The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-08-13

teen years ago GEORGE DeWey Stoou oAi
1.-THE bridge of the famous Olympia ana
won the battle of Manila bay. VIII
liam T. Sampson from the bridge OF
the armored cruiser New York direct
ed the operations before Santiago, and
the pennant of Winfield Scott Schley
fluttered from the masthead OF the
beautiful three funneled armored
cruiser Brooklyn. The world acclaim
ed the commanders of the squadrons
of which the vessels were the flag
ships, while all America joined in one
grand hurrah for navy that was adj
mittedly one of the best on the seven
seas.
The American navy is still among
the best, but the ships that were
fought by Dewey and by Sampson and
by Schley are no longer figured in the
line up that makes the great fleet
under command Of Rear Admiral Bad
ger one of the most powerful fighting
organizations the world has ever seen.
Every one Of the famous ships OF
1898 is today officially admitted to be
obsolete, and all of them put to-
gether would not be as powerful as is
the giant superintendent Wyoming,
or the Arkansas, or the Florida, or
the Utah, any one of which would be
a match for all the ships that fought
under Dewey and Sampson combined,
liz such a test should be made.
just year ago the then secretary
lof the navy, George Won L. Meyer,
publicly called attention to the fact
THAT the American navy had more than
full quota of battleships whose
day in the first line had passed and
the places of which would have to be
taken by modern ships of the Wyom-
ing and Florida classes if the United
states was to retain its position as
the worlds second naval power. The
other day the observation of the ex-
naval secretary was recalled by a
naval officer, who, going back fifteen
and twenty and twenty-five years,
figured out just what the obsolete
ships now adjoining the naval list
Originally cost the United States gov.
eminent.
/ 1t was SO ridiculously easy, the
computation of the total value of ia
nous ships that are ready to die q
naval death of old age. The result
Twas astounding, and when at last the
navy man wiped his brow and an
lnounced the result Of that little
n, a tbnpofioo1 foot of bic he bod ,,roy
ed that the value of those ships, some
of them still less than a dozen year!
old, reached the stupendous total o
more than $780, 100000, or, to be ex
act, s129,932,814.
/ OF this $130.0O0,00O feet that was
it is interesting and in a way sad, t,
note that it includes the Saratoga, tn
name given SIMPSONS old flagshi
! New York when her name was take
so that it could be given to the might
tsuperdreadnough New York, now neal
ing completion in the navy yard Il
Brooklyn; Schley's flagship. the Broof
llyn; the Olympia, from the bridge Q
which Dewey uttered his famous OF
der to Captain Gridley, You may fir
: when ready. Gridley;" the Iowa tha
! was Bob" Evans ship in 1898; tn
, Indiana, and the Massachusetts, siste
! ships, which won fame and glory b.
fore Santiago, and the Oregon, whic
!. won the plaudits of an admiring worl
:. by her great run around the Horl
. and which in her old age will pro
ably be given the honor of being tt
d first American war vessel to pal
,. through the Panama canal in April
n next year.
v Then, of course, there was the o
IS Texas, the ship that was commando
by the beloved Captain Philip, Il
IS vessl from the deck of which he offe
If ed his prayer of thanksgiving to G.
TO when Santiago's battle was ended al
in the Spanish ships had met their doc
n, the same ship from which Phil
d. ordered his men not to cheer VIII
ay the Vizcaya, the Cristobal Colon, t
y. Maria Theresa, the flower of G,
is lvera's squadron, were burning a.
Ii isinking down into the grave to viii
- LIE dSdQlS vi hodjippOI q
A ners had consigned them. But t
w old Texas which, like the New Yol
sx- was renamed SO that the name of
al Lone Star state might adorn that
lie. the new New York's great sister, h
IN, long since met her fate.
II Ripped, riddled and torn by she
of the newer and more modern shi
sre to prove the craftsmanship of who
'ss men the Texas was destroyed,
ny hulk of that old ship-a sister of
De Maine that went down in Hava
als harbor, and which going down hast
IN ed the conflict with Spain-still h
mo floats in Chesapeake bay, just enou
an of 1t left to provide another mar
ne manship test for some migl
70 dreadnought of the feet under
miral Badger.
AS went the old Texas, so will
some of the other ships of the fl
u, that is obsolete. Already the India
oiu is mentioned as the next martyr s.