The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 21, 1898, Page 22

22 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, VDAY, AUGUST 21, 1898. A Ore Jz‘oz;y of Cervera’s Defeat and Smashed ALL THAT IS LEFT OF THE OQUENDO. F AT I A B AR SMASHED & A A ] Vigw Forwars From AFTEER. TURRET [ R T R 2 o From Photographs Taken Specially fcr the Sunday Call. All the Pictures on This Page Are Carefully Worked Up Views of the Spanish Cruiser Oquendo, Showing in Detail the Fearful Effects of the Fire of the American Warships in the Great Battle of July 3. E T R Special View to Showing the Destructive Effects of Modern Naval Fire. ) . amiEs GORDON BRNNETY FLEET OF CERVERA. Views of a Naval Expert Upon the Condition of the Spanish Ships and Some Pertinent Deductions Regarding New Naval Warfare. BY @ NAVAL EXPERT. HE gun is still the supreme sea weapon. It is true that the greatest havoe in the Spanish ships driven ashore off Santiago was caused by fire, but this conflagration was a secondary and not a primary cause. Of the four ships examined and re- ported upon by the naval board three were wrecked by the explosion of their magazines. This also was a secondary, not a determining, cause. No, the main weapon was not the ram nor the tor- pedo, but the gun. "It is impossible yet to state what ef- fect the American projectiles may have had upon the submerged parts of the hulls, but the above-water structure vields convincing evidence,sef gun power. The total number of ts fired in the action has not been made pub- lic, but we have reports of two ships, and if these be accepted as a ratio for the others the ammunition rained upon the Spaniards must have been enor- mous. ¥ Captain Evans of the Iowa states that the following is an approximation of the projectiles fired from his ship: Thirty-one 12-inch semi-armor piercing shells, with full charges; 35 8-inch com- mon shells, with full charges; 251 4-inch common shells, 1056 6-pounder cart- ridges, common shells, and 100 1-pound- er cartridges, common shells. Captain Cook of the Brooklyn reports that he fired 100 rounds of 8-inch shells, 478 5- inch, 1200 6-pounder and 200 1-pounder ammunition. If the other battleships made the same average as the Towa we will get, after allowing for the respec- tive differences in caliber, a total of about 190,000 pounds of metal, or ninety tons, discharged against the enemy. Assuming that about 6500 shots in all were fired, and this approximation is fairly close, we find, excluding the fires from the 6 and 1 pounders, that 1500 projectiles of the larger calibers were discharged by the Oregon, Brooklyn, Towa, Indiana and Texas. It will be in- teresting to note in this connection the number of direct hits made by these shells. This is taken from the report made by the Examining Board con- vened by Admiral Sampson immediate- ly after the battle: “Four-inch_shells, fired only by the Towa—the Infanta Maria Teresa, 1; the Almirante Oquendo, 5; the Vizcaya, 2. “Five-inch shells, fired only by the Brooklyn—the Infanta Maria Teresa, 5; the Vizcaya, 6; the Almirante Oquen- do, 5 (one of which exploded a tor- pedo); the Cristobal Colon, 4. “Fight-inch shells, fired by the Brooklyn, the Iowa, the Oregon and the Indiana—The Maria Teresa, 3; the Almirante Oquendo, 3; the Vizcaya, 4. As the Indiana did not follow the chase she probably had nothing to do with the hits on the Vizcaya. “Twelve or thirteen inch shells—Only two on the Teresa must be credited to the battle- ships Oregon, Indiana, Texas and Iowa, although it Is quite certain that the Texas fired one. “All the Spanish ships were riddled by the rapid fire of the one and six-pounders carried by all the American ships.” The total of forty hits ap- plied to the projectiles fired gives about 3 per cent of suc- cessful shots. To the layman this may seem a small ratio, but it is very good, indeed, when the smoke, distance and the diffi- culties of a running fight are considered. The engagement started at a range of 6000 yards —that is, at a distance of about three miles. Following out an approved sea maxim and the es- pecial instructions formulated by Rear Admiral Sampson the ships closed gradually, so that both torpedo-boats and two of the armored cruisers were de- stroyed when within 2500 yards. At one time the Vizcaya and the Brooklyn were engaged in close order for modern fighting, the distance estimated being just over 1000 yards. In the special report made by the board it is stated that the Almirante Oquendo suffered more than any other of the ships, except the torpedo-boats. Her upper works were masses of distorted steel and her decks were 1it- tered with killed and wounded. She was hit on the port side four times by eight- inch shells, three times by four-inch shells, twice by six-inch guns and for- ty-two times by six-pounders. As will be seen in one of the illustrations, an eight-inch shell entered the forward turret at the gun embrasure. This ex- ploded and killed every man in the turret, most of them instantly, for the officer standing in the firing hood and one man at a lever were found in these positions when the ship was examined by the board. The Vizcaya was swept by a storm of projectiles from the rapid-fire guns. She was hit by the larger projectiles fourteen times and by the 6-pounders eleven times. The 8-inch guns of the Brooklyn and the Oregon and the 5- inch guns of the Brooklyn completely wrecked her structure abcve the armor belt. The 6-inch shells perforated her, and supplementing all this was the de- structive work of the JTowa’s 4-inch. In the Infanta Maria Teresa, the only ves- sel hit by 12 or 13 inch projectiles, two ~ STARBOARD SIDE. of these went through her, one prob- ably fired by the Tex: and one from some other of the battle-ships. : claims the shct. An 8-inch shell, ¢ ited to the Brooklyn, entered the side just forward of the port beam, burst and disabled the four crews manning the guns of that deck. This is the shot, Admiral Cervera says, that set fire to the ship. and, as her fire mains were cut, forced her, from an irability to ex- tinguish the flames, to surrender and seek the shore. @f all the ships the Cristobal Colon came out best. She was struck only six times by large projectiles, and sur- rendered when the Oregon’s thirteen- inch shells spanned her with a destruc- tive range. One eight-inch shell, spon- sor unknown, landed in the Colon’s wardroom, and exploding wrecked the compartment, and a six-inch projectile, i placed, s ed her bow. MNone of these injuries was sufficient to put her out of action, and the press reports state that they were not so serious as those regeived by the Brooklyn. On SHoH F K STARKBOARD Bow,. PHOWING SHQWING BEFFECTS OF 13/ mw SHELL board the Viscaya a projectile struck a loaded torpedo, which exploded, kill- ing twenty men and setting fire to the forward .part of the ship. SAVING THE WRECKED WARSHIPS Special to the Sunday Call HAT friendly hand of fate which revealed to Richmond Pearson Hobson, naval constructer U. S. N., the road to undying glory by means of the Merrimac, had still another meed of fame in store for him. This young man, the personification of naval skill and inteliigence, has pitted himself against a board of older offi- cers who decided in their wisdom that the Cristobal Colon, late of Admiral Cervera’'s squadron, could not be raised . H o S b S S S S The Photosraphs Were Taken for The Call With a ——— e EFFECT OF EXPLS5ION E A A CopymanT 1a5a @ CoprscHT 1898 v james coRpony BenneT. from Southern Cuban coast. ‘When Mr. Hobson, after a personal its bed on the shoals of the inspection of the wrecked ships, told Admiral Sampson that, in his n, both the Colon and the Maria Teresa could be saved, he was sent north at once to lay his views berore the au- thorities at Washington. He talked so convincingly that it was not many hours before he was in consultation with a certain wrecking company, whose offices, in one of the older build- ings on Wall street, are known to gov- ernments and magnates of steamship lines and millionaires whose whim is to sail the seas in floating palaces. In a corner of one of these office rooms sits a quiet American citizen. From his desk go forth many invisible lines leading to all parts of the coast. At the end of these lines are peculiar tugs and floats and giant cranes, and a small army of men to work them. One of these lines led to an unfortu- nate battle-ship whose bones still lie in Havana harbor. And another line VAME S Ceomoomn RNy i Corv it yeod BY jAru s SoRoer BanmeTy is even now leading down to a stretch of beach on the south coast of Cuba, where six Spanish war vessels are groveling ana grinding and beating as if anxious to escape from the vengeance of an outraged people. It is to save two of these craft that the wrecker has marshaled his forces at Construc- tor Hobson's dnvitation. That the risk will be difficult is' well known to those who understand the ways of the weather during these hur- ricane months around Cuba, but Hob- son by his intelligence and bravery has earned the confidence of the Govern- ment and he is to be given a free hand in the matter. There is another reason why the Gov- ernment is anxious to float these ships —-ome outlined in a remark made by a high official in the Navy Department during the discussion of the question. “We must not fail to fly Old Glory over at least one of the ships of Cervera’s former fleet, even if it means double the cost of the vessel,” he said. “The dastardly attempt em the part of the