Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-07-24
THE DESTROYER

The most ponderous and alleged invulnar-
able war ships in existence are the Italian
Infexible and DuilIo, and the British Thun-
deref and Devastation. But against even
these giants a torpedo boat like the De-
stroyer would be as the needle that puno-
.tupes q toy balloon.
The boat has been built. She lies moss
grown and rusty at the dock, somewhere
about New York. This is because the
sapient United States government neglects
to purchase her, or IN any wayto remunerete
her veteran inventor for his time and
trouble It will probably be another
Hotchkiss gun case Certainly, SO far as
anything can be judged which has not yet
been put to long-continued actual test, the
nation that should equip her ports and fleets
with DestToyers would have a far-reaching
advantage over her opponent.
The Destroyer Is a submerged torpedo
boat which fires q g5O-pound explosive she'll
under water. The great ironclads are heavily
srmor-plated only above water. II the
plating WAS carried to the bottom Of the
ship, below the water, the weight would be
80 tremendous as to render the vessel prac-
tially useless. The DestFoyeFs fatal torpedo
meaks along, ten feet or so under water, and
presently the great ironclad ship thinks Mt,
Veeuvirs has opened under her.
The Illustration shows the Destroyer's ex-
ternal appearance at tho bow. For the mat
Der of that, either end might be the bow, as
she Is built alike at both extremitiea
She Is 13O feet long, 10 feA wide and II
feet deep She lies almost entirely under
the sea, the water-lfne being SHOWN where
the dark lines at the upper edge Of the hui
arc seen. The house upon the deck is Of iron
but is no essential part of the vessel. 1t 1
for the temporary shelter of the crew, bu
may be all shot away, and the action Of th
boat be In no way interfered with.
The vessel is wholly of iron. Inside tn
hull Is a plate-iron mid-deck. The space be
tween this and the upper deck is filled i
with cork and inflated air bags The rudde
is fixed upon q stern-post built upon th
keel, and its top Is four feet under water.
The torpedo gun is, however, the object @
most interest It lies upon the bottom Of tn
boat away down between the ribs. Tn
keel is so narrow and sharp that a bulg
must be built in 1t, upon the sides, to ADM
the gun. This is shown in the illustration
The torpedo or explosive she'll itself IS owe
twenty-five feet long and weighs 1,5O
pounds. 1t is fired by electricity. The tire
mendous she'll moves through the water 70
q distance Of 400 to 100 feet and burst
against the hull Of the hostile ship, BLOWN
her to atoms. 1t makes no noise or rippI
upon the water, and is therefore all the NOR
deadly. The black, fiat raft, with an iro
house on top, steams swiftly to within a fev
hundred feet Of the vessel, discharges th
shell and steams away again instantly.
Its difficult to see how she could be easil
harmed by a ships guns. The sea end 9th
gun is closed by a valve, which is opene
when the weapon is ready to be fired. Th
submarine gun can be fitted to any ship. ]
will probably not be trenching on politics t
hope that the government will yet take hol
of this invention before another nation gel
it The inventor, John Ericsson, is now s
years old.