The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-02-22
.Torpedo's Effect
Upon a Big Ship


From the Philadelphia Press.
IN THE large number of cases in
III which vessels have been blown up
III and sunk by torpedoes in the past
III forty years there Is, as far as we
know, no single case in which the
magazine was exploded. This does not
prove that a torpedo or a submarine mine
might not explode IL magazine and untli
evidence is obtained no final judgment
can be reached, but it puts the burden of
proof against the view that the maga-
zine of the Maine was exploded from out
side by a mine or torpedo. The treacher-
Gus introduction of explosives might eX-
plode from within. The Aquidoban, a
Brazilian battleship, is one of the larg
est vessels yet destroyed by a torpedo,
and, with two exceptions in China, the
only one approaching the Maine in size.
The Brazilian vessel was 1850 tons against
6,6S2 tons for the Maine, thirty feet
shorter five feet narrower and drawing
two feet less; her armor belt was an inch
thinner and she had nine instead of ten
inch guns. In May, 1894, she was struck
while under way, with steam up in ac-
ton, and hence with magazine doors open,
shell hoists in operation and her own
torpedoes charged and ready in the bow
compartment, with a Schwartzkopf tor
pedo charged with 175 pounds of gun
cotton, as powerful an explosive as is in
use for this purpose. The torpedo took
effect in the bow, below the water tanks
at the water line. The very detailed de-
scription given by the English engineer
from Brazilian correspondent, evident
ly a professional engineer, reports that
the blow tore hole through the stem
Of the vessel from side to side. The hole
on the side where tie blow was delivered
measured eleven feet ten inches by four
teen feet eight inches. The hole on the
4l,.,. do 10. ,,In
about fifteen feet above this tremendous
blow, were scarcely bent and We're un-
injured. The water tanks were not
opened. The first and second compart-
ments filled and the Aquidoban went
down by the bow; but no explosion took
place, although when boarded next day
shot and shell, with charges, were found
in place in the forward turret and in the
open magazines.
The Blanco Encalado, a Chilean yes-
sell was blown up at a. m. April %,
1891, while lying moored to a buoy in
Coldera harbor for repairs, with no fires
in her boilers, though her crew was at
quarters before the torpedo was fired.
At the first attack all but the watch were
asleep and only her auxiliary battery was
in action, so that it is probable her main
magazines We're closed. Her size, $500
tons, was a little over half that of the
Maine, and she was only two-thirds the
length and three-quarters the width. She
was struck, according to the official re-
ports, by five Nordenfeldt torpedoes out
of seven. The charge is not stated, but
it was not less than sixty pounds of gun
cotton, and may have reached 100 or
more. At least two of the torpedoes took
effect amidships and the holes torn We're
so large and the torpedoes were all fired
so close together-all in about ten min
utes, by the Condell and Lynch. the at
tacking boats-that as large proportion
of her crew was lost as on the Maine,
only forty-ive escaping. No explosion
took place on board, although the tor
pedoes were fired directly against the
magazines.
Five Chinese battIeships and cruisers
were blown up by Japanese torpedo boats
in February, 1895, in Wei-hai-Wei har-
Dor. OF those, the Chen Yuen and Ting
Yuen were battleships 749O tons, larger
than the Maine; the Ching Yuen and Chi
Yuen, cruisers of $500 tons, and the
fifth a smaller vessel While all these
We're sunk while lying In harbor, the
Japaneses torpedo boat hotilla running
in on the nights of Feb. and 5, no one
of the vessels exploded. During our own
war the Tecumseh was sunk in Mobile
Bay by a submarine mine; but no eXplo-
sion took place. OF five other vessels tor
pedoed only one, the Housatonic, was
sunk. The new Ironsides, against which
a gun powder torpedo was exploded, was
practically uninjured. The Albemarle
was sunk while at anchor by Gushing
with sixty-pound powder charge. Her
side was blown in, but no explosion fol-
lowed.
The popular idea of a torpedo or sub
marine mine explosion is OF course that
1t rends a ship in twain. This looks
pretty In picture, but like the picture,
It is imaginative. English admiralty ex-
perlments and calculations indicate
though they do not prove-that the blow
needed to shatter the double skin steel
hull of a modern battleship Is 1900
pounds to the square inch. If we accept
the formula for the force of explosives
deduced from General Abbotts expert
ments at Willett's Point, a ground-that
is, anchored-torpedo with 200 pounds of
dynamite at five feet from n vessel ought
TO exert a pressure of 64740 pounds per
square inch. or five times the blow need
ed to break n hole. This blow decreases
rapidly at distance, being only 1854
pounds at fifty feet. or a mere shock.
The Maine was I'm 80 to IS feet OF water
at mean low tide and therefore about 1G
to IS feet from the bottom. The blow OF
MIN "a MI na mil pn