The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-04
NEWEST TYPES OF ToRPEDoEs
Various Devices for Controlling the
PrOiectiIes--AutOm and other

From the New York Tribune.
The use of a submarine explosive de
vice as means of attacking warships rs
at least 100 years old. Although they did
not then bear the name 'torpedoes." they
were tried. or. at least, it was proposed TO
try them, in American waters early in the
revolutionary war. In construction, pow
er and operation, however. these mischiev-
oGs agents have been much improved dur
ing the last thirty years.
Torpedoes may be roughly divided into
three classes; d Those which are sta
tionary, being moored in a harbor or along
a coast, for defensive purposes; (O those
which are used for attack, travel severa,
hundred yards and are controlled by cleo
trio wires from a station on land, and CD
those which are both propelled and steer
ed by self-contained mechanism.
Sunken mines may be fired either auto
matically, when vessel coming into har-
Dor strikes a submerged receptacle, an
chored, but trying to float, or by the vol
untary act of an operator on shore who is
keeping watch and who manipulates an
electric current running through the wires
| that are connected with The device The
| explosive material, when fired automatic
ally, may be discharged in a variety OF
| ways. Years ago a favorite plan was to
| equip the torpedo with percussion cap,
| like that used on an old-fashioned musket
but bigger projecting lever. struck by
| the passing vessel, would fire the cap. An
easily crushed protuberance containing
sulphuric acid potassium chlorate and SUI
/ gar, has been similarly employed. Elec
| tricity has also been tried in two or three
/ ways. A battery on shore would supply
! current through proper wires; but contact
| between the torpedo and the vessel is re-
! quired either to break the circuit or to
| close it. In the one case spark is pro-
duced, which ignites primer In the
other, a bit of slender platinum wire, bur-
| led i'm the explosive, is heated red-hot
Torpedoes are now looked upon as of
! equal value with land batteries in harbor
defense; and in time of war, when an
| attack is anticipated there may be more
! stationary torpedoes hidden under water
than there are available guns at any
/ critical point. 1t is important of course,
| that careful list of these submerged
devices be kept, so that when the period
of danger has passed they may be re-
| moved.
For effective action, however, it is de-
| sirable to carry the charge as high up in
the water as possible, and to adjust the
]
| of river and tidal currents, SO that the
! latter will not depress it too far AT the
same time, il will not do to have the tor
| pedo or its connections show above the
surface at slack water
Gen. Henry L. Abbot of the United
States Engineer Corps, who was long in
charge of the Willets Point torpedo sta
ton, on Long Island Sound, says in an
| article in ."Johnson's Encyclopedia"
in n M
action, secured by good elevation in the
| water, is also important, for efforts are
being made to give increased strength to
| the hulls of war vessels by employing iron
in the form known as the double cellular
! bottom, thus reducing the destructive
range of the torpedo and exacting the
| employment of more powerful charges. in
! England experiments upon the Oberon,
vessel of this type, show that the horizop-
| tai destructive range of .gun-cotton, in
| charges even as large as five hundred
| pounds, is restricted to a few feet This
| charge was fired on the bottom in As feet
! of water at horizontal distances of 100
so, 60, 80 and 30 feet, and finally vertically
| under her side Although she was much
| shaken and injured by some of these
shots, only the last burst through the
double bottom and sunk the vessel. At
! the engineers school at Willets Point
! long series of trials was conducted to de-
| termine the effective range of different
| charges of various explosives sunk at diff
ferent depths below the surface By the
| careful measurement of several hundred
explosives the matter has been success
| fully brought within the scope of mathe-
NAUTICAL analysis"
Gen Abbott elaborated two general
| styles of submarine mine One designed
for shallow water, has the case lie on the
bottom of the harbor or channel. The
other, intended for deep water, is of the
buoyant type. The explosive used in these
is dynamite. Wires from a shore station
admit a current of electricity. and ''cir-
cuit-closer" actueted by the vessel when
it touches The torpedo, regulates the cur
rent. A change in the volume of the cleo
tricity ignites fuse which is embedded
In the dynamite. The elsctric fuse is SUI
perior 20 percussion caps and triggers, be-
| cause when a torpedo has been stored for
! long time the ignitng mechanism may
be tested to see II il is in working order
An electric current, too feeble TO heat the
bridge" in the fuse. may be sent through
II with perfect safety, and delicate instru-
ments will reveal les passage
Some torpedoes are intended to be
launched in pairs long rope connecting
them, and to drift down against the object
| of attack. This plan contemplates the
rope getting afoul of the ships anchor
cable, in which case the torpedoes swing
around and come alongside. The torpedoes
are provided with vaned wheels, which are
actuated by the tide. BY the revolutions
thus set up, screw is turned, and there
] by trigger inside is released. A pin. be-
ing driven against q guncap fires the
charge. This sort Of torpedo can be
thrown overheard quietly from rowboat,
which has first reached a convenient posi-