The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-07-07

the Navy Department to break up and sell for junk or use for targets twelve obsolete battleships marks the passing of a fleet of vessels long iden- tified with many of the most glorious achievements of the new American navy. They wrote many bright pages into this country's naval history dur ing their years of service and four of them have participated actively in two wars. The doomed ships, includ- ing the famous old SpanishAmerican war squadron consisting of the Ore gon, Iowa, Indiana and MaSSachu- setts and the more modern but hard ly less famous Kentucky, Kearsarge, Alabama, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Missouri and Maine, composed one of the most, If not the most powerful battleship fleet in the world more than 15 years ago.
 Foremost among the achievements of these famous old fighting craft is the part they played in the Spanish American war The Oregon, which had been commissioned at San Fran cisco in July, 1896, was at Mare Is- land navy yard in 1898 when the message was flashed to her com mander that the United States was at war with Spain. On March 6,
 
 Golden Gate, bound for the West h. dies, on what proved to be the most epoch making battleship voyage ever undertaken. With decks stripped for action and gun crews at their stations the Oregon plowed around Cape Horn, up the east coast of South America and arrived at Key West on May 26, ready for action. having made the 14,000 mile voyage in 6s cruising days. Captain c. E. Clark, the Oregon'S commanding of f1cer, was ordered to take his ship to Santiago and there join the blockad- ing squadron which was awaiting bat tie with the Spanish fleet.
 In tLe meantime the Iowa, Massa- chusetts and Indiana, sister ships of the Oregon, were attached to the North Atlantic fleet and had already arrived off Cuba. the Massachusetts being part of the famous flying squadron" under command of Com modore Schley.
 The Oregon, already famous throughout the world for her glorious and successful voyage to join the American fleet in time for the inn pending battle, gained greater glory in the action off Santiago de Cuba on Sunday, July g. 1898. when Span ish sea power was forever humbled and the liberation of the Philippines and Cuba assured. In that now his- toric sea fight the Oregon ran the Vizcaya, pride of the Spanish fleet, ashore after riddling the craft with hits from her eight and 13-inch guns and then engaged in a running fight with the Colon which surrendered after having been cut off from the open sea by the Oregon and forced to head for the beach. A shot at the Colon from one of the Oregon's 13- inch guns was the last shot fired dur ing the battle.
 Both the Indiana and the Iowa participated in the battle at Sant1- ago, the Massachusetts having gone to Guantanamo to coal on the day of the engagement The crew of the Massa chusetts, much disappointed at having missed the fight, gained re- venge the next night when that ves- sel and the old battleship Texas, en- gagged and sunk the Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes as that vessel at- tempted to escape from the harbor at Santiago.
 The Massachusetts was the flag ship of the naval vessels in charge of conveying American troops from Cuba to Porto Rico for the Porto Rfcan campaign. A few years aga the Texas, later renamed the San Marcos, was used as a target for later battleships at Tangier Sound in Chesapeake Bay.
 After the Spanish-American war the Oregon returned to the west coast where the glorious old ship. then in the height of her fame, was received with tremendous demon strations. She remained there on duffy with the Pacific fleet until a de- cade ago, her usefulness gone, she was placed in reserve commission
 The Iowa, Massachusetts and In diana participated in the homecom- ing of the victorious Atlantic fleet after the Spanish-American war and remained on duty in home waters for many years. After the Oregon had been placed in reserve the three sis ter ships were for several years used as training vessels and conveyed the midshipmen from the Naval Acad- emy abroad each summer for a prac- tice criuse. Finally they, too, were moored to the docks in navy yards apparently to rust away.
 In the meantime a later class of ships had been launched to add to the might of American naval power.
 
 Wisconsin, Maine, Missouri and Ohio. launched between 1898 and 1901, formed the neuclus of the new "steal" navy that was winning the United States an assured place among the great naval powers. These ships, then unsurpassed in the world, car ried the American flags into the ports of the world for many years and in 1907, when the mighty United States fleet left New York for the historic cripse around the world to demon- strate in all lands the might and power of the American navy, they held their places with their more modern sisters throughout that me morable voyage. Greeted with re- markable demonstrations in South America, the west coast of the United States. Australia, New Zealand, the islands of the Pacific, far eastern ports and points in the Mediterran- can, the great fleet completed the cou, ,-r11iSa eyer uD-