The Adair County news., 1905-05-17

Expectation has been piqued
and disappointed in the. South
China seas. Many days ago a
great naval battle was supposed
to be only a few hours away.
The days have passed and are
frightening into weeks, and yet
not a gun has been fired. The
circumstances emphasizes what
we remarked at the beginning,
that the battle would be fought
where and when the japanese
commander determined. What
his determination is he knows. 1t
is not certain that even one other
man in the world does. But what
the world does know is that the
greatest responsibility of a naval
commander for all but a hundred
years, rests upon Admiral Togo.
Not quite a hundred years for
the century since Trafalgar will
not be completed until October
next. He knows that the fleet
opposed to him is, in the domi-
nant element of naval warfare,
superior to his own. He knows,
too, that if he should be beaten
Japan would be in awful peril of
being beaten in the war. All that
had been won at Port Arthur and
Lao Yang and Mudken would be
lost. Given those factors, the
problem which that grim, silent
captain has in mind and hand
may be perceived: To vanquish
a fleet that is stronger than his
own, without mourning for his
fleet any appreciate risk!
There must be no risk of the
great battle ships. But it may
be there will be something worse
than risk-the sending to prac-
tically sure destruction of many
of the smaller craft. Some years
ago a distinguished naval writer,
Captain Bacon, of the British ma
Wy, in ''Brassy's Annual" fore
casts a situation like the present
and discus e means of
solving it. Before the general
battle comes on, the fleet which
has the fewer battleships but the
more torpedo boats and cruisers
must in some way reduce to it's
own level the heavy fighting
strength of the enemy. How?
By 'the sacrifice of ships of one
class to produce equality or super
iority in a larger class by reduc-
ton of the enemy's number. "
That is to say, Togo should send
to destruction a score of torpedo
boats, or half a dozen cruisers, if
thus he could destroy two or three
Russian battle ships and reduce
the odds of seven to five against
him to even terms or to something
in his favor. The night before
the battle, therefore, Capt. Bacon
would have the destroyers sent in
at top speed to practically sure de-
struction- ''let loose like hell
hounds to tear into the enemy's
fleet, torpedoing, ramming, de-
stroying, and using every nerve
knot to destroy, and so pave the
way for the morrow's victory"
We do not know whether that
is Togo's plan. We do not know
that his fleet is adapted to such
work. He has probably some
dozens of swift torpedo boats and
torpedo boat destroyers, any one
of which might be sent to the
bottom by a six-pound shot, but
any one of which might also send
the mightiest battleship to the
bottom with a touch of it's deadly
torpedo. He has, too, a dozen
protected cruisers, of from 10 to
23-knot speed, and one of which
could with a well-directed torpe-
do destroy a battleship as surely
as the battleship could destroy
the cruiser with it's 13-inch guns.
Imagination is beggared at the
thought of a dozen cruisers and
a score or more of. udestroyers
rushing 4 at midnight into the
heart of the Russian fleet. reck-