The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-04-01
A New Terror of the Sea.

1t Is very evident that there are
large possibilities in the little Hol-
land submarine torpedo boat. At an
exhibition given in Staten Island
sound last week. for the benefit of a
representative of the United States
navy, this pOrpoise-shaped craft sue
cessfully submerged herself to depth
of seventeen feet, or as far as the
shalowness of the sound permitted,
and travelled invisibly beneath the
surface for more than 1000 feet. Then
she bohbed up, took a new sniff OF
fresh air, and went under again. Ouly
u few bubbles on the surface gave evil
dence of her course. To an enemy
standing off some distance in a choppy
sea her approach would be absolutely
Invisible. She could slip up unex-
pectedly, dive under the hostile ship,
attach to it's keel a torpedo with a
time fuse and run away without being
seen. The explosion would be the
only audible or visible evidence of her
activity.
Another feature is the location fore
guns, which, when the boat is afloat
or ;ae surface, just escape the wash
of the waves. Each gun is twelve feet
long, eight inches in diameter, and
runs up from the inside Of the boat at
an angle Of Is degrees. Running par
allel with it," says a description in the
Sun, "for three feet from it's breach
is another tube Of the same diameter,
in which compressed air and guH-
pow der sufficient to hurl a shell pro-
Jectile two feet long containing eighty
pounds of dynamite for mile and O.
half are stored. This gun is intended
for use against forts principally, but
1t can be used against ships under
favorable circumstances, The boat is
designed to approach the object which
Z Is desired TO hit submerged When
she gets within range she is to rise, to
the surface, the man in the coming
tower gives the signal ana the gun is
discharged. For the first three feet
the projectile travels through the tube
by the force Of a compressed air
charge of 500 pounds pressure. Then
its sides scrape against button
which automatically eXplodes the
powder charge and the Drojectlle is
hurled through the muzzle Of the gun
at 1000 pounds pressure. A propeller
shaped Vane fixed in the end Of the
projectile keeps it in the right course
The powder charge is regulated by the
distance the boat is from the object
it is desired to hit. Both the COM
pressed air and the powder are ad-
mtted into the tube by a system of
valves behind the projectile. The
whole thing is done simply by touch
ing a spring. Mr.. Holland is conf
dent that he can hit any object as
large as a warship within 1000 yards
without exposing his boat to hostile
fire for longer than minute or so.
Even then the target he offers is so
small that there is not one change in
a hundred that he could be hit. II he
should be hit his boat would not ne
cessariiy be disabled. Tie muzzle of
the dynamite gun could be shot away
without interfering with the boats
management"
1t should be understood, of course.
that some OF these representations re-
main TO be tested. But if the ship can
travel submerged for 400 yards in
smooth water without accident and
with the ships mechanism under thor
ough control, as the Holland boat has
already done, the achievement of the
boats ether claims ought not to be
impossible At all events the pros
pect that to naval warfare will soon
be added new terror, the terror Of
the unheralded destruction OF war
ships, against which no effective pro-