The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-10
ToRrEDo-BoAT DEsTRoYERs.
How They Differ From the Torpedo
Boats.

Boats.
From the Baltimore Sun.
The sun has received a large number of
letters asking the following questions:
what is the difference between a torpedo
boat and torpedo boat destroyer"
The question was repeated yesterday to
Lieut.. John ]. Blandin. who was the OH
Ger of the deck on the battleship Maine
when she was blown up in the harbor OF
Havana, and who is now in charge of the
branch photographic office of the navy in
Baltimore.
"A torpedo-boat destroyer sold Lieut..
Blandin, lis larger. more strongly built
and faster than a torpedo boat She is
also provided with rapid-fire guns. She
would attack torpedo boat with her guns
by torpedoes or by ramming.
"A torpedo boat would attack a vessel
under cover of darkness, preferably, by
steaming past her within torpedo range
800 YARDS and firing a torpedo.
What follows is information obtained
from the reports made by the intelligence
office connected with the navy department
at Washington, TO which is relegated the
duty of ascertaining the movements. de-
velopments and progress made i'm naval
affairs all over the world
When self-prOpelling torpedoes like those
devised by Whitehead of England and
Howell, a commodore IN the United States
Navy, who invented them, camefn favor
| with naval experts, special boats were
constructed wherewith to conduct warfare
with those terrible submarine projectiles
A fish" or automobile" torpedo is cl-
| gar-shaped. about six feet long, and con-
! tains beside a charge of about 100 pounds
of wet gun cotton a good deal of delicate
| machinery TO propel and steer Il. At the
| tail end is a screw. After II is dropped
| into the water it assumes a horizontal po.
sition just below the surface of the sea
| and develops a speed of twenty-five OF
thirty miles an hour. The amount of pow
er which is stored within, in the form OF
| compressed air or a heavy nywheel set in
rotation just before launching; is usually
enough to carry il a half mile or more
| A torpedo is expelled from the launch
| ing tube by small charge of powder. No
great pressure Is exerted within the tube,
| and there Is little or no recoil The tube
may, therefore, be a light affair, without
| an elaborate mount, and they are nearly
always above water, the practice of hav-
| ing them below water having been al
most abandoned. The depth to which a
torpedo will descend after being shot from
in the torpedo to which it Is set
| Moreover, it was intended originally that
a torpedo boat should not go very far
from its base of operations to deliver an
attack. Either II would conine It's ser
| vice to harbor defense, or else keep in
the neighborhood of the fleet to which II
was attached. II might always remain
afioat or il could be carried op the deck
| of a battleship or cruiser. being lowered
H.
In distant waters. For this reason and
others the torpedo boat proper was, and
sim is. small and rather fragile craft
And, inasmuch as IL was intended to carry
on its work stealthily, and not enter d
| general engagement its launching tubes
and torpedoes were its only armament al
one time,
But after a little while two other styles
of vessels. making use of the same style
! of projectiles, came into existence. One
| is the torpedo gunboat" and The other
the torpedo boat destroyer" or catcher"
The gunboat Is primarily a small man-of-
war. being nearly or quite as large as a
third-class cruiser. Torpedo tubes are
added to her other armament, as a Sec
oEdary or incidental feature, very much
as they are to the equipment of modern
fast cruisers. The torpedo gunboat is q
| type of vessel very rarely heard Of even
on the other side of the Atlantic, and her
speed seldom exceeds twenty knots.
The destroyer" or Catcher" however
is not only bigger and more seaworthJ
than the torpedo boat, but she is much
swifter She carries expulsion tubes anc
torpedoes and has also In addition strong
battery OF small calibre rapid-firlng guns
| and tremendously powerful engines, The
speed dof this class OF boat is from thirty
to thirty-five knots. The destroyer usual
| Iy has a well-armored coming tower, sur
mounted by a searchlight. These two fea
| turessof this type of vessel are of the ut
| most importance, iBasmuch as destroyer
| and catcher are designed to catch ana de
strov much smaller craft. They usual.
operate under cover OF darkness and als'
! employ the concealment of paint of sucl
hue as to render them almost Invisible
This type of boat is sometimes called Z
"sea-going torpedo boat" and Is reall!
| what her name implies. Her tonnage i
seldom, Il ever, less than 200 tons.
Torpedo boats proper show speed va
ryIng from IS to % knots and are divldeS
into three classes. A first-class boat hai
a displacement OF about so or 100 tons; sec
ond-class, 50 or 60 tons, while a thrd-clas
torpedo boat is scarcely NOR
carried on the deck of
big ship. The modern cruiser, though
usually has three or four torpedo tubes D
her own, opening above the water line
and. therefore does not need to carry
special boats to assist In launching he
Whiteheads or Howells.
For several years the British admiralty
has pursued the policy of building no tor
pedo boats that cannot go to sea In rougl
weather, although they already had oil
hand a number of such craft. Referring
| NJ 1909 tho
don Times made the following comment;
"A further result. of the utmost i'm
portance and significance, is the complete
ascendency which appears to have beei
established by the destroyer over the tor
pedo boat Practically wrote our CORE
spondent with the reserve feet the tor
pedo boats dared not venture out Of por
because of the destroyers, which waite'
outside and kept the seas, even when