Evening star., 1897-07-28
AERIAL TORPEDOES.
How the Warfare "f the Future Is to
Re Carried On.

How the Warfare "f the Future Is to
BE Carried On.
London Letter to Philadelphia Ledger.
AS l write these words the Prince of
Wales. as the representative OF his mother.
is steaming down the British channel and
receiving the salute of what, in respect to
it's fighting force. is probably the most for
midable feet that has ever been gathered
together. Something like $50 effective fight
ing ships, ranging from the most powerful
ironclads of the day down to the wasp-like
torpedo craft, are set out in holiday array
al Spithead. and 1t Is a significant fact
that that great array of fighting ships has
not been swelled by recalling any part OF
the British navy from it's ordinary duty in
various parts of the world. or even by re-
ducing that Mediterranean feet. whose
size and Importance attracted so much at
tentior during the recent C-etan trouble.
The paeans of self-glorifcation and praise
with which the English press ahoun6s this
me ming are. therefore. to some extent
excuSable. 1t is noteworthy, however, that
those same paperS contain abstracts set
forth in unobtrusive type Of paper which
was read yesterday at the Royal United
Service Institution by an American. the
conclusions of which. if justified. would
seem to reduce to practical Innocence the
greater part of that vast naval armament
which forms the chief pride Of the England
of today. The paper to which l refer was
read by Mr.. Hudson Maxim, and IL had for
its subject "A New System of Throwing
High Explosives 1t consisted mainly of
A most interesting account OF the aerial
torpedoes invented by the writer. He
pointed out that for generations there had
been race for supremacy between guns
and armor. which had resulted in the de-
velCpment OF cannon of comparatively
small caliber, but of great thickness of
vol
hand. and of the modern battle ship. cloth
ed in a wall of steel so ponderous as to
Ieduce mobility to a minimum. upon the
other. With the advent. however, of the
system which he claims to have perfected
of throwing high explosives in sufficiently
large masses to render arInor absolutely
useless, nayies. he contendCd. would be
found discarding their armor, and every
thing would be made subservient to speed
and mobility. When high explosives were
applied in large quantities 1t was abso-
lutte impossibiiity to oppose to them any
efficient means of protection. Against the
present form of torpedoes some sort Of pro-
lection was indeed secured by Subdividing
a slips hull into honeycomb of water
tight compartments. and by surrounding
IL with torpedo nets. but the latest type Of
torpedo only carried 200 pounds of gun
cotton whereas If JagJ pounds wer:. eXplod-
ed against the torDedo Meeting Of a mod
ern battle shin, her destruction would lie
insured. Mr. Maxim then entered into a
technical description of the construction of
his aerial torpedo. and the several forms
of guns he had employed for firing it, AS
compared with the Whitehead torpedo, the
Hew aerial torpedo has five times the range
and carries eleven times the quantity of
high explosives. He concluded by the
somewhat startling statement that TAX
ing the cost of the modern battle ship at
five million dollars. and that of the new
aerial torpedo cruiser at five hundred thou
sand dollars, fleet of the latter capable of
destroying one thousand battle ships could
be pi oduced for the cost of one battle shin.
1t Is evident. as 1 have pointed out, that IL
Mr. Maxfm's conclusions can be verified.
and in the opinion of many of the naval
ofncers present at yesterdays meeting they
complete revolution in the art and theory
OF naval warfare. and The majority of the
enormous feet which the Prince III Wales
Is today reviewing will, inside of ten years.
We antiQuated and out Of date,