(321) 
ARTILLERY FEATURES OF THE NAVAL BATTLE 
OF SANTIAGO DE CUBA,-; 
BY —- Ay 
CAPTAIN C. CEDE BROWNE, 
Lecturer on armour jplates at Ordnance College, Woolimfrh, ^ 
_ V 
(A Lecture delivered at the Loyal Artillery Institution, Woolwich, Thursday, 16th 
Colonel J. R. J. Jocelyn, Commandant Ordnance College, in the Chatr. 
T HE Chairman :—I will now ask Captain Orde Browne to kindly 
deliver his lecture. 
Captain Orde Browne, late R.A. : —Colonel Jocelyu and gentlemen; 
the title of this paper will, I hope, show that my main object to¬ 
day is to deal with the action of the Spanish and American ships, 
so far as light is thrown on questions which concern coast batteries. 
If this, however, has drawn me on to touch on matters which rather 
coucern the Navy, it may lead to a more animated discussion than if 
I take a rigid line, and on this account I venture to speak on 
points on which it would, perhaps, be wiser to be silent if my object 
were to suggest nothing that I could not certainly make good. The same 
wish for a discussion also leads me to be as brief as possible. 
The Spanish cruisers, under Admiral Cervera, entered Santiago 
Harbour, on May 19th, 1898. By May 29th the United States fleet had 
commenced a blockade in full strength, that is with nearly their entire 
fleet of efficient armour-clads. The Spanish attempted to break out 
on the morning of July 3rd. I would only notice a few points 
connected with the period of blockade. The American ships were un¬ 
able to anchor and therefore kept their position under low steam power, 
which is better and more economically performed by uncoupling the 
forward engines; this, however, entails the alternatives of either 
losing a quarter of an hour to couple up, or else of running at about 
three-quarters speed. The fires were banked in a peculiar way, which 
caused a great expenditure of fuel, but secured rapid attainment of 
full heat when desired. 
The American ships at first took a position in a semicircle round 
the mouth of the harbour, each vessel being at about six miles from 
Fort Morro. The armoured ships lay in the following order, taken 
from west to east, (see Diagram *) :— Brooklyn (cruiser) Texas , 
Massachusetts, Iowa and Oregon (battle-ships) and New York (cruiser). 
The semicircle on the extreme west was completed by the Vixen and 
Marblehead and on the east by the Porter, New Orleans and Mayflower, 
* Taken from United States Official Plan in the Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation. 
7. VOL. XXVI. 22 
