Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-01-06
A NEW TORPEDO BOAT.
How Con. Berdan Proposes To Blow
the Biggest Man-of- War Out OF the
Water.

the Biggest Man-or- War Out or the
Water
There has been on exhibition N this
city. says The NeW York EUeniny Post,
for the past few days Il model for a
new torpedo boat. the invent on of
Gen. Berdan. which il is ella me will
very effectively blow out of existence
the largest ironclad afoat Contracts
have been made with the chief
European powers for the use of this
boat, and Gen. Berdan saws that il has
been practically accepted by the Unit
ed States government A stock COM
pany with capital Of $1,000, 600 has
been formed in this country for the
manufacture of this class of boats.
Gen. Berdan said. in conversation
with reporter: There always has
been n great number of difficulties in
the way of the successful working of a
torpedo boat. The netting having put
an eilectual stop TO the attack of
torpedoes. il was necessary TO find
some way of circumventing it. 1t is
well-known fact that in order TO disable
q vessel I is necessary TO attack her
from below. a torpedo put against
her de would only injure one of her
compartments, and she might get
away Shooting torpedo at vessel
would be good deal like throwing "A
knife ut man across the street with
more chances OF m ssing than hitting
him, and still fewer chances Of hitting
him in a vital part. The lroblom to he
solved was how to 60 up to the vessel.
place torpedo under her bottom, and
destroy Der completely. Tn | have
solved
"A heavily armored ram. of high
speed, ~ double-ender, IS used. The
spur of the ram is only six feet long.
and the method adopted for its pro-
lection is something quite new 4 The
construction of war-,hips. A ram is
effective only with direct blow; a
CHANGING blow will bend or break the !
spur and render the boat useless. 10 |
save the spur | have adopted the ordi- |
nary ferry boat deck the glaucing |
blow will be against this and the spur
w be saved. The great stability Of .
tn deck will enable the boat to stand
a great shock without danger to il.
Underneath this deck there are four
screws for the propulsion Of the boat.
two on each side. These are connect
ed with shafts so that they can be run
in opposite directions and the boat can
be turned on her own center. In
order that she may not be obliged to
attack small boats that may attack
her, another and smaller boat of the
same design W II 60 with her to protect
her
The torpedo is attached to long
arm, which, when not IN actual use,
5 run up against her side, under the
buffer deck The boat is sent directly
against the enemy and IA soon Us she
strikes this arm is swung down, under
he netting hung out around the sh p,
md the torpedo exploded against the
POTION of the vessel One torpedo
will be quite sufficient to destroy any
war ship. This arm is run by a shaft
which drives il against the bottom of a J
'essel at n speed Of thirty feet
econd. The force OF revolving shaft q
the pressure, and the cart
Idge is exploded. After the explosion
he torpedo boat can back out. the
rm can be sent back into its place
nd another torpedo attached AMI she
5 ready for another attack. There is 4
ne OF these arms on each side of the =
osL so that both or ther can be
sed according to the need. expect
efore long to make tr al against
b p anchored out at sea properly pro
ected by netting, and Will blow her
p at the first attack We are all
eady to 20 ahead, the company has
cen formed. and the money to build
I'll be forthcoming.