The American-Spanish war; . tener than any other ship was nodoubt owing to the much larger target she presented to theenemy due to her high foreboard and great length. The Texas came next in point of damage received. Shewas twice struck, once by a six-inch shell which explodedafter passing through the hammock berthing, doing muchharm; the other shell, size not known, exploded near thebridge and did considerable damage to the pilot-house. The Oregon was struck by one six-inch shell and two frag-ments of shell but was not seriously injured. The Indiana was marked by two small fragments of shellb
The American-Spanish war; . tener than any other ship was nodoubt owing to the much larger target she presented to theenemy due to her high foreboard and great length. The Texas came next in point of damage received. Shewas twice struck, once by a six-inch shell which explodedafter passing through the hammock berthing, doing muchharm; the other shell, size not known, exploded near thebridge and did considerable damage to the pilot-house. The Oregon was struck by one six-inch shell and two frag-ments of shell but was not seriously injured. The Indiana was marked by two small fragments of shellbut no damage was done her. The other American ships were not struck. In no case wasthe machinery injured and not a single gun was put out ofaction by the fire of the Spaniards. The accuracy of fire on the American side was vastly supe-rior to that of the Spaniards and its effects were terrific. , The]\Iaria Teresa s water mains were cut before she reached theMorro and when she was headed to the westward she had > to O PI. THE NAVAL BATTLE OF SANTL\GO. i6i forty dead men on her decks. In fact, all the Spanish shipswere simply smothered by the fire of the Americans. Thefull effect of this fire could not be observed except in the caseof the Colon, as all the others were burned and partially sub-merged, but the parts above water show how effective andterrific it must have been. The forward turret of the Oquendois a fair sample of it. An eight-inch shell struck the edge ofthe hood of this turret, flanged it back and exploded, killingevery man and officer in the turret and disabling every pieceof machinery in it. Every ship except the Colon showed in all parts, above theprotective decks, the awful havoc caused by the explosion ofmodern projectiles. Their exposed sides were simply riddledand in many cases the shells passed completely through fromside to side. To the accuracy of the American fire maybe fairly attributed the inaccuracy of the Spanish returnfire. The loss of life in t
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidamericanspanishw00norw
