The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-03-26
HOW ToRPEDoEs ACT ON SHIPS.
1t Takes Time to Sink an IrOncIad
with a System of Compartments.
Westminster Gazette.


Naval men must be amused at the terri
bic explosions on paper caused 10 war ships
as portrayed in the recent editions or pen
ny dreadfuls." torpedo discharged from
a torpedo boat is supposed TO have blown
her Majesty's steamship Narcissus, a yes
vessel OF $500 tons. into twain, which ship
then plunged stern foremost into the sea,
and with the union jack still flying, dis
appeared without soul on board being able
to save himself
/ was present when / believe two torpe-
does, with 100 pounds of guncotton in each.
were discharged against her MajestyS
steamship Resistance, protected by nets, as
an experiment in Portsdown creek; the Re-
sistance was specially strengthened, but
she had not nearly as many separate COM
partments as our new ships She certainly
sank at the last discharge when the nets
had given away, but sank slowly; there
was no blowing out of the water" about
il at all. The Resistance was, If remem-
Der rightly, OF about $500 tonnage.
The new eighteen-inch locomotive torpe-
does, like those in her Maiesty's steamship
Havock, carry 2)0 pounds Of guncotton as
their charge and IL is to be hoped that SIM
liar experiments with this charge will be
made with them, for It is quite possible
that an increased amount of explosive may
not have an equally increased power OF
damage.
employed in blowing vessels into the air
can call to mind one case which happened
TO my personal knowledge. A slave dhow
of about forty tons burden had been chased
by the boats OF one OF our cruisers and eS-
capped immediate capture by running up a
creek in the north part of Pemba island,
near Zanzibar. She arrived at the top OF
spring tides, and had been lightened be-
forehand. Although condemned in the Zan-
Zibar Prize Court, she could not be 1oated
for several days a party of men was
therefore sent on shore TO destroy her, and
| two sixteen-pound charges OF guncotton
were placed under her keel. holes being dug
out and tempered down, one under the mast
| and the other about twelve feet from the
stern. Instantaneous fuses were fitted in
| pistols, and the party retired about fifty
yards into the bush. The Arabs were In
Numbers looking on, not Offering any re-
sistance When the pistclS were fired to-
gether, by the fall of flag, the dhow was
hoisted bodily upward into the air some
thirty or forty feet, broke in two in a Y
| form and fell I'm pieces. The Arabs rushed
away, crying out, Alb Shaitan'' (Wonder-
| full, the deviD, and this incident struck a
| considerable blow against the proceedings
| is a great difference in blowing up a vessel
of forty tons, almost on land, with thirty
| two pounds of guncotton and blowing up
| a ship OF 5000 tons in water even with
| two hundred pounds Of guncotton.
| | do not mean by the foregoing TO sug-
| geSt that the latter charge would not be
| fatal sooner or later to any cruiser IL IL
| struck her amidships, and If IL struck a
| battle ship ii would be almost, if not quite.
tantamount to putting her out Of action,
| but the idea Of sudden extinction, except
| for those poor fellows who happen to be in
| the immediate neighborhood of the explo-
| sion, may be disregarded. What with all
| our new modes of warfare il is a certainty
| that in naval battles of the future there
| Will be a far greater chance of individual
| extinction than Of distinction.