The new North-west., 1897-01-22
A new TORPEDO BOAT
SUBMARINE boat WHICH ATTACKS
FROM BELOW.
An American Invention Renltxinm
jules Verne's Most Fantas-
tic Conception.

Wy 'oHh +. dolland Will 1naugurate new
era In naval warfare. If successful. the
| new craft will practically put the largest
patteships and cruisers at the mercy OF
the torpedo terror. The word terror
properly describes the vessel. for she Ia
an invisible foe. and striking in the dark
becomes doubly fear-inspiring. She Is
shaped exactly like cigar, having a sim
gle tour-bladed propeller, which is sur
rounded by four rudders that work in
pairs, two vertical and two horizontal
She will do her travelling under water.
realizing the conception Of Capt. Nemo's
Doat In Jules Verne's tale of "Twentv
Thousand Leagues Under the Sea-" She
is 81 feet long, with moulded diameter
OF 10 feet, constructed of double steel
plating, arranged into four outer and four
inner strakes, the plate to be SEVENTH
teenths of an inch in thickness at the
forward end and amidships, taperfng aft
70 hve-t1fteenths of an inch at the stern
most plates, all double riyeted. Her
frames will be of merchants steel.
three and a half by three inches. and
placed Is inches apart, and her motive
power will be electricity and gas, either
OF which may be used separately or
coupled in order to attain greater speed,
Unlike all former submarine craft she
Will have no superstructure except a tele-
scopic coming tower about one foot high
and three feet In diameter and her dis
placement will be 66 tons. Her armament
Will consist of guns for throwing aerial
torpedoes containing 2OO-pound charges of
high explosives, and her magazine will
contain, In addition, six or seven White
head torpedoes. Her speed below the sur
face will be nine knots for 12 hours or 20
knots for four hours, while being oper-
ated by electric current, and when awash
she will develop eight knots under gas
pressure. She will be fitted at first with
a 50-horse power gas engine, but at later
date 3OO-horse power motor will be used,
which is expected to generate a speed of
16 knots. This will be test boat. The
cost of construction will be about $4,000.
Coming Tower.
The coming tower will telescope and
can be drawn into the boat, Its place be-
Ing covered over in less than a minute,
making her ready to plunge. The two
expulsion tubes, where Whitehead tor
pedoes of the largest size are carried for
explosion under a hostile man-of-war, are
plainly visible from the front. These
tubes run aft along the axis of the boat
and fill up large part of the forward
compartment. The tubes can be opened
from the inside when the boat is running
20 or 80 feet below the surface of the wa
ter. She can carry three additional tor
pedoes, making a total of five big White
heads, sufficient to destroy the five larg-
est warships afloat. There are three sea-
cocks on either side of the boat. By
means of these the sea water can be let
into her when the time to submerge has
arrived and she rapidly sinks under the
surface, where the fire of the heaviest
guns can not damage her When her
commander wishes to come to the sur
face the water is either pumped out from
her tanks through these sea cocks or is
forced out by connecting the tanks with
the compressed air reservoirs.
Horizontal Screws.
Another remarkab BILE feature of this boat
is that she carries two horizontal screws.
These two horizontal screws can be in
stantly connected with her engines and the
boat can sink out of sight in less than
minute by their action alone. A curious
feature of the exterior Of the boat is the
pocket for the anchor. This is under the
boat six feet aft from her bow, and a
mushroom anchor has been made that fits
snugly into 1t, the cable leading up to the
top through a well and over the sheave aft.
This will enable the craft to go to the bot
tom of the sea and anchor there. The mo-
tors and storage batteries will give 70
horsepower for six hours, and the boat
will have a radius of action of 60 miles
when totally submerged. Under the water
she can make six knots an hour for 10
hours, but on a pinch this speed can be
raised to 10 knots for Il short distance
The inventor claims that the boat can
easily run 40 miles beneath the sea with
out inconvenience to the crew. A large
quantity of compressed air will always be
carried in the boat when she is running on
the surface.
Method of Attack.
The captain of this remarkable craft
takes his place over the boiler with his
head in the armored coming tower. From
this position he can see through glass
covered Sits and holes and by means of a
compass can get the exact bearing of the
battleship he means to attack In less than
q minute. AS soon as the smokestack is
pulled in, telescoping on itself, the opening
is covered by water-tight hatch, and the
boat is ready to sink to any desired level.
This she can do either by means of her
horizontal screws, by taking water into
her tanks through the sea cocks, or by
plunging downward beneath the surface
retaining her forward motion. From this
point on it is all submarine work.
Through heavy plate-glass panes, the
light can be seen on the surface Of the
sea, and one of the crew will watch this
until she passes under the shadaw of the
man -ofwar. The presence of the latter
will at the same time be disclosed by a
magnetic needle.
AT this moment the speed of the electric
motors is reduced one of the crew care
fully admits water into the after tank to
sink her stern, the bow of the submarine
boat points directly upward at the bottom
OF the man=of-war and when the proper
moment comes the captain gives the order
to fire a torpedo. Forward in the torpedo
compartment the ringing of a bell gives
the signal for this final act. The officer
on duty there pulls open the valve that
shoots the torpedo with it's deadly load OF
dynamite at the battleship. At the same
instant the engines are reversed ana the
submarine boat quickly backs away as the
Whitehead torpedo goes home on its work
OF deStruct ion.
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