The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-11-19

to secure to the slave the secure possession
of good master.
TORPEDOES IN NAVAL WAR.
FARE.
The Recent Destruction OF the
Rebel Ram AlhemHrle.
The rebels, who have taught us some inn
portant lessons ia the art Of war, appear 70
have taught US also the art of blowing no
ships by torpedoes. Admiral Porter has
signalized his assumption Of command in
the North Atlantic squadron by the de-
s:ruction of q formidable iron. clad ram.
the Albe;narle, which gave our feet in the
waters OF North Carolina a severe tug last
May, and which has been threatening our
squadron ever since. Our readers have not
forgotten the gallant style, worthy of old
Farragut himself, in which several gun
boats, notably the Sassacus, pitched into
the Albemarle, when she made her FIRST
appearance in the sound. They rammeo
her, and fired heavy shots at her, at short
range; but the Albemarle after all made
her escape.
What she bore on that occasion showed
her to be a vessel az formidable, probably,
rs the famous Tennessee-now she is u
sunken wreck. This gallant feat, the 6rst
of our new torpedo feet, 10 one on which
the navy may be fitly congratulated Our
entertain but little dread of the rebel tor
pedoes, which have Ceen, for the most part,
clumsily and uEintelligently managed
but it will be satisfaction to them to know
that hereafter they too can play at the tor
pedo game, but with better tools.
The picket launch No. ], which Destroy
ed the Albemarle, was one Of half q dOz-
en- little steamers not larger than u seven
ty.fOur's launch, but fitted with compact
engine, which have been lately built under
the supervision of Captain Boggs, Of varu-
na fame. They were built to relieve the
seameu Of the fatigue Of pulling shout ut
night on the naval picket line. Under the
supeFintendence of Lieutenant Gushing,
picket boat No. was supplied with new
lv-contrived torpedo apparatus, arranged
30 as to place the subparine battery Sc
curely, and ire it without serious risk to
the boat and her crew. The test just made
would seem TO prove that the apparatus
Will answer its purposes and when used
in connection with the ingenious subma-
rine torpedo vessels, Of which one, the
StromboIi, is already completed; i. promi-
ses to form an important element in our
coast defense.
The Stromboli is a small vessel, capable
Of being submerged by the filing of water
compartments. She is supplied with an
engine powerful enough to propel her at
the rate often miles per hour, and is man
ned and worked by three officers and ten
men. Tho torpedo is carried in basket,
fixed to long arm, which can be made, at
the important moment, to propel from the
Of the ship to be destroyed. There the
torpedo is fastened, and q: the will of those
in the Stronboli, it is exploded. We
learn that some iGhteen or twenty vessels
ofthe kind are to be put af1oat at once,
and it appears that the mosquito Gee: OF
picket boats can also use the torpedo APP.
paratus.
The rebels have made a number Of at
tempts to use torpedo boats, but with no
success. The boats have on several occa-
sions been destroyed. Once or twice they
have foundered, the crews perishing. New
ertheless we have lost monitor (ihe Te-
curnseh), three gunboats the Cairo on the
YAz0O river, and the Commodore Jones and
Shawsheen in the james,, and three trans
ports tthe General Hunter, Maple Leaf
and III. A. Weed in the ST. Johns river, on
the South Carolina coast), by rebel torpe-
does. The Monitor Montauk was also In
jured by q torpedo in the Ogeechee. So far
as we know, all but one Of these torpedoes
were stationary, and either exploded by
percussion on contact with the vessel bot
tom, or by means OF galvanic battery
worked On shore. The officers Of the rebel
torpedo cOrps, who blew up the Shaw
sheen, were traced to their hiding hole on
the banks OF the James by the wire which
them with the torpedo, and were
dug out by our men, greatly to their dis
may. The aloop-of-war Housatonic was
destroyed by a rebel torpedo-boat, but the
boat persisted also, carrying down all on
board.
Stationary torpedoes, anchored in fair
way for vessels, are too liable to derange.
ment from damp and rust to be ever GER
tain of application. Moreover they can be
placed only in shallow water, aud they
canno. be used, Of course, agains. vessels
already anchored out Of their reach; but
boat like the Stromboli can attack q ship
anywhere in smooth water, no matter how
deep 1t is, and with half a dozen such mex
crews. We could defy the greatest iron-clad
lieet in Europe to enter the harbor Of New
York. Considered in this light the feat of
Lieut.. Cushing assumes considerable i'm
portance, and adds not little to the secu-
rity Of our harbors and seaports from any
attack which is not q surprise.-Army d,sd
Macy Journal.