OCR Text |
Show Homer Sometimes Nodded. uWx. Admiral Dewey thinks the battle ship fleet ''jfilS should be kept together; that to divide it would Bn be to take the risk of each half being destroyed L H by a superior enemy. - Two or three ships, su- jj HK perlor to any of the ships under Admiral Dewey ' MB will be finished before the fleet now in the Pacific f j flat arrives on the Atlantic coast. If ten of the best j fl ships should be sent via Suez canal to join those lIBBr now under construction, and they combined with li the cruisers, submarines, torpedo boats and de- E ; stroyers would not be able to entertain and de- . ; stroy the usefulness of any fleet that could be s sent across the Atlantic against them; then How- $ ard and Drake made a mistake when they went 1 I out to attack the Great Armada, Winslow should ' . not have made a flght single-handed against the , pf Alabama, and when the Tecumseh was sunk Far- J; ragut should have recalled tho other craft, an-chored an-chored In the lower bay of Mobile and sent for re- . jl Inforcemonts. m And the nine battle ships out n the Pacific ,J coast with their attendant cruisers, destroyers and t&K-' torpedo boats, should get behind some land fortlfi- . & cations, and advertise that they were not built for K fighting but just for junketing tours, to give their man of war's men Htle outings for the benefit of I i Wm their health. In all the great sea fights thus far 1 - recorded in history, three or four ships have ddcid- ; ed the battle. That is, where a multitude of ships f " have been engaged. Of course Groat Britain could j$ , rendezvous a fleet at Halifax that would bo equal to three times all our present fleet in tonnage 'IkV; and guns; but that does not Imply that with them ' "ti all, fighting a thousand miles from her nearest 3 base and three thousand miles from her real base . jf would be sure to have good luck in a great war. -,, Admiral Dewey cites the case of the Russian ' ; " H fleets which were divided and destroyed in detail. If But the result, we think Admiral Dewey would 3 admit, would have been tho same, had the fleets 'jf been united and the number of ships had boon t, doubled, for that was jays fighting hawks, those poor peasants from the steppes against a perfeotly and disciplined enemy. Suppose Admiral Evans ' and Thomas and the other commanders had been ; Wf' with their present crews on those ships in the Vj Japanese sea, would the Japs have gotten m'f away without loosing some ships and men? Would J 1,. , . I! ! ! they have permitted the Japs to stand off at a saiw j, : j dlataneo and destroy one ship after rniotnei? Alter j j; ; the battle of New Orleans, it is said tnat Napoleon j ! i sent an expert to America to And out what kind of guns the Americans fought with. He made j h ' the investigation, returned to France and reported i that they were just common rifles. "Ah," said the III j emperor, "It was thq men behind the guns." |