The herald., 1896-10-18
|MPOTENCY Of BATTLESH|PS
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We look at the great array Of battle
ships Of England, France, Italy, Rus
sia, Germany and the United States and
compute the naval strength of each ma
tion by the tonnage, number and caliber
OF guns In their navies. Such an esti-
mate will no longer hold good. A Los
Angeles man, who as q young man
served In the confederate navy, and who
has ever since made warships study.
has at last discovered q method Of at
tack that places the most powerful war
ship at disadvantage, rendering 1t alb
solutely helpless, and when attacked
must either capitulate or be destroyed
with every soul on board. No warship
afloat can resist this modern marine Da-
vid. The inventor has figured the prob
lem so closely that he says that within
three hours of sighting an enemy she
will surrender or be blown out Of the
water. Escape is impossible. The size
Of the attacked ship and caliber of her
guns cuts no figure. A Herald reporter
interviewed the inventor, but while he
admitted the foregoing facts he was un-
willing to go into details. He said: THE
policy of the United States government
in making public the secrets of all war
inventions, had determined him to pre-
serve his own secret. Should the United
States need his invention 1t could have
II freely, but as there was no immedi-
ate prospect of war with any foreign
government, he declined to submit his
plans to the government. Should any
foreign naval power go to war In the
near future he would doubtless offer his
plans to one Of the opposing powers.
when a scientific test could be made.
He claims that after his invention Is
tested it will revolutionize the navies
of the world. No more ponderous battle
ships will be built on their present lines.
He deplores the expense Of the proposed
battle ships that are to be built very
soon by the United States government.
He SAYS they will be obsolete before they
are placed in commission, should a naval
engagement occur between powers en-
ploying battle ships.
They will be useless except for harbor
defense, and for that purpose they do not
require the elaborate model. powerful
engines. etc. He says that an offer has
operate against the Spanish fleet in
Cuban waters. He is now considering
this. He says that with an outfit cost
ing $500, 900 he can capture or destroy
every war ship in the West indies II
the Cuban junta can assure him suf-
ficient financial support and pay him
for his services and prizes, he will un-
dertake the task of destroying or cap
turing the Spanish fleets In the West
Indies He says his proposition is
neither aerial or submarine, but that he
works from the deck of a ship. There
is nothing mysterious in his work. ex-
cept the mystery that is impenetrable
by the enemy. BY this system 1t Is
possible to capture a great battleship
and>save the lives of the crew. At pres
ent heavily armed ship would hardly
strike her colors to anything afloat until
SO disabled that she could not further
resist. The chances are that before
heavily armored ship would be placed
in that condition she would be sinking,
carrying more than half of her crew
down dead or wounded. Even those
who may survive shot and shell could
not escape the vortex of great armed
vessel sinking.
When the crew of a battleship have
target to fire at they will work their
guns with enthusiasm, giving but little
heed to the damage inflicted by the ene-
my; but suppose there Is no target, the
great guns frown idly, yet mesh is
quietly weaving around the ship that
means sure destruction, while they are
powerless to resist or escape. The moral
effect on the crew would almost equal a
panic. especially IL 1t were known that
a sister ship had been blown to atoms
because It's officers refused 10 surrender.
1t would soon be difficult to enlist crews
for battle ships; then governments
would cease to build such shfps