The morning news., 1894-08-15
THE LITTLE DESTROYER.

Ericsson within the next week orteu
days, non with any hostile purpose. but
on her way to New York and the testing
ground, in Long Island sound, where the
official tests and acceptance trial of the
new vessel. already termed the Little De-
stroyer, will be made early in September.
The Ericsson Is now in New Orleans,
where she arrived Monday, and is being
put in condition for her trip through the
gulf and up the Atlantic coast. The yes
sci will be warmly received here if she
puts IN either al Tybee or comes up to
the city, which she can do without diff
1iculty. The new vessel is a novelty in
marine architecture, and is expected to
be an important factor in modern naval
warfare. She will be an object of great
interest if she puts in here, as it is not
unlikely that she will.
The Ericsson is the first torpedo boat
built a an inland port, and is the second
built in America. She was constructed
by the Iowa Iron Works Company at Du-
buque, la.-the first corporation in the
west that has had the temerity to enter
the lists with the HerreshOisof OF America,
or the Yarrows of England in the build
ing of war vessels.
The successful completion and launch
ing of this wonderful craft in the middle
west a thousand miles from the seacoast
has been commented on in both continents.
II has developed the fact that war vessels
cess of interior Notifications may thereby
be greatly facilitated.
The vessel was launched at Dubuque
May II, and was chriStened the Ericsson
in honor of the inventor The tirsJ tor
,pedO gunbOat built for the American navy
was named the Gushing, aud is said by
experts to be far inferior IL construction
and important detail to the Ericsson.
At first sight, the vessel is said to
challenge dlSdppOint rather than ad-
miratiOn, being an inferior-looking craft
when compared with any of the large
war cruisers in the naval equipment of
foreign nations, or even with any of those
in Uncle Sans galaxy of ocean terrors
and yet it has the power, in the hands of
an experienced crew, to shiver any of
these more formidable craft into frag-
ments as easily as a child could crush a
worm beneath its foot Its superiority
consists in its tieetnesS, and the terrible
destructiveness of its weapons of war
fare.
The Ericsson is built entirely of steel,
divided into twelve water-tight compart-
ments. In shape she reSem bles cigar of
the "perfecto' pattern. Her length is $50
feet width l5l5 feet and depth 10 feet
feet of water, leaving only one-half of her
hull exposed. Hardly as large as pleas
ure yacht, she is nevertheless the most
dangerous audinyincible of ali the formid
able warriors upon Jne nlgn seas.
In the construction of the vessel the
question OF speed was uppermost. Her
lines were perfected with great care, and
her displacement reduced to the mini
mum. She is equipped with two boilers
of 1000 horse power each, and two com
-piete vertical, inverted, fOur-cylinder,
quadruple expansion marine engines,
making sixteen Interviewing engines in
all, and giving her propellers a speed of
420 re olutions per minute. The contract
price of the vessel is Sll3,5O0, and she
must be able to make not less than TWEEN
ty-four knots an hour. For every quar-
ter of a knot BEYOND this limit the build
ers will receive a bonus of s., 800 up to
twenty five knots. Beyond this, the pre-
MUM is to be IS 500 per quarter knot.
I4ieut. Usher, who is in command of her,
thinks Thai when she is limbered up she
will beat the worlds record of naval
speed, which is 1856 per hour.
- The vessel is not designed for warfare
at short range, but she is expected to
excel in tactics, and that with the de-
structiveness of her armament, are the
features upon which she is depended to
work terrible havoc when in action. She
will not approach an enemy nearer than
half a mile, and after firing all her tor
pedoes, retreats to safe distance from
the enemy. The armament of the vessel
consists of three torpedo guns one on the
extreme bow and two revolving at the
stern. The torpedoes are propelled from
the guns under water at a speed Of thirty
knots an hour.
The. .torpedoes to be used by the ''Elrics-
son" are of the Whitehead automobile
(American) pattern, twelve feet in length
and weighing from 500 to 1000 pounds
each. In shape, they resemble the boat
in fact, each one is a complete vessel in
Itself, divided into compartments and
carrying its own motive and explosive
power.
in the first section of the torpedo is
placed heavy charge of dynamite The
next compartment contains the rcgulat-
ing or steering apparatus, by which the
torpedo is adjusted to a certain depth for
its deadly mission against the enemy. In
the next section is the boiler room" or
power chamber, which contains enough
compressed air TO propel the torpedo a
proper distance. In the compartment
following is located a three-cylinder
brotherhood engine, operating twin
screws which work in opposite directions
on the same axis. thus preventing the
torpedo from turning in the water.
The bow torpedo is not shot from the
vessei-it is simply tossed into the water
by a pressure of sixty pounds of COM
pressed air. 1t instantly sinks to the re-
quired depth, when its machinery starts
in motion and away it speeds, as rapidly
as railroad train, unseen, unhearG be-
meath the waters, which well guard its
secret mission. and woe betide the ob ect
with which it comes in contact, for the
force of the impact would shatter it into
thousand fragments. N..
When in service the Ericsson first
fires lis forward gun, and at once puts
about for a swift retreat. She can turn
in space of half her length, and when
half way about another torpedo is fired
from the pivotal gun on the revolving car
riage at the stern When fully turned
about the third torpedo is set loose, all
having been discharged along the same
line.
The crew of the Ericsson consists of
twenty-seven men. Lieut.. Usher of the
United States navy is her commander.
She is supplied with twenty incandescent
lights and one large electric search-light,
and has a distilling apparatus for freshen-
ing salt water. Lieut.. Usher pronounces
her the. most perfect and wonderful YES
sci in the navy. If on her trial trip she
attains the speed her builders expect OF
her, she will be the fastest vessel in the
world. In view of the deep interest that
is taken. in. the vessel and the wonderful
results that are expected TO follow and
mark her advent in the naval world, Sa-