The sun., 1896-01-26
TORPEDO BOAT CITCHERS.
Their Peculiar Duties md Great EfcIency
In Naval Warfare.


The torpedo boat catcher is Il vessel Of prey.
It's business Ia 20 swooo down upon torpedo
boats that venture out to sea and capture them
or wipe them out. or course. the torpedo
boat Is Obliged TO rely wholly on its speed tor
safety. 1t is built of the lightcst material
possible. and half dozen well.aimcd projec-
tiles from n small rapid fire gun will sink il.
Unfortunately. when IL gets out on the ocean
the waves knock down its speed. 1t is buff
fcttel about hy the billows 50 that under fa"o.
able circumstances an ordinary gunLoat might
| capture 1t. This is where the advantage Of the
catcher comes In. The latter Is about twice as
big. heavier, ard more strongly built, and Is
cGuaay swift. Having high freeboard it is
indifferent to rough water. and under the con
di;ions described Is likely to find no difficulty in
picking up II dozen of the little fellows.
1t must be remembered that the problems Of
| modern warfare are new urObem-. The eff
cheney of The catcher a. opposed to the torpedo
boat remains yet to be tested in practice. hut
Value Of the mosquito % War vessels @ w viii be be i'm n,
| paired 20 II great extent by the mosquito hawks.
| The catcher is 80 speedy as to be able to run
/ steam ali around n battle ship, keeping safe
distance away from the big guns. Az rule.
| she carries one l2-pouna rapid fire gun. and
| five rapid IRE 6pounders. This armament Is
greatly superior TO that of torpedo hoats.which
! nr" equipped with from three to six rapid-iire
| gun of smaller calibrc.
Whereas the torpedo boat is mere she'll. pen-
otrnhs N & any & pnr, ny mIskGt bullet. the
of her mach hnery. between the'lattcr and her ont
skin. are bunkers Of coal which will stop such
projectics a. are fired from rapid fire 3-pound:
| crs. A shot from man of wars big gun would
| 90 clear through coal and machinery. but il is
her business 10 KEEP out Of the way Of that. For
ward and abaft she IS divided inside into num-
Der Of small c3mpn -tments. separated hy wrter
aging s shots Wtont ' being si daEed receive
The catcher has n dsplacement Of from $50
TO $50 tons which means that ths vessel weighs
200 tons. The catcher has torpedoess and tor
fact sc Is nothing more nor less than n toy
| petlO boat OF superior size and strength. with n
n'ser sorrowfH ns @ eonsder tfs Rnt Tn;lc Han
does not possess n single torpcdo-hoat catcher.
Plans f'r scNcr9l have been made at the Navy
| Department in Washington. and some day they
may be used. unless. as Is very likely. the de
signs have become obsolete meanwhile. The
arr OF war IS deyelrning So rapidly particularly
with regard to fighting on the sea. that in the
time that must rlarsc between The ordering
to be more Sr % or less less b"ind the latest dea S"''
| Not long ago the pl ans In detail were made
for Ihe construction OF catcher that was reck-
oncd for speed OF twcnty-oight knots. Con
gress appropriated money for the purpose. but
It. wa; ne not enough. and go the he building q tho
| lativc assembly has been very niggardly in fur
niSShins money none, for the torpedo b3at service.
boats built. The only one in commI Isslon is the
Gushing. The Ericsson has not had sat,sfno-
tor speed trial yet On two or a .rge trials sng
Of them seayoing. are being constructed for
this Government. They have not been named
and :. Sos % D. !. f5 and ar arc S being g built III t. at at
BmltimorS oand : At Bristol, r. L., and at
All OF these six numbered torpedo boats will
E. bigger Fh r. Tim the Gushing s
| y will have n raised deck forward, to enable
her to knock down the seas. The Gushing and
Ericsson each carry three rapil-ifire one, '
no. :. which viii bo provided with four % one e.
to hS s vSss's s Eyp E GGss s nsa fr"
and most expensive. They are expected To
have have speed Of ,Wentyssy..n .n knots, which is
England has forty,thrce seagong torpedo
| boats. to which are added twcntv-six tirst-class
torpedo boats and number Of secOnd-class
ones Some OF the .sec3i.d class are actually
have, q few Of them. but they - small affairs,
weighing only about eighteen tons cnr!. Tbs
Sso hp Mains ns s and the ss.s hs,
Is prepared to let loose u swarm of floating
hornets. TO h9rass the enemy: m One % OF these
little torpedo boats costs only 1000 20 build,
and 1t is able. il it can get near, enough, To
destroy with n single shot an ironclad that rep;
cash. Each small vessel OF this kind carries
two or three collapsblc boats OF canvas. for
The torpedo boat may be regarded as reck-
less expedent in warfare. Its business Is t9 (!
| rush upon the enemy and blow him up II
possible, and to go down itself In the attempt
It must be sunk Immediately. Thus II comes
about that only young officers arc assimet ia
willing to take their chances. and good deal
of devil-may-care is iirst,ratc quality In the
truth, II may be said 10 be essential. IA for
the chances OF a torpedo boat In conflict with
a catcher they are practically nil; Two or
OF the former are likely to set fire to the tor.
psdo boat and burn her up. The evolution OF
| modern warfare has developed nothing more
strange than the auxiliary fleet OF fragile boats
| Of wood which have the power to destroy At q
| blow the mightlest steel-clad battle ship.