The Irish standard., 1891-03-28
AN OCEAN TIE RROR.
a New Invention to Disable tho
Great nonolads.
1t Is Called the swordsilip. and y = the
Work Of q Danish Inventor-A Terrl-
BILE Agent of Destruction In
Marine Warfare.


! monitor armored against their shots
and able to destroy great numbe o.
ships without being damaged itself.
Two formidable weapons not IN use az
that time-the ram and the torpedo
! have been introduced, either OF which
may destroy in a few seconds mlhons !.
of value in armored vessels. Ships OF
great size for carrying guns have there
fore been furnished with these auxll-
iaries. The United States in it's latest
type, says the Chicago Mail, has DIS
carded the gun and the torpedo and In
the Ammen ram places its sole reliance
in the spur, the vessel being heavily
armored for her displacement and OF
quick maneuvering qualities. Danish
inventor, conceiving the idea that small
rams to destroy the propeller OF an ad-
versary are desirable adjuncts to meet
of war vessels, has designed what he
calls swordship. His plan is for q
vessel of one hundred and ten tons dis
placement, intended for spelling shafts
or propeller blades or punching holes in
the bottoms of the smaller ironclads or
armored cruisers. It's sword is more
than ten feet long and has teeth like a
saw to prevent it from slipping. It's
upper point is six feet below the water
level, it's lower point being five and a
half feet deeper. The sword is carried
and supported by two arms which
should be as thin as is consistent with
strength in order not to impede the
maneuvering power. Swordships should
be furnished with twin propellers,
with balanced rudder between
them, and should have many water
tight compartments, some Of which,
when action is impending, should be
filled with water in order to submerge
the ship still deeper. The speed onght
to be higher than that Of torpedo boats
of equal power and displacement-tha
is, over twenty-five knots per hour, be-
cause the swordship has no projectiles
to discharge and her mission is to de-
stroy the larger game. The counting
towers should be armored and arranged
so as to lessen as much as possible the
shock of collision. Although any kind
of propeller can be used the manc11vcr-
ing power is thought to be especially
improved with the two-bladed pro-
pellers. The blades are connected by
means of a blade-axle which can turn
freely in the boss. The thrust of the
upper blade is greatest in ordinary pro-
pellers, on account of the greater
speed Of the upper wake, but here it's
plate angle decreases a little, while the
pitch of the opposition blade increases
in the same proportion. The maneuv
ering Of a small sword-vessel requires
only one duty from the commander, &C.
cording to the inventor-that is that he
should be sailor.
Sitting in the coming tower the COM
mander is able to concentrate his whole
attention upon the maneuvers required
to rush upon the enemy and destroy
his propellers, At distance of one
Thousand feet from an ironclad big
shot would ricochet from the half-sub-
merged deck of the swordship, and as
the distance can be passed over in
twenty-five seconds the chance of being
damaged is little when the vessel is
protected against quick guns. Sup
pose an ironclad and a sword-vessei
going say eighteen and twenty-four
knots respectively, the sword-vessei
possessing several times greater ma
neuvering power. Its commander re-
quires only to thrus* his doating-sword
within the disc area of the condemned
propeller and the blades are cut off in
rapid succession. The sanguine in
ventor says of his work: There can
be no doubt concerning the correctness
of this method, because complicated tor
pedoes often fail in the decisive mo-
ment, whereas a sword must damage
where it hits; secondly. the maneuvers
demanded for the application of tor
pedoes are always impeded by great
number of difficulties