Connecticut western news., 1897-05-20
ANEWNAVAL A TERROR
HOLLANDS SUBMARINE TORPEDO BOAT IS LAUNCHED.
The Strangely Constructed Craft Is Re- garded as the Most Effective Sea Fight ing Device Afoat-Great Secrecy Main- tained as to Her Mission.

The strangely Conttructed Graft IS he-
 garded as the Most Effective Sea Fight
 ing Device Afioat-Great Secrecy Main
 tained as to Her Mission.
 E1izabethport, N. J., May 1S.-The Holland submarine torpedo boat has been successfully launched at the Lew Is Nixon Crescent shipyards.
 Mrs. Lewis Nixon broke a gayly dec orated bottle of wine on the nose shaped bow of the craft and exclaimed. T christen thee the Holland"
 AS the cigar shaped stern struck and buried itself in the waters of Staten Is- land sound a cheer arose from the spectators, which quickly changed to exclamations of anxiety as the odd look Ing craft continued to disappear under the water, until it looked as though the Holland was bound for the bottom of the sound.
 The next instant anxiety gave way to loud shouts and whistling of steamers as the turret and about 2 feet by IS of the deck of the torpedo boat ap- peared on the surface of the water.
 The Holland was lowed to the dock, where she will be completed before any submarine experiments are made. MT. Holland was greatly pleased over the successful launching.
 The launching was made as secret as possible. lest everything should not work right. No one was admitted to the yard other than the employees and several friends of MT. Holland and half dozen newspaper men. There was no representative from the United States or any other government
 The original intention to have one of Mir. Hollands assistants launched in the boat was abandoned, and no one was aboard when the Holland left the ways. The only decoration was a small American flag on a temporary flagstaff attached to the small turret of the Hol- | land.
 Mir. Holland and Mir. Nixon refuse to state for whom or for what purpose the torpedo boat Holland is destined. The craft. about which there has been so much speculation and mys- tery, is the invention of John P. Hol- | land. MT. Holland has been wrestling with the submarine boat problem for | ten years or more. The vessel Is the fourth he has made. The first, launch | ed in 1877, was a small affair and not | an unqualified success. Then Mir. Hol- | land put in five years more on a second | attempt that never even came to a | launching. Two years later third. that promised everything desired. was | smashed in the launching. Besides | the present boat a similar one is now building in Baltimore.
 Dimensions of the Craft. The Holland is 50 feet inches long. | with foot screw protecting exten- sion. Its diameter is 10 feet 3 inches | amidships and the nodded diameter 10 | feet 3 inches. It can travel under wa | ter eight knots an hour for eight hours | and ten knots on the surface. The power comes from a gasoline en- | zine and a dynamo, the latter to be used when submerged and the former ! when the boat Is sailing along on the surface.
 It win take barely one minute to sub | merge the boat and not much longer | to raise 1t to the surface of the water. The armament consists of three tor | pedo tubes. oae st the upper bow of
 the boat being an aerial torpedo throw | CT, with a range of one mile. Six pro- | jectiles, weighing 1S0 pounds each, with | charges of 100 pounds of explosives, are to be stored for this gun. | Almost directly beneath the torpedo | thrower is an expulsion tube for White head torpedos. Only three of these tor | pedos will be carried, as each one
 weighs $50 pounds. At the stern of the
 boat is a submarine gun which. with Q
 100 pound charge of explosive, can hurl
 a 400 pound proJectile 100 yards or more
 through the water. Five of these pro-
 jectiles will be carried.
 The craft will be manipulated by a l crew of six men.
 | Workmen will get the craft in shape
 at once. and she will have her trial trip
 down the bay as soon as possible.
 Three foreign powers are said to have | made overtures to secure the craft in
 case 1t proves a success. but 1t is likely
 that the United States government will
 get 1t in case 1t comes up to expecta-
 tions. The government has already off,
 cially indorsed the patents pertaining
 to the boat, and the navy department
 has had an official at the shipyard sub-
 mittfng reports constantly on the work
 of construction.