Show yea p a vms ft S 3 set SE t ME TO OP vewen S RETURN NOW rotam of the gallant raft part the F welsh kOther Too caw bf doomed ft a one on time special letter it seems strangely jle that the ship that fired the first shot in the battle of manila should be the first one of admiral deleys deweys victorious fleet to return to the united states the raleigh capt joseph B coghlan not only opened the battle on that ta fa anous may 1 but was in the thick of the fight throughout the raleigh was steaming alons alon third in the line when the spanish squadron was sighted in the little pay bay of cavite one of her five inch guns returned a ready response to the spaniards tardy salutation another shot came from the spanish shore batteries and as the americans were on a sharp lookout for or the fleets fleet the concord placed a six inch shell so close to the spot whence the enemy had fired ared tha it killed several of their gunners our cruisers were in the following order orde IMF CAPT COGHLAN aten the spanish squadron was sighted the olympia flagship the baltimore the petrel the concord and the boston they had passed to the northwest of manila and were holding to the south the spanish squadron was inferior In terio to the attacking fleet but its position on under the protection of shore batteries terl es gave it an equalizing strength it Is estimated by all experts that one gun mounted on shore Is worth several aboard ship the shore gun has a fixed platform and Is therefore able to fire with much greater accuracy on the third turn in the famous fight the raleigh was caught in a strong insetting current and was carried very close to the hows bows of the spanish crus ers em the officers of the other american ships expected to see the raleigh go to the bottom the ships seemed paralyzed the raleigh eat seat s la in two raking fires before she steamed back into place it was on the third turn too that the great duel dual between the flagships took place when the american ships withdrew after the first round to 0 o that the men might have an opportunity to rest and eat breakfast capt coghlan reported to commodore dewey out of the jaws ot of death out of the gates of hell and only a little smoky from the trip in the second round when the bal ba 1 l more headed for the christina and austria the olympia and raleigh followed her closely the christina destroyed gt st attention was turned to the austria Austri jL A shell from the raleigh truck struck the spaniards magazine and exploded it so terrific was i explosion that the flying fragments of the cruiser tore away all the upper works of the gunboat el 01 correo which lay beside her the fleet disposed of the american vessels vessel next turned their attention to the batteries there were some good gunners in he Hin battery one of their shells si smashed nashed a whaleboat of the raleigh it was not until the raleigh sailed in to about 1000 yards and and had killed six gunners that the battery was silenced the Ball bellmore limore Ba more and the raleigh the day after the big fight went down the bay and destroyed six batteries at the en entrance the spanish garrison had seen enough of american marksmanship the day before and took care to keep out of the way the raleigh a sister of the cincinnati was launched at norfolk in 1892 1992 she is a steel cruiser of the secand elm class with twin screws and two schooner rigged masts with military tarY tops she is feet ion long 42 feet beas IS 19 feet draught and has ban a tonnage of f her speed is 19 knots she carries vertical four cylinder triple expansion engines and four foar double ended and two single ended boners boilers her bar dock deck Is protected with arr armor atom one oae to two and one half haff inches thick and she carries a bellu losa fess bem belt the ur armor on oa her conning tower Is two iwo inches thick and she ha two inches of steel in her sponsors spon sons she carries one me 6 inch rapid fire 9 gun OB an her forecastle ten 6 5 luch inch rapid fire guns gnus two tg in the poop and four on each cide of the sun gun deck in sponsors spon sons eight 6 G pound and andt tour four rap id 11 fire guns two gatling machine COBS and six torpedo jmes tubes hr her craw jn |