Evening star., 1898-04-29
and efficiency. For coast defense that wea-

and efficiency. For coast defense that wea-
pom is best which. at given expense, will
cover entrances to harbors over the great
est range. and in itself expose to the fire Of
the enemy the least risk OF material loss.
AT sea that weapon is best which, at a
given cost, will be most effective in the
destruction of other vessels and of coast
fortifcations; and you shall judge whether
there is any system which embraces ali
these requisites to the extent that does the
system of throwing aerial torpedoes shown
you today. 1 believe you will agree with
me that half ton of dynamite would be q
less desirable visitor upon the deck of
battle ship. or in the water beside her, than
would be the largest of the present forms
OF shell thrown from high-power guns. 1t
Is only necessary. therefore. to show that
the results are within reach and easy of
attainment
The nearest approach to the system pro-
pcsed by me for throwing high explosives
that has yet been developed Is the systena
OF throwing them by means Of compressed
air. But the Shortness of range of pne,I-
matte guns, the difficulty and expense of
protecting them and the enormous DIant
OF engines, boilers and air compressors nee
essary are strong objections to their use
for coast defense; while their cumbersome
ness and vuinerability, together with the
above objections, render their empioyment
on shipboard entirely out of the question.
Insufficient Range at Sandy Hook.
wan tAC pueuIUatlC guns ClaC
have been erected in the United States at
Sandy Hook and San Francisco, 500 pounds
of high explosive may be thrown a dis
tance of about one mile and a quarter; 2UO
pounds, about 21s miles, this is the maxi
mum range. Hence battle ship could lie
just beyond the range of these guns and
destroy the entire outfit without in turn
being in the least exposed to the fire of the
pneumatic tubes. 1t is obvious therefore,
nf uni, of :oI
torpedoes must have range substantially
equal to that of high-power guns opposed
to 1t, and the quantity of high explosive
thrown must be sufficient to effect upon the
target greater destruction than can be ef-
fected by ordinary shells thrown from
heavy ordnance.
"As weapon for the destruction of SUBJ
marine mines in the advance of a fleet
there are no means at the command of the
naval engineer at the present time which
can stand the least comparison with the
aerial torpedo.
In the projection of large masses of
nlsn explosives from guns it is necessary
10 ne absolutely certain that a premature
explosion shall not occur and the integrity
or the proJectie, or aerial torpedo must
pe sucn as TO secure it against disruption
from the shock of the propelling powder
charge; and it is better to select a high
explosive which shall not be so sensitive
as 10 be in the least endangered by the
the gum - "
At this point Mr.. Maxim proceeded to do.
scribe the details of his system, explaining
certain charts and diagrams with which he
Illustrated his argument
Great Cost of Battle Ships.
The modern f1rst-class battle shin costs
about t1,000,O00 sterling" he continued
1t carries an armament of four Pinch
wire guns, twelve 6-inch, and eighteen
three and s1x-pounders and five tor
pedo dlschages. Not more than one
half of the guns can be trained upon q
single target at one time Now. at an
equivalent expenditure we can construct
and oppose to this ter torpedo cruisers
costing t10O,OU each. This sum will con-
struct very respectable sort of craft, and
one "hich will carry one 24-inch torpedo
gun weighing forty-siX tons and two tor
pedo mortars weighing twenty tons each.
Ihe cruiser would fight head on. and the
exposed portion could be protected by de-
Hectlng armor, sufficiently thick to turn
aside all shots thrown from a battle shin
except those from Pinch wire guns The
torpedo gun would be capable of throwing
half ton of guncottOn nearly nine miles
ard one ton about five miles Each mortar
viii be capable of throwing 800 pounds four
miles, half a ton about three miles and ono
ton nearly two miles
The size of the target presented by the
cruiser lighting head on would represent an
area about equal to her cross section above
that portion protected by the water while
the target presented by the battle shin to
the cruiser would be in proportion to the
quantity of high explosive thrown by the
cruiser. Now, the battle ship, in order to
90 any harm whatever to the cruiser, must.
OF course. make a hit, and to be fatal that
hit must be made in vital spot represent
ing an area much more confined even than
that represented by the deck of the vessel
as the cruiser would stand and fight with
armored head on, the chance of hit being
fatal would be very small; while every tor
pedo carrying from half ton to a ton of
fhrnyx frfy, 1,1
striking the area represented by the deck
of the battle ship, would at least throw the
ship out of action, even if it did not sink
her. But, in addition to this, we have the
tremendous areas within which such guam
titles of high explosive, striking in the wa
ter, would be certainly fatal.
The Cruisers Advantage.
The cruiser would have a speed Of from
twenty to twenty-four knots, and could
therefore choose her own position with
respect to the battle ship Her tactics
would not be like the ordinary torpedo
boat, to dash into and run a gauntlet of de-
structiye fire from the battle ship, to drop
torpedo and away again out of range; but
she would stand her ground and fight al
ways at a distance and in position of her
own choice, with armored head toward the
battle ship. In such position the target
presented by the cruiser would be very
small indeed, to say nothing of the difficult
~ of infiicting fatal injury upon such a
Target Win oTdlIidfy SnOt ana SHELL
The fatal area presented by the battle
ship as taig get to half ton of guncotton
thrown from the cruiser is 47143 square
feet, and the fatal area presented to a ton
OF guncotton is 49, 02o square feet and it is
a very safe estimate that the area exposed
by the cruiser fighting head on would not
be more than one two-hundredth as great
as the fatal area exposed by the battle ship.
Now, as every shot from the cruiser strik-
ing within the fatal area exposed by the
battle ship would destroy her, and as it
would take a considerable number of hits
from the battle ship to sink the cruiser, it
Is very safe to offset the greater number of
shots which the battle ship could fire with
in given time and the horizontal position
of the target presented by her by the su-
perior fatality of the shots from the cruiser
This enables lis to very easily approximate
the comparative efficiency of the two sys-
TENS by simply dividing the average fatal
area exposed by the battle ship by the area
of the target presented by the cruiser.
Now, this area is contained in the area
exposed by the battle ship at least 100
times, one cruiser would be capable of de-
stroying, on an average, 100 battle ships.
But We can build ten such cruisers for