST
SIGNALS OBSERVED.
The question of command Is: in this case. case
nominal and technical Admiral Ne nset Of sp t
fight from all the ships except the BrooklSn:
-Four Of these FIVE ship CAPTAINS have n hssfi,e ean,
mand. A. aoo. -, soo,
as the first Spanish ship appeared but his his
signal was not seen by any american ~ vessel; s,d
Himself Me ~as Ted couple of snos at the close OF
the action with the torpedo boats IN a ada.'@r on
the action. But. during the action. not single gle
order from him was received by any OF the
sniPs hSmral fnd' sehsv fis :, re the action
hosted the two signals, of clear ship ,,, snd md
staEd,nE sDdf rh orders 81 sdmra Sampson what
should he done IL the enemy's ships attempted
to break out of the harbor. Until after tho
mouth Of the harbor and unti after ter, he ;, had
ae.iny To the westward. not another American
shin noticed a signal from him. ,.,. .,,, oro-
gon anG the Oregon only. noticed and repeateH
one Of his signals of command The captain OF
the Oregon then regarded him hs IN cenl'nanu.
movement or anv action af any kind whatsoever
IN accordance with anv order from him.
aACTUAL FACT IS THAT
TT WAS 4 CAPTAINS FIGHT
In short the question as to which Of the two
an IN a,in;;ral Sampson Admiral Schley. was
~ The time in command. was of merely nrin' nal
abaracter Technically. SAMPSON commanded the
aaet and SrhIev as usual. the western division
,hs attle was joined not a helm was shifted not
.iie I'M was fired rot a pound Of steam was put
nn in the enrine-rcom aboard any ship actively
engeged in obedience to the oher OF either Ssa.np
scn or Schley, save their own two Tessals
II was a captains fight. A., .,.,
Therefore the credit to which each OF the TWO
Of nominal command over the squadron: for 50
far as the actual fight was concerned. neither
one nor the other in fact exercised any conf
sampson was hardly more than technically in
the fight His real claim for credit rests upon
his work as commander-n- chief upon the ex-
of the squadron: upon the arrsngement OF the
ships. head-on in semicfrcle around the mar
bor: and the standing orders In accoToance Win III,
which they instantly moved to the attack OF TIE
Spaniards when the latter appeared. For all OF
these things the credit is his.
"LOOP SERIOUSLY MARRIED
BROOI<LYN'S RECORD
Admiral Schey is rightly entitled-as is Cap
tain Cook--to tho credit OF what the Brooklyn
hut I agree with the unanimous finding of the