New-York tribune., 1906-04-29
N ADMIRAL COGilAN RECALLS BATTLE OF MANILA Bay

.r. was a most remarkable battle In every
..o," said Rear Admiral Joseph b. Coghlan the
her DAY. referring to the Battle OF Manila Bay,
&c eighth anniversary OF which occurs on Tues
=. Nav J. Rear Admiral Coghlan was the
.nrnander OF the cruiser Raleigh in that un-
-,a,,e5lv novel naval engagement AS he spoke
-. down AT his desk in his Office in the navy
ard ana pulled on HIS cigar. The battle was
-. exactly as planned" he continued. "As
.s-,,rsI Dewey said afterward, when talking
.rs.b some foreign officers. 1t was all fought I'm
,r,,, Kong Farbor except firing the guns. 1t was
,-5on,,ed all studied out as 10 what the squad
- .ould do before we left that port. Every
-. situation in which the enemy was likely
> he ,ret was provided for. II required no sig
,s When we saw the SpaunaTds knew
b., the plan Of battle was. II was not only
s.,-stivelv but actually fought as planned IN
L.. Kong Harbor. No signals were set except
.r,.gaee the enemy and Withdraw from action
ON crews saw nothing of the horrors OF war
-rt,, did not see the sufferings,of the Spanards
s,- ne were not close UP. In fact there was not
- ~ ,ur men who saw a duop sof blood Those
.,,,,re5 on the Baltimore newer left their guns.
rbo, received nothing but a few scratches"
what were your feelings when You were en-
.s-4ng the hay which was supposed to'be mined?"
was asked
a n
80, F~4rytbing would attract attention. Some
Zines II proved 10 be a log. We were all on the
,,ri ,fve. In the excited condition of the men
.r.rv black speck was reported. After a while
,bere were so many imaginary mines reported
~, - became Joke although everything was
.,ar-ad closely before il was laughed about.
The whole night was one of anxiety. The
.L- Was covered with hazy clouds that dimmed
,ba moonlight Occasionally heavy cloud would
drift across the moon and obscure it entirely.
The moon set about go or 2:45 o'clock in the
morning There a light breeze This broke
,re surface into whitecsps that added TO the
5iHcultv Of detecting objects. The Spaniards
were signalling an the time the news Of our
,nr-oach They used calcium lights signalling
to fbe mainland the south side of the bay,
and then along the shore TO Manila. so we i'm
sriBsd our approach was known in Manila. We
f,y1d our afuerward that it was placarded in
re clubs that we had passed the batteries, even
IN the English club where some of the Span
fsb officers were playing billiards until o'clock.
We were told they gave as their reason for
ro returning 10 their ships earlier, They'll
oeyer get down here shruggingrtheir shoulders
as they said il.
When We first saw the Spanish fleet il did
nj have steam up. and boats were passing to
sra from The shore There seemed 70 be the
ro-fusion of getting ready. WE had been ready
from the night before. You would think they
would have been ready. too.
1T was A gun on Admiral Montojo's flagship
5oun AZ Cavite that told US where the Spanish
feet was We had passed it in way. We had
expected 10 find the Spanish ships at Manila
They could have come up and fought the battle
lesrer Manila than they did. and the guns of the
Manila batteries would have helped them more.
10 get the Spanish vessels under way. It was
more than an hour after guns were fired at Ma
MIA before they moved. Judging from the way
rbrv acted they seemed to have no idea that we
.ould conc,Up 10 the city.
The first time our fleet passed westward
IN front cf me Spanish line We were firing at a
distance of 800 yards. We went in closer each
..ae ,utl' The last time we passed westward we
ere about l.SG0 yards away. We were then
Jsirin- our guns AT 100 yards for they were
5a, ard dirty. condition under which they will
shoot further It difficult TO observe the
fleet Of our shots. We Questioned some Of the
Spanish officers afterVard regarding the effect
y our gunfre. They said a number of shots
would strike deslltory fashion. and then they
would come aboard Ike the rain OF heaven, not
The kind Of rain described IN The Merchant Of
Venice This corresponded with our own ideas
q the firing Our ships would III with smoke
ana We would sound the bugle TO cease firing,
Using only the slow firing guns While the rapid
IRE guns were al rest would get the proper
anges Tor them and then would open fire for
ave or SIX shots from each gun until the ship
AAeoiup with smoke again. This method of fir
ng was adopted 10 prevent great waste OF am
nunitoH for under the smoky conditions there
"ou4o nave been a lack OF execution.
Yne ood incident which brought forth a grim
JOKE occurred 70 the Raleigh. We ran our nose
mo The mud slightly. We had just backed off
~heh gun On the burning Castillo burst from
u' NEAT The shot came close that II nearly
..' ou Dow. II We had not backed when we did
"o'o nave struck IN the neighborhood Of our
,+Seszhe' Some one Jokingly said that the dead
npa14Aros we're firing more accurately than the