The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-25


in the galley, while the steward slows
himself away on top of the ice chest.
Amidships the boilers and engines take
up the whole width and depth of the boat.
with bunkers for forty tons of coal. The
wonderful feature of the boat here comes
in. At her maximum speed, say twenty
four or twenty-five miles an hour,
though the little greyhound has made
twenty-seven miles, this coal supply will
last her but twenty-fOur hours. But I'M
der economical pressure, that is ten knots
an hour, she can go for fifteen days and
steam across the ocean.
Although almost every one knows that
the Cushing is the greatest torpedo
boat of this, or any other country, there
is great lack of knowledge as TO what
she really is, many thinking her to be
an armored fighting boat, and others sup
posing her to be fitted for submarine
work.
She is neither one nor the other, but
simply the fastest steam launch that the
great Hereshoff firm has ever built. She
was turned over to the government four
years ago. She shows scarcely anything
above the water when she is in fighting
trim, and goes like an express train; but
she is a veritable paper shell, in places
only five-sixty-fourths of an inch thick,
and would be externally punctured by the
lightest shot from big cruiser, that is,
if the cruiser caught sight OF her before
the Cushing had let OF a torpedo under
her bottom, or if the cruiser could hit the
ghost boat after she had her in sight.
1t is this problem of9making the Cush-
ing invisible that accounts for the coat Of
bottle-green paint under which she is now
masquerading When she went to New
port this year she made her headquar-
tiers at the torpedo station, on Goat
Island, Just inside the harbor; but the
practice grounds were out about Sag
Harbor and Peaconnet Bay. Every few
days she would run over to Newport TO
coal up and take on fresh classes of Off
GERS for instruction, and at such times
Lieut. Frank Fletcher, who commanded
the little craft, would telegraph the sta
ton that he would be in the harbor by
$3.50 at night.
The San Francisco and the Miantono-
mob would accordingly get their search
lights to working, and, aided by the, big
light at the station, would sweep the
entrance to the harbor.
She was caught the first three times
she endeavored to enter the harbor, but
after trying several colors of paint it was
found that the dull green coat was prac-
tically invisible, and after the third at
tempt she was never detected, though
there was only an arc of about 30' to
be watched by the three big lights.
On several occasions the little boat ran
up within few yards of the big cruisers
without being detected, and once steamed
into the harbor in the face of the big
light at the station and twice around the
island before she was seen. The green
paint seemed TO take the color Of old
moss-covered rocks, and the only points
where the light was reflected was where
the salt spray crusted above the water
line Further experiments will be made
to get an absolutely dead paint, with no
gloss in it; but green has been accepted
as the best color.
The paint experiments were only an
incident Of the seasons work. The main
business of the Cushing was to test the
first Whitehead torpedoes that were de-
livered to the government and to find
under what conditions they could be used
with the greatest effect. The Whitehead
torpedo Is one of the most remarkable
engines of marine warfare. 1t is a fish
like steel casing divided into several cross
sections. In the head is the fighting
charge of high explosive, just back of
that an flask where the compressed air
TO propel the torpedo is held. Still back
of that is the secret cham bcr,o where
the automatic steering and adjusting APP
paratus is kept, the mechanism of which
was so long kept a secret by the torpedo
makers, and finally in the tail of the fish
are the engines that run pair of speed
propellers working in opposite directions
to keep the torpedo on an even keel
The Gushing has three torpedo tubes
from which these projectiles are launched
with a five-ounce charge of powder, just
enough to make them clear the side of
the boat. On striking the water the tor
pedo sinks to whatever depth the gunner
desires, and tears along at the rate of
thirty miles an hour, which the govern
ment contract stipulates shall be kept up
for 500 yards. But in reality the effective
fight is good 1000 yards. The results
of the torpedo target practice were very
gratifying The projectiles were fired
from the boat at varying angles, and
while going at varying rates of speed, up
to thirteen or fourteen knots. The aver
age range was 400 yards, and at this dis
lance, fraction over four out of five
shots took effect on the target, which
was the size of an ordinary cruiser.
Another satisfactory feature of the
work was that out of over hundred
shots not one torpedo was lost, very I'M
usual occurrence and a very gratifying
one, as these little submarine spitfres
cost s.. 500 each. The recovery of the tor
pedoes in the case of the Whiteheads is
facilitated by the wake of the bubbles
rising from the exhaust of the pneumatic
engine, and when the projectile has run
the length of its fight it rises to the sur
face, owing to the stopping Of the ma
chinery.
The result of all the practice firing was
watched very closely, and curves and ad-
justments Of all sorts calculated to guide
the gunners in the use of these compare
lively unknown weapons when the larger
vessels of the white squadron are
equipped with them.
The great problem, however. that con-
fronts the torpedo fighters is the torpedo
nets thatare hung out by the big cruisers
for their own protection. These nets go
twenty feet or more below the water and
extend the same distance out from the
sides Of the ship. They efectually stop
a Whitehead and bring it to the surface,
but it was found that by the submarine
gun of the Destroyer, which was prac-
ticing in the sound at the same time with
the Cushing, the nets could be pene-
trated at 200 yards. The sale of the sub
marine boat to the Brazilian government,
however, puts an end to these expert
ments, and the virtues of a new metal
net that was on trial in the sound have
not yet been fully determined.
After the seasons hard work the little
Cushing has been subjected to a thorough
overhauling. Her boilers, with their $40
tubes, have been taken out, her ashpans
removed to be replaced by new ones, and
all of her engines and machinery made
over thoroughly. She will be undergoing
inspection, repairs and painting until
about the middle of April. BY May she