The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1864-11-15
! Torpedoes In Naval Warfare.
The IL ece,it Des' ructien sf the
,. Ram AIbcnIarle. fns va,

| sf,g sg3a ~" "ntfN5pe1Aurles ~ hHE Yna4u
II (From the Army epd Navy Journal asii
1.-The rebels, who have taught rs
some important LESSONS in the art Of
war, appear TO have taught : ms all
so the art of blowing uip ships by tor
pedoes. Admiral Porter hay signal.
lied his assumption Of command in the
/ North Atlantic squadron, byrrthe de-
stlnctipn of formidable; ;iron.clad RAM
the Albemarle, which gave our feet in
theiwaters ofNorth Carolina d Severe
tug last May, and which has been
/ threatening our squadron ever since.
Our readers have not forgotten the gal.
liant style, worthy of old Farragut him,
self, in which several gunboats, notably
tho Sassacus, pitched into the sAlbe-'
marie, when she made her first appear
ance in the sound. They rarnmed her,
and fired heavy shots lat her, az short,
range; but the, Albemarle after all
made her escape. 1sties ~ lsiio .ss'a,
What she ! bore on that occasion
showed her to be a vessel as formida.
BILE, probably, as the sTennessee-now
she is a,.sunken wreck This gallant
feat, the first .of1our new torpedo feet,
I is one on which the navy may be, flyi
congratulated. Our gallant tars have
learned from. .Farragut to entertain but
little dread Of the rebel toipedoes,
/ which have been, for the most part,-
olumsily and unintelligently managed
but it will be satisfaction to them to
know, that herenfter theytwo can play
at the torpedo game, but with better
tools. tr''.g iol3aln'h ~
| The picket launch No. l, which de-
stroyed the, Albemarle, was one of
halt dozen little steamers not larger
I than a seyentyfour's launch, but fitted
with Il compact engine, Which have
been lately built under the supervision
of Captain Boggs, of. Yaruha fame.
Theywere built to releiye the seameD
Of the fatigue Of pulling about at night,
on the naval picket line Under the
superintendent of Lieutenant Gushing
picket boat No. was supplied with a
newly-contriyed torpedo apparatus ar
ranged SO as to place. the submarine
i battery securely, and fire it without Sc
rious risk 10 the boat and her crew.
The test justtImade would seem to-
prove that the apparatus will answer
its purpose; and when used in connec-
ton with tile ingenious submarine tor
. pado vessels, of which one, the Strom-
boli, is already completed, it promises
to form an important element in our
coast defense. ue Bna BE0 r2
The Stromboli is small vessel, ca
pable Of being submerged by the filling
of water compartments She is sup
piled with an Engine powerful enough
to propel her at the rate of ten miles
per hour, and is manned and worked
by three officers and ten men. The
torpedo is carried in basket. fixed to
a long arm, which can be made, at the
important moment, to propel from the
vessel in-such manner as to reach the
side of the ship to be destroyed.
There the torpedo is fastened, and at
the will of those in the Stromboli, it is
exploded We learn that some eigh-
teen or twenty vessels of the kind are
to be put afioat at once, and it appears
that the mnsquito t'of picket boats
can also use the torpedo apparatus.
The rebels have made rum Der Of
attempts to use torpedo Loaf !, but
with no success The boats nave on
several occasions been destroyed. tl
4 Once or twice they have toundered,
the crews perishing. Nevertheless,
we have lost q monitor ,(thc Tecumseh)i
three gunboats (the Cairo on the va
ZOO River, and the Commodore Jones
and Shawshecn in the James), and
three tranSorts (the General Hunter,
Maple Leaf and IL. A. Weed in the ST.
Johns River, on the South Carolina
COAST byrebcl torpedoes. The Moni-
tor Montauk was also injured by a tor
pedo in the Ogeechee. so far as we
know all but one of these torpedoes
i were stationary, and either exploded
by percussion on contact with the YES
sells bottom, or by means of a galyan->
ic battery worked on shore. The Off:
GERS of the rebel torpedo corps, who
J blew up the Shawsheeii, were traced
to their hiding hole on the banks of the
James by the wire which connected
4 them with the torpedo, and were dug
out by our men greatlytotheir dismay.
The sloop of-war Housatonic, was de-
StIO GU ~. 4 ~ Il iSpSi WI pii'Sto-pcpe3 puS
the boat persisted also, carrying down
all on board. 4'
Stationary torpedoes, anchored in a
fair way for vessels, are too liable to
arrangement from damp and rust to be
ever certain of application. Moreover
they can be placed only in shallow
water, and they cannot be used, of
course, against vessels already anchor
ed out of their reach; but boat like
the Stromboli can attack a ship any
where in smooth water, no matter how
deep it is, and with half-a:dozen such
1 little inexpensive craft, manned by res
olute crews, we could defy the greatest
liron-clal fleet in Europe tof.enter the,
Iharbor of New York. Considered IN
(, this light, the feat of Lieut.. Gushing as
sumes considerable Importance, and
adds not a little to the security Of our
lharbors and seaports from any attack
which is not q surprise. To Z wY9
ote &C M,rx-1o N ors aro oottino firod