| Show CRUISERS battleships TORPEDOES A correspondent of the news asks some questions about the united states naval forces and first regarding commodore Sch leys flying squadron this according to a new york paper is composed of the following vessels texas massachusetts brooklyn minneapolis new orleans scorpion and st paul the two first named are battleships the others are cruisers ers the new orleans to Is the vessel bought from brazil at the beginning of the war and the st paul is in one ot of the american line steamers armed as aa a commerce destroyer it Is of importance to understand the difference between a battleship and a cruiser the latter is a vess beesel 1 lightly armed comparatively but capable cai pable of making high speed its business busl nesa is to defend itself whenever capable of doing so and to get away when meeting a too strong antagonist the brooklyn and minneapolis are supposed to run faster even than the little torpedo boats A battleship on the contrary Is not constructed with regard to speed it is a floating fort heavily armed end and its business Is to give battle to the enemy whenever fou found nd the cruisers axe are either armored or only protected the former are completely clothed in a dress of steel while the latter have a protecting shield only where the ab called vitals of the ship are exposed the special mission of commodore Sch leys flying squadron is of course known only to the board of strategy but it appears to have been necessary to have a naval force stationed at some agomo convenient place like hampton roads in case a spanish fleet should suddenly turn up off one of our eastern sea aea ports with the location of the spanish admirals forces other disposition could be made of the flying squadron whereby more direct operation cooperation co between schley and sampson would be secured the idea now seems to be to concentrate under admiral sampsons Samp sons command the fastest and most powerful ships of the two squadrons in order to hunt up admiral cervera and force him to a decisive battle the powerful monitors puritan ter terror and would bt te left in the florida strait to look to havana and frustrate any attempt to bring assistance to the blockaded city A torpedo boat is a small vessel built entirely of steel often not nat more than 1 16 inch in thickness as in order to get the necessary high speed the minimum weight is of utmost importance there are three classes of torpedo boats the first are seagoing sea going vessels carrying coal enough to go knots at full speed the second are for harbor defense the third are carried on board a ship these boats boata are supposed to steal up on the ships unnoticed as far as an practical and discharge a torpedo against the enemy and then retreat the whitehead torpedo is the one in common use ue this is a cylinder from 12 to 19 feet in length and from 20 to 15 inches in diameter tapering to a point at each end on being discharged it from 5 to 15 feet below the surface it is divided in several compartments the first contains i a charge of guncotton gun cotton which is fired when the torpedo strikes a ship the question of the value of torpedo boats to a squadron in battle to is not yet decided some naval experts believe that the powerful searchlights and quick firing guns of modern battleships and cruisers render them practically useless since they cannot approach an enemy unseen and a well directed shot is sure to penetrate their trail shell and sink them the weak point in all tri vances of this class has been the inaccuracy of the aim vessels in an engagement ga are in constant motion going often in opposite directions and at different rates of speed this lessens considerably the chances of hitting the ship aimed at it takes actual test t to determine the value of the torpedo bova boat in naval warfare A torpedo boat destroyer to Is a vessel of superior size and strength of the same speed of the torpedo boat it to ie armed with machine guns for vessels at anchor a steel netting surrounding the ship and suspended on booms have proved effective but it Is cumbersome and heavy and cannot be used except t when the snipe ships are stationary the rapid fire gun to is depended on au an the most effective destroyer of torpedo boats |
