The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-26
THE DAY WITH THE FLOTILLA.
CITIZENS AND NAVAL MILITIAMEN
VISITED THE BOATS.

savannah's Two Divisions of Naval
Militia VIII BE Given Instruction
Abonrd the Torpedo Boats To-day,
Lieut.. Commander kimbalI VIII
Take Them For Trip If a Large
Enough Crowd Can BE Secured.
Talk of Torpedo Boats and TOrpe-
do Boat DestrOyers.
1t was an interesting, but a quiet day
with the torpedo boat fiotilla yesterday.
Hundreds of Savannahians visited the
wharves where the boats are tied, at the
foot of Bull street, and much interest was
manifested in the curious little craft.
In the afternoon quite a number of the
members of Savannah's naval militia
donned their white uniforms and went
aboard to take look at the tubes and lit
tie Hotchkiss guns. Members of the
crews of all the boats were given leave of
absence during part of the day, and all
who could be allowed to go enjoyed their
Thanksgiving.
To-day however, will be the big day for
the naval militia aboard the torpedo boats
Arrangements have been made to have
two divisions aboard from to 5 o'clock
this afternoon when they will be put
through as full a course of instruction in
the working of the different machinery as
It is possible to give them. The members
of the reserve will assemble at their ar
mory at O'Clock p. m. to-day in their
white service uniforms, and shortly be-
fore o'clock they will march to the tor
pedo boats in command of Lieut. H s.
Colding.
Lieutenant Commander w. W. Kimban
has offered the members of the naval mi
litia every facility possible in the matter
of instruction, and says if Lieut.. Colding
can get a sufficient number of men to
make the trip either Saturday or Mon
day, he Will send one or two or three of
the boats down the river with them If
necessary. Should as many as sixty men
turn out for the trip, Lieut.. Kimball says
he will send the three boats down the
river with them, and If the conditions
permit they will be shown how the torpe-
does are fired. The members of the re-
serve are anxious to secure all instruc-
ton possible on this occasion, and as many
of them as can do so are going to take
advantage of it. Lieut.. Colding hopes to
have full turnout this afternoon.
Lieut.. Kimball and the other officers of
the flotilla entertained a number of Sa
vannahiaus on board during the day, and
those who were so fortunate as to be in
vited enjoyed their visit very much. Lieut..
Kimball has made a study of this class of
war vessels as well a of submarine
boats, and his remarks upon the subject
were very entertaining.
During some recent maneuvers with
which he was connected, one of the vessels
of the navy lying at anchor behind an is
land was expecting an attack from the
torpedo boat Cushing, between certain
hours In spite of the fact that two or
three search lights were in use the Cush-
ing slipped along in the dark and sue
ceeded in making the attack before she
was discovered. The object of these boats
is to work in the dark, and they have to
do some pretty careful maneuvering to
keep out of the rays of the search lights.
They are painted with what has been call
ed the invisible paint the color being one
that renders them least visible.
After the torpedo boat came the torpedo
boat destroyer, the name implying that it
is vessel built for the purpose of des-
troying torpedo boats. The torpedo boat
destroyers are on an average about twice
as large as the torpedo boats, and one of
their objects was that of attacking tor
pedo boats, so that the time of the larger
war vessels would not be taken up in at
tending to the little boats. But they are
also used as torpedo boats, though they
have never been able to obtain the speed
made by the smaller vessels.
Lieut.. Kimball may leave the fleet for a
week a little later on for the purpose of
going north at the time of the trial Of the
Holland submarine torpedo boat. He has
been much interested in this work, and is
exceedingly DESTROYS of seeing it a success.
-e-ap-S