Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1885-06-27
THE DESTROYER.

The most ponderous and alleged invulner-
able war ships in existence are the Italian
Inflexible and Duilio, and the British Thun-
derer and Devastation. But against even
these giants torpedo boat like the De-
stroyer would be as the needle that pune
lures 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 peglects
to purchase her, or in any way to remunerate
her veteran inventor for his time and
trouble. 1t will probably be another
Hotchkiss gun case. Certainly, so far as
anything can be judged which has not yet
been put to lopg- continued actual test, the
nation that should equip her ports and fleets
with Destroyers would have far-reaching
advantage over her opponent
The Destroyer is a submerged torpedo
boat, which fires 250-pound explosive shell
under water. The great ironclads are heavily
armor-plated only above water If the
plating was carried to the bottom of the
ship, below the water, the weight would be
SO tremendous as to render the vessel prac-
tically useless. The Destroyer's fatal torpedo
sneaks along, ten feet or SO under water, and
presently the great ironclad ship thinks Mt.
NeSuVius mas opened under her.
The Illustration shows the Destroyers ex-
ternal appearance, at the bow. For the mat
ter of that, either end might be the bow, as
she is built alike at both extremities
She is 1870 feet long, IL feet wide and IL
feet deep. She lies almost entirely under
the sea, the water-line being shown where
the Dark lines at the upper edge Of the hull
are seen. The house upon the deck is of iron,
1,,,+f 10 I'll ~ IA
for the temporary shelter of the Grew, but
may be all Shot away, and the setion of the
boat be in no way interfered With
The vessel is wholly of iron. Inside the
hull is plate-iron mid-deck The space be-
tween this and the upper deck is filed in
with cork and inflated air bags. The rudder
is fixed upon q stern-post built upon the
keel, and its top is four feet under water
The torpedo gun is, however, the object of
most interest 1t lies upon the bottom of the
boat, away down between the ribs The
keel is so narrow and sharp that bulge
must be built in it, upon the sides, to admit
the gun. This is shown in the illustration.
The torpedo Or explosive shell itself is over
twenty-five feet long and weighs 1,500
pounds. 1t is fired by electricity. The ire
mendous she'll moves through the water for
a distance of 400 to 700 feet and bursts
against the hull of the hostile ship, blowing
her to atoms. 1t makes no noise or ripple
upon the water, and is therefore all the more
deadly. The black, fat raft, with an iron
house on top, steams swiftly to within few
hundred feet of the vessel, discharges the
shell and steams away again instantly
1t is difficult to see how she could be easily
harmed by ships guns. The sea end of the
gun is closed by valve, which is opened
when the weapon is ready to be fired. The
submarine gun can be fitted to any ship II
will probably not be trenching on politics tc
hope that the government will yet take hold
of this invention before another nation gets
it. The inventor, John Ericsson, is now g.
years old.