The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-05-31
new NAVAL AprLiAsCEs.
Novel Asthod OF Propclsfon-High r.
piesivss I'm shefis Auxiliary shiro.
New York Sun

Novel Asehcd OF Proprisfon-High Kz-
pio91v0u In shefls Auxiliary shipo.
New York Sun
Washington, May H--One Of the minor
yet interesting features OF the navy bin.
on which an agreement has been effected.
II that which directs Secretary Herbert
10 cause an examination by board OF
officers TO Be had OF any system that may
Be offered 10 him for proceiiinx vessels BY
direct action against the water without
the use OF screws
eyxtems Of this sort have for several
years been made the object OF study.
Ths Water Witch. 10 be driven BY n.y.
drauf.c pressure. or by the pumping out
OF continuous stream OF water. was .
craft built by the British government.
which. however. did not snccees. In this
country Or. W. NJ Jackson l. said to have
derived promising results from applying
the hydraulic theory to a launch about
nifty feet long. the stream Of water that
pushed IL being driven through very
small hole. Afterward he constructed .
boat about twice ~ long. and with twen-
ty-tkres feet beam. drawing only = few
feet A hole IN the stern posi- was de-
signed. not for a propeller shaft, but for
nozzle. through which powerful engines
were 10 drive q stream OF water with such
force rs TO make II hike an infexibie steel
propeller.
This WINS TO be the substitute for screws
and their shafts and even for rsdders,
efOce the detection Of the rigid stream Of
water TO the one side OF the other would
turn the vessel more quickly than \ rud-
der. OF course such \ slrupi;flcatson OF
machinery would be desirable in many
ways II practicable In the pending bill
the particular rystezn OF direct action to
be tried Is not mentioned. and perhaps II
may seem strange that the subject should
be introduced into this bill at all. hut in
these days Of wonders people have gener-
ally become sparing Of predicting that
new devices cannot succeed. ard are con-
tent to let failure. II u is to occur. be
demonstrated by actual test.
Another provision. not quite - novel.
yet dealing with something not yet ee-
cured for our navy. = that which Appro-
PIRATES 5000 for testing methods Of
throwing high explosives. at ordinary We
iccatisA from guns ON cupboard. The
question In this case h simply as to the
character Of the explosive and Of tho
fasa. OF course. the language Of the pro-
vision shows that the pneumatic gun II
not under consideration at III. As that can
only furnish low vejoc4tieA It Il under
stood. also. that no special reliance Is
placed upon the use OF shells Of Q special
construction. The main point - that the
n srnokele08 pOWueT. made af the New
port naval station. seems TO be perfectly
safe 10 use a. . bursting charge In shells.
Its base Is gun cotton. and. IN the opinion
Of Capt Sampson, this y q great adyan-
tsge over a powder oontAininx any con-
siderable percentage of nitro-glycerine.
But ono OF the questions Of chief mpor-
fnncs Is as TO the decorator. The provis-
Ion In the new navy BIZ has double ef-
feet. that OF furnishing money for the
experiments and Of authorizing them In
fereslsially.
II Is one OF the mysteries OF naval iegis-
lation that whereas last year the senate
rejected altogether tho house provision for
batteries to be made ready for the auxil-
larry cruisers. this year II took exactly the
opposite tack. and accused the house OF
not appropriating enough for that pur-
pose. 1t need hardly be said that the sem
ate's addition Of 60 per cent. TO what the
house had considered adequate was accept
ed By the representatives of the house.
who. by the way, seem only glad to accept
almost anything that the senate adds. and
object only TO the senate's eiisionA With
ssoo 60 now available for the xuns OF auxii-
larry cruisers there Is no doubt that these
last WIN soon have batteries ready for
them In reserve. The provision that Sec
rotary Herbert may have them made by
contract eiinches the matter. but IL yet
remains 10 be seen how much work on
guns Will be needed from the Washington
navy yard.