Warships and their story

by R. A. Fletcher

THE “MAINE” ENTERING HAVANA HARBOUR.

Although the American vessels were built in the United States the compound armour for the turrets had to be imported at first, and it was not for some years that American-made armour was available for the navy. Four battleships were launched in the early ’nineties, and with the Texas comprised the American battleship force in the war with Spain in 1898. The Americans showed their inventiveness in the matter of their warships, and not being content always to follow the lead of other nations, and being convinced that they could not make more or greater mistakes than some European naval architects had perpetrated, produced some remarkable vessels. They were the first to try the superposed turrets, or one turret placed on top of another. The Kearsarge and Kentucky were thus equipped, but the experiment did not give the results anticipated, and was not repeated. But the Americans had shown that the guns of one turret could fire over another turret, and some of the latest and most powerful ships of the super-Dreadnought types have their turrets arranged so that this may be done.

The Maine, really an armoured cruiser, but described as a second-class battleship, was sent to Havana for political reasons in January, 1898, and was blown up at her moorings on the evening of the 15th of the following month, two hundred and sixty-six lives being lost. The explosion was attributed to the Spaniards, but this has been questioned, as an examination of the wreck, completed in the summer of 1911, was stated to have revealed that the cause of the disaster was the explosion of the vessel’s magazines, but a later examination is said to have shown that the explosion was external. War between the two countries was now regarded as inevitable, and both made preparations for the struggle, Spain in that lazy and incompetent fashion which assured her defeat in advance, and the United States with as much thoroughness and care as the time allowed. The resources of the latter country were far superior to those of her opponent, but Spain by no means made the best of what she had. The American naval preparations were well conceived and as well carried out. The most notable exploit in this work was the remarkable voyage of the battleship Oregon from Bremerton, Washington, to San Francisco, and thence at her utmost speed round Cape Horn to Key West. It was the first time any steam warship had essayed such a feat, and that an American ship should have accomplished it was a feather in the American cap. Two or three foreign-built warships were acquired, but the European powers were friendly to Spain rather than to the United States in the war, and the latter acquired ninety-seven merchant steamers to act as auxiliaries to its fighting fleet, and distributed among them no fewer than five hundred and seventy-six guns in order that they might take part in the fighting if circumstances required.

In the Pacific the American preparations were no less extensive than in the Atlantic. The first of the great naval battles of the war was that of Manila Bay. Admiral Dewey’s flagship was the protected cruiser Olympia, 5,800 tons displacement, launched at San Francisco in 1892, and having four 8-inch and ten 5-inch quick-firers, fourteen 6-pounders and ten smaller guns. With her were the protected cruisers Baltimore 4,600 tons; Raleigh, 3,217 tons; Boston, 3,000 tons; all heavily armed for their size, and a couple of gunboats.

The Spanish naval force consisted of the steel cruiser Reina Cristina, 3,520 tons, built at Ferrol in 1886, and carrying six 6·2-inch Hontoria guns, two 2·7 inch, and three 2·2 inch quick-firers, and ten smaller guns; a wooden cruiser, the Castilla, 3,342 tons, built at Cadiz in 1881, and armed with four 5·9 inch Krupps, and sixteen quick-firers of various sizes; two steel gunboats of English build and 1,045 tons, and some smaller Spanish-built gunboats and a number of torpedo boats. The shore fortifications had also been strengthened by the addition of a few heavy guns.

Though there was not a great deal of difference between the Spanish and American fleets at Manila, according to a comparative statement issued by the American navy department, the difference was on the side of the Americans, but with the land forces as well the advantage on paper lay with the Spaniards. The only instructions to Admiral Dewey were to “capture or destroy” the Spanish fleet. This, as it happened, was not a difficult task, for the Spanish vessels were in a deplorable condition of inefficiency, and the best that the Spanish admiral could do was to get his ships under the protection of the forts and keep them there. Not finding the Spanish ships at Subig Bay, the Americans entered Manila Bay to look for them, heedless of the mines supposed to be strewn about the channel, but choosing a dark night illumined only by the flashes of lightning from the thunder clouds, as though the very elements were desirous of taking part in the coming struggle and were flashing their signals preparatory to the discharge of the sky’s artillery. The American ships showed no light other than that at the stern of each vessel but the last, to enable that behind to follow in line. The defenders sighted them and opened fire, but the ships never paused, firing upon the batteries as they passed. The Spanish admiral, who, conscious of the condition of his ships, knew that his command was doomed before ever a shot had been fired, estimated his available tonnage at 10,111 as against the American 21,410 tons; his h.p. at 11,200, as against 49,290; his guns at seventy-six, as against the American one hundred and sixty-three; but he had a slight superiority in the number of men.

After day broke the Spaniards opened the battle, the batteries of Cavité and Manila starting the firing and being supported by the Spanish vessels. The Concord sent two shells at the Manila battery by way of reply, but the rest of the ships steadily steamed towards the Spanish ships, and it was not until the Olympia was within 5,600 yards of the ships that Dewey gave permission for the Americans to fire.

“You may fire when you’re ready, Gridley,” Admiral Dewey said in his imperturbable way. A second later, and one of the Olympia’s forward guns had answered the Spanish challenge.

The American ships passed parallel to the Spaniards, and one after another concentrated its fire upon the Reina Cristina, the best ship the enemy possessed, and only fired upon the others when the cruiser was out of range. The Spanish admiral essayed to attack the Americans by advancing against them with his one good fighting ship, thinking that possibly at closer quarters he might be able to meet his opponents with a better chance of inflicting damage. For bravery and audacity the feat ranks high in the annals of naval combats. But the chance he hoped for was never allowed him. A shell penetrated the Reina Cristina near the bows and, exploding, set her on fire. Almost at the same time a heavy projectile crashed into her stern and an 8-inch shell entered the hole thus made and exploded, setting her on fire at that end also, and damaging her engines. She retreated under as heavy a fire as a modern warship could withstand and yet keep afloat. Of her crew of four hundred and ninety-three men, but one hundred and sixty, of whom ninety were wounded, answered to the roll call after the battle.

Three times the Americans passed up and down before the Spanish ships, gradually decreasing the range to 2,600 yards. Ship after ship was disabled. Some took refuge behind the Cavité arsenal and were sunk by the Spaniards rather than be allowed to fall into the Americans’ possession. One little iron gunboat, the Don Antonio de Ulloa, whose commander disregarded the Spanish admiral’s orders to sink his ship, with sublime audacity prepared to offer battle to the whole American fleet. The Baltimore, Olympia and Raleigh opened fire upon her. The odds were too great. She fought bravely for a few minutes, but the guns of the assailing cruisers riddled her sides, and her crew left as she listed and sank with her colours flying. The American ships made short work of the shore batteries. The Americans in the battle of Manila Bay had seven men wounded, while the injury to the vessels was trivial. The Spaniards lost ten ships and had three hundred and eighty-one men killed and the wounded numbered hundreds more.