Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1917-01-26
ADMIRAL DEWEYs STORY
HOW He WON THE BATTLE

huW Ill NUN lllC Dbl ILL
January 3, 1898, Commodore Dewey
took command of the Asiatic SQUAD
ron at Nugasiki, Japan. 1t was as if
the fate had sont him there had given
him warning Of what was in store
for him, for he began at once a clam
or for more ammunition. But, in spite
OF his repeated appeals, it was not
until the day before the war was de-
clared with Sprain that the cruiser
baltimore brought him enough shot
and shell to risk battle. AS it was. ne
sailed from Hongkong to fight against
one of the oldest of the worlds sea
powers with only 60 per cent of the
full complement of ammunition in
his vessels magazines.
Dewey's Squadron Faces Enemv.
There were four protected cruisers
in Dcwey's squadron-thc Olympia,
his hagship: the Baltimore, the RAJ
leigh and the Boston. He had also
the Concord, an unprotected cruiser;
the gunboat Percl and the revenue
cutter McCulloch.
Against him i'm Manila harbor were
seven Spanish vessels, and behind
them the guns of the Notifications.
On the night of April 30 the com
modore sailed into Boca Grande. the
main channel into Manila Harbor,
and, with the same disregard to the
talk of "torpedoes" that his old com
mander ,Farragut, had once shown,
drove it Trough the darkness toward
the greatest day of his life.
Excerpts from the admiraPs own
account of the destruction of Mont
JOS squadron tell the story:
"a comparison of the relative
strength of the two squadrons shows
that we had six ships to the Span
lards seven, but we were superior in
class and in ornaments. The Span-
ards had some twenty-five small gun
boats not brought into action, but
which might have been transformed
INTO torpedo boats for night attack
or defense of the entrance of the bny.
we had hfty-three guns above the
four-inch caliber and the Spaniards
thrty-onc; fifty six guns under four
inch To the Spaniards' forty-four:
eight torpedo tubes to The Spaniards'
thirteen; officers and men, I,45G, to
the Spaniard's LAT.
''NiiNo opSii
about sos the Luneta and two
other Manila batteries opened fire.
Their shots passed well over the YES
sells. 1t was estimated that some had
n range of seven miles. Only the Bos-
ton and Concord replied Each sent
Two shells ut the Luneta battery.
me other vessels reserved their fire,
having IN mind my caution that. i'm
the absence of full supply of ammu-
hitlon, the amount we had was too
precious to be wasted, when we were
1000 miles from our base.
with the coming of broad daylight
we finally cited the Spanish vessels.
formed in an irregular crescent in
front of Cavite. The Olympia headed
toward them, and in answer to her
signals to close up the distance be-
tween our ships was reduced to 200
yards. The western flank of the
Spanish squadron was protected by
Cavite Peninsular. and the Sangley
point battery, while its eastern flank
rested i'll the shoal waiter oil Las
Pinas.
The Spaniard's line of battle was
formed by the Reina Christina (hag),
the Castillo, the Don Juan de Austria
the Don Antonio de Ulloa, the Isle dc
Luzon, the Isla de Cuba and the Mar
qucs del Duero.
Fire When You Are Ready"
AT $40 o'clock, when we were
within u distance of 5000 yards two
and half miles,. turned to Captain
Gridley and said:
you may fire when YOU are ready.
Gridley."
While | remained on the bridge
with Lamberton, Brumby and Stick
ney, Gridley took his station in the
coming tower and gave the ORDER to
the battery. The very first gun to
speak was an eight-inch Gun from
the forward turret of the OLYMPIA.
and this was the signal for all the
other ships to join the action.
when the flagships neared the five
fathom curve off Cavite she turned To
the westward, bringing her port bat
teries to bear on the enemy and, fol-
lowed by the squadron, passed along
the Spanish line until north of and
only some l 500 yards distant from the
Sangley Point battery, when she again
turned and headed back to the east
ward, thus giving the squadron an
opportunity to use their port and
stafboard batteries alternately and to
cover with their fire all the Spanish
ships, as well as the Cavite and the
Sangley Point batteries.
Three runs were thus made from
the eastward and two from the west
ward, the length of each run averap-
ing two miles and the ships bcinp
turned each time with the port helm.
There had been no cessation in the
rapldity of fire maintained bv our