The herald., 1896-03-01
TORPEDO BOATS AND
CATCHERS THEREOF

The mighty feet of England includes
twenty torpedo-boat cstchers. Ger
many relies largely upon torpedo boats
for her fighting power upon the ocean
She has no fewer than ITO Of these
little vessels-more than half of them
OF the sea going class. They are terri
bic engines of war; but to them the
torpedo-boat cstchers are as mosquito
hawks to mosquitoes. OF these catch-
ers Great Britain possesses sixty-two.
The torpedo-bost catcher is a vessel
OF prey. Its business is to swoop down
upon torpedo boats that venture out to
sea and capture them or wipe them
out OF course the torpedo boat is
obliged to rely wholly on it's speed for
safety; it is built of the lightestimater-
ial possible, and half dozen well-aimed
projectiles from a small rspid-fire gun
will sink it. Unfortunately, when it
gets out on the ocean the waves knock
down its speed. It is buffeted about
by the billows, so that under favorable
circumstances an ordinary gunboat
might capture it. This is where the
advantage Of the catcher comes in.
The latter is about twice as big, heavier
and more strongly built. and it is
equally swift. Having q high free
board 1t is Indifferent to rough water,
and under such conditions as those
described it is likely to find no diff
Guilty in picking up dozen Of the lit
tie fellows.
It must be remembered that the
problems of modern warfare are new
problems. The efficiency Of the catcher
as opposed to the torpedo boat remains
yet to be tested in practice. But there
seems to be no doubt that the practical
value of the mosquito war vessels will
be impaired to great extent by the
mosquito-hawks. The catcher is so
speedy as to be able to run away from
the fastest cruiser, and she can steam
all around battleship, keeping at a
safe distance from the big guns. As
rule, she carriee one twenty-pound
rspid-flre gun and five rapid-tire six
Founders. This armament is greatly
superior to that of torpedo boats,
which are equipped with from three to
six rapid fire guns Of smaller caliber.
Whereas the torpedo boat is mere
shell. penetrable in any part by
musket bullet, the catcher has some
sort of protection. Abreast Of her
machinery, between the latter and her
outer skin, are bunkers of coal, which
will stop such projectiles as are fred
from rapid-f1re eight-pounders. A shot
from q man-of.war's big gun would go
clean through coal and machinery, but
it is her business to keep out of the
way of that. Forward and aft she is
divided inside into q number of small
compartments separated by water-tight
bulkheads. 80 that she might receive
good many damaging shots without
being disabled.
The catcher has a displacement of
from $50 to $50 tons-which means
that the vessel weighs that much. Tor
pedo boats, on the other hand, of the
larger seaRoing kind, run from 100 to
200 tons. The catcner has lorpedoes
and torpedo tubes like those of the
torpedo boat; in fact, she is nothing
more nor less than torpedo boat of
superior size and strength, with a bet
ter armament and high freeboard. 1t
is sorrowful thing to consider that
Uncle Sam does not possess single
torpedo boat catcher. Plans for sew
eral have been made at the navy de-
partment in Washington, and some day
they may be used, unless, as Is very
likely, the designs have become obso-
lete meanwhile. The art of naval war
fare is developing so rapidly that in the
time that must elapse between the or
dering of q vessel and her completion
she is pretty sure to be more or less
behind the latest ideas.
Not long ago the plans in detail were
made for the construction of a catcher
that was reckoned for speed of twen-
ty-eight knots. Congress appropriated
money for the purpose. but it was not
enough, and 30 the building of the craft
was abandoned. The national legisla-
tive assembly has been very niggardly
in furnishing money for the torpedo
boat service. Up to date Uncle Sam
has only two torpedo boats built. The
only one in commission is the Gushing.
The Ericsson has not had satisfactory
speed trial yet; on two or three trials
she has broken down. Six other tor
pedo boats, all of them sea-going, are
being constructed for this government.
They have not been named as yet, being
| known merely as Nos. 8. 4, 5, 6. Z and 8.