Bisbee daily review., 1905-06-11
DENLY COMMENTS
 ON NAVAL BATTLE
FOUGHT RECENTLY BETWEEN THE FLEETS OF RUSSIA
 AND JAPAN.
Washington Correspondent Gets an Interview of Exceeding Interest From the Hero of Manila Bay.

A Washington correspondent has
 succeeded in getting the opinions of
 Admiral Dewey. the hero of Manila bay
 on the naval battle fought by Admirals
 Togo and ROjestvenSky. According to this correspondent Admiral Dewey ac-
 cords to Admiral Togo full credit for
 his patience in waiting for the Rus
 sians until he could attack them just
 where he wanted to; for the perfect
 preparedness of his fleet, the superb
 gunnery of his men and for the con-
 spicuously brave and brilliant manner
 in which the attack was directed and
 executed but he is firm in the belief
 that had it not been for the ineXcus- able blunders of the Russian con- mander. his ships would have inflict-
 ed far heavier damage to the Japan csc Even had Rojestvensky shown
 a mastery of the situation approach
 ing that of Togo, the Japanese prob ably would have been the victors on account of their superior marksman- ship. but some of the fast Russian ships would have escaped to menace Japanese communication with the mainland and threaten Japanese com merce.
 Discarding entirely the apparent un- preparedness of the Russian fleet, which may have been due, in part at
 -ast, to the conditions which its com mander could not control, Admiral Dewey believes that the first serious mistake of Admiral Rojestvensky was in failing to inform himself, through his scoutships, of the exact where abouts of the opposing fleet. Togo evidently was well hidden, but this is not accepted as a valid excuse for the failure to locate him. It is the business of the fleet scOutships to de velop the presence of the enemy, no matter where he may be concealed, as it is the business of the slower-gc- ing battle ships to stand up and fight.
 But Rojestvensky made his great and fatal blunder when he continued on his course in double line, after the Japanese had been sighted, with his lighter ships between his battle ships and the enemy. According to modern tactics, the cruisers should have been well behind, leaving the battle ships to bear the brunt of the attack in single line, with the cruisers held in readiness to take an active part in the battle when the opportunity was pre- sented to use them to the best ad- vantage If Rojestvensky was de termined for some reason that Ad- miral Dewey cannot understand, to have his light ships on the flank Of his battle ships, they should at least i have been on the side opposite the one | from which the attack came. It evi- | dently was Admiral TOsO's plan of bat | tie to enveiop the Russians, and their | formation contributed more largely to | his magnificent success in practically their fleet than any other cause.
 E As the Japanese battle ships ap- preached the opposing fleet in perfect order and circled around in front or the lighter ships to meet until the en- movement was almost com plete. Then. when the Russian snps were surrounded, they bianked haI of their own fire with their double line while the Japanese rained shells II on them from both sides. The Rus sians could not use the port batteries of their battle ships nor the starboard guns of their cruisers without great danger of hitting each ether, while the surrounding Japanese were well within the range of both of the Rus sians' lines. though out of range of each other in the angle at which the guns were trained. Therefore, Rus- sian ship was subjected to fire rom | both sides. to which it would reply only with half of it's guns and in but one direction. It was this fact Whlcn started the Russian confusion, which ended in destruction. Had Rojest- vensky dropped his cruisers behind when Togo was sighted. which he had plenty of time to do, he might still have been surrounded, but he would have been able to give back shot for shot. The Russian ships then would have used all of their guns while the Japanese could only have used half of theirs, and the result might have been quite different. Then, too, Ro- iestvensky would have been in posi- tion where, if he saw his shots were