Show CUT THE GABLES CABLES cruiser st louis did the work general blanco and his soldiers are now without outside communication how cable cutting is accomplished complis hed no news of the battle washington may 24 the navy department part ment at this afternoon posted the following bulletin the department has no reason to believe that a battle has occurred in the windward passage the auxiliary cruiser st louis has cut the cable at santiago Santi aeo de do cuba and san juan de porto rico to shut an enemy off from out outside side communication has always been an important factor in war before the day ot 0 ocein ocean cables it was only necessary to i XI A nis t I 1 N CUTTING CABLES AT SANTIAGO DB CUBA destroy or block mock hia his ships now th are different in the present war with spain two submarine cables have already been cut these are lines to havana running south and east and that running be tween manila and Hong hongtong kong in order to cat cut these huge wire ropes lying lauy fathoms beneath the sea the first thing necessary is to have a cable ship or to improvise imp ronee one every squadron either has its cable ship or one of the vessels carries euch such apparatus as will wil allow lallow it to become one at short notice the mechanism in un board a regular cable ship ie Is intricate A ship of 0 war generally uses only the nutting cutting grapnel to destroy the cable when the boat reaches the spot where the cable is tobe cut a bounding standing is taken to locate its exact position popi tion and depth A steil mark buoy ie is then moored as nearly neaily as possible over the place to act set as a guide while grappling and as a bearing hearing to go by when the cable is booked a the buoy is moored by means of a mushroom anchor which holds well in almost any kind of bottom and has no projecting points or arme arms which might foul wilh with or chafe tho inedible cable the anchor is usually shackled to 15 fathoms of heavy chain and the buoy rope at rached to the end of the chain the buoy rope is paid out ont till the anchel is within a few fathoms of the bottom the end being then thed attached td the buoy chain on board the boat by means of the apparatus on the boat the buoy is then slipped overboard and the anchor allowed to reach bottom and hold there the ship now leaves the mark baoy and steams out a mile in a course at right angles to the line of cable then lowers a grapnel and fite steams auls slowly back up to the buoy passing and re passing it till the cable it is booked As soon as the cable te Is hooked it blips by means of pulleys between two knives or teete it is then slightly elight ly lifted and the etrain strain caused by the lifting is strong enough to bring the two teeth together with force erio lagh to cut the cable |