The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-12-28
The " Destroyer"

hllCIOI DCoblOltl III ~ VII bllC vi
dock in a few days and be fitted with a
new propeller. She lies at the foot of
Thirteenth street, North River, and at
tracts much attention. Although but $50
feet in length, she carries boilers large
enough to work the ponderous engines of
as large a river steamboat as the Mary
Powell or the Chauncey Vibbard. In
the widest part she is but fourteen feet
beam. Her draft is ten feet
The Destroyer is expected to run up
in close proximity to a hostile ship and
discharge into it a submarine torpedo
which she carries in her PROV below the
water line. The torpedo is forced
through the water by means of power
full impetus applied before quitting the
conductor.
In trial on the Hudson River last
December, a torpedo twenty-five feet
and six inches long, weighing 1,400
pounds, was expelled horizontally I'M
der water, by means of compressed air,
at mean velocity of fifty-three nauti-
cal miles an hour for the first 250 feet.
By discharging the torpedo at a certain
inclination, it took an upward course,
and, after passing through about forty
feet of water, performed a flat traiec-
tory in the air, entering water again at
a distance of 200 feet. Then, moving
near the surface, it traversed the next
400 feet in twenty seconds, being at the
rate of twenty-three and three-fourths
nautical miles an hour.
In an attack upon ship, the De-
stroyer is intended to be as deeply i'm
merSed in the water as the monitors;
but this deep immersion need not alarm
the ships company, for a deck-house,
seventy feet long. composed of plate
iron, is rivited water-tight to the upper
part of the hull. As this cabin, which
has no opening at the side, virtually
forms part of the hull, it woald be safe
TO run with the upper deck considera-
bly, below the water line. Owing to the
popularity of construction, Mr.. Erics-
son says that the new torpedo vessel
will live at sea in any weather, particu-
larly since its stiffness is most extra
ordinary, an advantage resulting from
the circumstance that the bottom must
be heavily ballasted in order to insure
deep immersion, there being no other
weight placed between the two decks
than cork and inflated air bags.
The origin of the prOjectile which the
Destroyer is intended to discharge dates
back to the latter part of 1854, at which
time Ericsson submitted drawings and
descriptions to the Emperor Napoleon
III. of a "self moving vessel, capable
of passing within range of guns, of
forts, and of moving at pleasure, in de-
fiance of the fire of broadsides." The
leading feature of the plan. apart from
the peculiar structure of the vessel, was
that of projecting under water by me-
chanical means, independent of eXplo-
sive energy, wooden torpedo sixteen
inches in diameter, ten feet long, hav-
ing a siXteen-inch shell inserted at the
forward end, provided with a percus-
sion lock for igniting the charge by
contact, the aft end of the torpedo
being pointed in order to facilitate its
passage through the water.
The method Of operating the torpedo
was that of inserting it into a horizon
tai tube near the bottom of the aggres-
sive vessel, provided with valves for
keeping out the sea during the process
of insertion. When near the vessel at
tackled, the valve excluding the sea was
opened, and the torpedo expelled by
piston actuated by steam power, the ex-
pulsiOn being effected, as before stated,
without recourse to gunpowder or other
explosive agent. 1t merits special refer
ence that the area of the actuating pis-
ton is larger than the area of the trans
verse section of the torpedo. This
feature has been copied in constructing
The projectile torpedo of the Destroyer,
the piston which expels the same pre-
senting an area of 3l4 square inches,
while the sectional area of the proiectile
is only 1876 square inches. Consequent
ly, as the tension of the acting medium
employed in the Destroyer exceeds 200
pounds per square inch, the torpedo
will be pushed out by force of 800
pounds per square inch.
The distance passed by the piston
while impelling the torpedo being thir-
ty feet, an energy of nearly two million
foot pounds will thus be impaired to it,
The torpedo of the Destroyer, like the
device of 1854, is composed of a solid
block of light wood, the explosive
charge being contained in metallic
vessel inserted at the forward end The
form, however, is different. Instead of
being circular, as in the plan presented
to the French Emperor, the transverse
section of the wooden torpedo of the
Destroyer is square, with parallel top
and bottom and vertical sides, forming
very square wedges at both ends, cased
with steel plates, its extreme length be-
ing twenty-three feet.
The detail of the instrument is par
ticularly described in the patent granted
for the invention by the British Govern
ment. The upper and lower parts of
the hull are divided by an intermediate
water-tight, strongly-ribbed plate-iron
deck, running from end to end of the
structure; the lower division-ventil-
ated by powerful blowers-containing
the machinery and affording a safe re-
treat for the crew during attack, while
the upper division is filled with blocks
of cork, excepting small part near the
bow, occupied by wood backing and an
inclined transverse armor plate resting
on the intermediate deck.
Ingenious arguments have been adj
uced by naval men to prove that the
Destroyer, in consequence of its eX-
tremely fine lines, will turn very slow
ly, and thus be dangerously exposed