New-York tribune., 1877-05-16

Turkisb monitor LOukngell by shells thrown
from q battery two miles away, is not hkely
10 occur twice in one war. and needs haruly
TO be taken into account in general estl-
mate. In short, our own war lett the VaIuo
of irOncads in doubt; the Franco-Oermah
war shed no light upon the question; tilo
Eastern war may help TO solve 1t II either siue
should test to their utmost capacity the hoat-
ing castles which each possesses In any case
it is not probable that we shall need to puma
ironclads for our own use. But we may at
least learn what damage to us the lrOnciadS
of other naval powers are capable OF dolhS
To guard her coasts Russia mas auopteu
methods of defense which are much the same
as we should probably resort to in case OF war
with IA naval power. The popoffkas nave
family likeness to our monitors and VIII SUD
serve similar purposes. The use of torped0es
ON tbe Russian coasts is probably far more eX-
tended than has been suspected. If the report
Of the destruction of an English steamer by
n torpcdo at Kcrtch is confirmed, 1t may DE
taken as evidence that tOrpedoes have Deeh
very Literally distributed along the northern
shores of the Black Sea.
Torpedoes present as yet quite as much an
unsolyed problem az do the irOnclads in naval
warfare. Great Improvements have been
made in them since the Battle of the Kegs
furnished popular ballad to Our ancestors.
There is an immense variety IN the ne" con-
triyauces The simplest are the stationary
ones meant merely to be sunk in roadStead
and exploded by the keel of a passing vessel.
Others of the stationary kind are made to ex-
plode only when an electric current Is sent
by submerged wire from station Oh the shore.
Many of the new torpedoes are capable OF be-
ing propelled from the shore toward the vessels
which they are to attack. The rOcket-iloat is
one of these devices. On the Prov OF the
float is a large torpedo on the stern power
full rocket. When the rocket is LIT, 1t drives
the float over the surface of the water, straight
at its object, with more than third the speed
of a cannon ball. No steam vessel could be
maneuvered quickly enough to be got out of the
way of such a projectle Several of the NOV
ing torpedoes are constructed to travel beneath
the surface. OF these some merely go i'll
the direction given them at the start, and
others are controlled in their motions by cleo
tric connection with the shore through slender
wires which are unreeled as the torpedo pro-
ceeds on its course. Beside all these and
a variety of other cOntrivances OF the au-
tomato sort, there are also torpedo boats
small steamers carrying a crew. Some of these
are submarine and some are surface sailcrs. What
the latter are capable of was finely shown in our
own war by the exploit of the late Lieut..
Gushing in destroying the rebel ram Abemarle.
Quite recently the French navy gave re-
markable exhibition of the destructive capacity
of torpedo boat of this class in the haTbOr of
Chcrbourg. Russia has not been negligent of
these new inventions, and it is more than prob
able that the value of some Of them will he
clearly illustrated during the present war. 1t
will be well worth while for the United States
to note carefully the value of these new engines
of destruction. They may serve as protec-
ton, even though they are never called into
use The danger of striking tOrpedOes may
prove sufficient to keep Turkish ironclads out
of Russian harbors If that happens, and can
be taken as precedent in naval warfare, the
torpedo should rank among the most efficient
OF coast deienses.