The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-10
The Sword Ship Is Now Expected
to Disable Big Armored
Vessels.
Effective Design Of a Danish In
ventor to Disable Ships
of War.
Protected Against Heavy shot-Manoeu-
vers Very RapidIy-AvOids the Dam
gers Of Torpedo Boats.

When the fleet OF nation consisted of big
wooden vessels Ericsson constructed mon
itor armored against their shots and able
to destroy a great number of ships without
being damaged itself. says an exchange.
Two formidable weapons not in use at that
'time-the ram and the ~torpedo-have been
introduced, either OF which may
destroy in n few seconds millions Of
value in armored vessels. Ships OF great
size for carrying guns have therefore
been furnished with these nuxiliaries. Tho
United States in it's latest type has discarded
the gun and the torpedo, and in the Ammen
ram places its sole reliance in the spur, the
vessel being heavily armored for her dis
placement and Of quick maneuvering quail
ties. A Danish inventor, conceiving the
idea that small rams to destroy the propel-
Ter Of an adversary are desirable adJuncts to
a feet OF war vessels, has designed h he
calls a sword ship. His plan is for a vessel
of ITO tons displacement, intended for
spelling shafts or propeller-blades or punch
ing holes in the bottoms Of tho smaller iron.
clads or armored cruisers. It's sword
is more than ten feet long and has teeth
like a saw to prevent it from slipping. Its
upper point is six feet below the water
level, its lower point being FIVE and a half
feet deeper. The sword Is carried and sup
ported by two arms viii III should be as
thin as consistent with strength in order
not to impede the maneuvering power.
Sword ships should be furnished with twin
propellers, with n balanced rudder be-
tween them, and should have many water
tight compartments, some of which, when
action is impending, should be filled
with water in order to submergs the
ship still deeper. The speed ought to be
higher than that Of torpedo boats of equal
nnUAF and NIQrIAOQynanf that ID QUAR-
twenty five knots per hour. because the
sword ship has no projectiles to discharge
and her mission is to destroy the larger
game. Tit coming towers should be
armored and arranged so as to lessen as
much Ms possible the shock of collision. Al
though any kind of propeller ON be used,
the maneuvering power il 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 upps blade
is greatest in ordinary propeIlers, on ac-
wake. but here its plate angle decreases a
little, while the pitch of the opposite blade
increases In the same proportion. The ma
ueuvering of a small sword. vessel requires
only one duty from the commander, &C
cording to the nventor-that is, that he
should be a sailor.
Sitting in the conning-tower the com
mander is able to concentrate his whole at
tention upon the maneuvers required ia
@ rush upon the enemy and destroy his pro-
pellers. AT a distance Of 1000 feet from
an ironclad big shot would ricochet from the
h~nlf-submerged deck of the sword ship, and
rs the distance can be passed over in twenty
five seconds the chance of being damaged is
little when the vessel is protected against
quick-fre guns. Suppose an ironclad II a
sword vessel going say eighteen and twenty
four knots respectively, the sword vessel
possessing several times greater maneuver-
ing power. The commander requires only
to thrust his floating sword within the disc
area of the condemned propeller and the
blades are cut off in rapid succession. The
%sanguine inventor says of bis work: "There
can DO no doubt concerning the correctness
OF this method, because complicated torpe-
does often fail in tho decisive moment,
whereas a sword must damage where it hits.
Secondly, the maneuvers demanded for
the application of torpedoes are always i'm
peded by a great number of difficulties"