Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 March 1907 — BLAST ON WARSHIP. [ARTICLE]

BLAST ON WARSHIP.

HUNDREDS KILLED BY MAGAZINE EXPLOSION. French Ironclad Jena Blown to Piece* at Toulon—Compressed Air Torpedo the Cause—Most DeadlyNaval Disaster Since the Maine. A powder magazine on board the French battleship Jena blew up Tuesday, while the vessel was in the Missiessy dock, at Toulon, owing to the explosion, of a compressed-air torpedo. It ‘was reported that the casualties number from 200 to 300. There were about 630 officers and men on board the Jena at the time of the disaster, but many of them jumped into the water. The authorities declare that the victims number over 200. According to. cablegrams, the explosion took place during a gun drill which brought the bulk of the crew into‘'the vicinity of the magazine. While the crew was lifting a torpedo from the magazine some defect in the compressed air apparatus caused a premature discharge. The shock Of a bursting torpedo caused the almost instantaneous explosion of the entire magazine. The members of the torpedo crew were blown into shreds. Scarcely enough of their bodies remained to make identiflcatTon poSslbTe. The deck was swept by shreds of steel and sections of the debris of the wrecked compar,tment. Scores who escaped death in the initial blast met death in the hail of missiles,. Thirty seconds after the explosion the deck of the battleship was a mass of shattered and bleeding corpses. Here and there injured men moved feebly. but most of the victims—were killed outright. Calls for help were made by the few officers left uninjured, and the surgeons began the task of giving relief to those to whom a chance for life remained. The most of the men who perished were asleep in their bunks and hammocks betweon decks when the explosion came which lifted the great ship almost clear of the water and tore a huge hole in its bottom. Many of the men were killed as they slept. Others were drowned as they sought to escape to the deck by the inrushing tide of water. Within a few moments the vessel had sunk to the bottom of the harbor, where its wreck lies to-day. The Jena a Modern Ship. The Jena was built at Brest and launched in 1898, being completed in 1901, so that she was one of the newest of the French war vessels. She had a displacement of 11,861 tons and an indicated horse power of 16,500. Her length was 400% feet, beam 68% feet and draft 27'/j feet. . ... Like all new French battleships, the Jena had three propellers. Steam was supplied to her three vertical triple-ex-pansion engines by twenty Belleville boilers fitted with economizers. The furnaces were so arranged that petroleum could be used with the coal. The normal coal supply was 820 tons, giving an endurance of 5,500 miles at ten knots, and 1,000 at full speed. The cost of the battleship was $5,500,000.

DESTRUCTION OF THE MAINE. Greatest Previous Naval Disaster Due to Explosion. The greatest previous naval disaster due to an explosion was the destruction of the American battleship, Maine in the harbor of Havana, which precipitated the Spanish-American war. Two hundred American sailors lost their lives in this explosion, which; according to the testimony of experts who carefully examined the sunken hull, was caused by the firing of a mine under the warship as it day peacefully at anchor in a supposed friendly harbor. The Maine was blown up Feb. 15, 1898, and so strong was the evidence that the destruction of the ship and 200 of its men ahd the injury of many others was due to an almost unparalleled act of wanton treachery on the part of Spanish authorities of the island that it roused a fiery wave of anger throughout the United States. This resulted in an overwhelming demand for a declaration of war against Spain. *